Once more reborn at the whims of Being X, Tanya von Degurechaff now finds herself in the end result of the capitalistic world she so praises. Despite its horrors, pollution, and toxicity, she refuses to falter on her ideals and sees this world a perversion of her beliefs, and Being X at fault for how bad he had let it get. However, born into the lowest of lows, her hope of rising in society is slim, and much like many people she has taken to entertain herself in the advanced gaming technology of the futuristic era she's found herself in. When her newfound brother introduces her to a game called 'Yggdrasil' and the clan 'Nine's Own Goal,' her fate changes forever.
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Sister of Disaster [Overlord x Youjo Senki]
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User Total SwissChocolatess 9
Chapter I - ✠WhiteSilver✠
SwissChocolatess
Shalltear is all and all is Shalltear
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2023
- Messages
- 16
Tanya stumbled awake, picking herself up as she looked at her hands. Long gone was all the blood and dirt that covered them mere moments ago, now they appeared clean and washed, as if the radiant sun now blinding her eyes had burned it all away.
She squinted as she looked around, seeing nothing but a foggy white void stretching in all directions. Below her was what appeared to be grass, although it lacked any coloration, whiter than snow and faintly glowing in the light. Picking herself up she finally noticed the towering pillars stretching indefinitely into the distance until the fog obscured them from sight.
The pillars were Greek, or perhaps Roman in style, as clear of a sign as any of what or rather who she was about to meet. She sighed and clenched her fists as she turned to face the man who had seemingly appeared from nothing. The shining light obscured the man's face, however it was easy to make out his tall muscular build and majestic beard; a spitting image of the abrahamic interpretation of 'god.'
Tanya groaned with annoyance, "I'm dead now, huh? Guess one of the various 'struggles' you threw at me finally did the trick… So now what? Are you satisfied? You've proven me wrong in one aspect; not even dire straits is enough to bring someone onto the path of your so-called 'faith.'"
The man, although his face was unreadable in the brightness of the light, appeared disappointed, or perhaps annoyed at the small girl before him. "I have given you what many people would kill to have; a second chance at life. Yet despite everything you continue to spit in the face of your creator."
Tanya folded her arms, looking more annoyed by the second. "You say that as if you didn't throw me into a world on the verge of war and proceeded to make my life actively worse all to prove some point. What kind of person would kill for this kind of torture? More importantly, what kind of God would be so petty as to try all of this? Even if by some chance you are the creator, you have no right to authority, you are no god. You're just a powerful man with an even more powerful ego. As soon as society develops proper liberal ideals of democracy and the free market principles of capitalism, faith begins to decline. There is no need to cling to a god in a world where man can forge their own future, especially not a god who sits by and lets the world's atrocities happen."
The man, or Being X as Tanya constantly referred to him as, didn't seem to be listening. Rather his annoyance appeared to only grow. With a heavy sigh he shook his head. "I tire of this," he began. "It is clear that I cannot convince you. I only wish that I had a proper hell to send you to… Well… I suppose…"
Being X was lost in thought for a moment, although his face soon distorted, as if a smug grin had grown on his covered face. "While it would be fun to wipe your memories and watch your soul get reincarnated until it finally found faith in me, there is one place I can send you…"
Being X took a step forward, Tanya taking a step backwards in response.
"If you wish to praise that materialistic free market so much, then how about I show you the end result of that endeavor. I hate to go back on my word, but consider this third life a wake up call; a final mercy I am showing you. Once it is again your time, I do hope that you've finally realized where that line of thinking gets you…"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Tana groaned to herself as she recalled Being X's last words to her. This was her third life now and readjusting to entirely different worlds was getting exhausting. At least this time around she was back in Japan, seemingly her Japan and not some Akitsushima Dominion like what existed in her previous life.
She typed away at the computer on her desk, trying to distract herself from memories that only served to annoy her.
This life was… Annoying to say the least. To say it was as stressful as the chaos that was living on the frontlines would be an exaggeration, however the conditions this world was in was just plain horrible.
Tana, formerly Tanya in her previous life, had always been of the belief that a free market and a democratic government was the right and proper structure of a society. Even now, she still believes that, however even she can admit where that system failed. She had always stressed the importance of keeping the government out of the economy, but upon seeing this world, she also now understood the equal importance of keeping the economy out of the government.
Corporations now control the world, and when a few corporations control the government and those same corporations also have full control of the economy, the end result is basically the same as the government controlling the economy, at least as far as Tana was concerned. To her, corporatism of this degree looped back around to being communism, except instead of lying that wealth would be distributed equally, they lied that the markets were truly free enough for one to rise the ranks.
With corporations controlling everything, any restrictions on making sure the world was a habitable place were reduced to nothing; the world was a toxic hellhole that would've made the inventor of mustard gas jealous… And simultaneously cause him to weep, considering his contributions to agriculture that no longer existed.
She soon finished typing up a report, exporting the document and emailing it around to a few people who needed it before moving onto another task.
Once again she was yet an ordinary salaryman. Unfortunately, however, she was forced to crawl up the corporate ladder from the very bottom. Unlike her last world where hard work and dedication truly could get any member of society upwards in any self-respecting organization, in this world things were hardly fair. As far as documents were concerned, she only had a middle school education, and although her brain was far above even a college level education, she had no real way to prove that. Without a high school education she couldn't get into college, and already being in her twenties, she couldn't hope to get into high school either.
High school unfortunately cost money to enter, most being privatized. Only up to middle school was actually covered by the government; and even that being solely so that the workers had the bare minimum knowledge needed to work either office jobs or manual labor. With her parents having died in a horrific work accident, she and her brother had been completely on their own.
At least I'm not completely alone this time… She thought to herself before returning to focus as she worked away at her computer, shuffling through a few tabs on out of date software which looked like it had hardly advanced from when she died in the early 21st century.
Her job wasn't bad, and with her older brother getting into the workforce early to cover for their now dead parents, she had enough time to secure a decent job. As thanks she and him still live together, neither of them having the money alone to afford anything more than the poorest quality apartments. At least by combining their wealth, which thanks to her slightly better job was mostly Tana's own money, they could afford a somewhat decent apartment with at least mediocre living standards. If nothing else, it stopped the toxic air from leaking into their living room.
Soon a notification appeared at the bottom right of her screen, alerting her that her shift was up. On many days she would have to work late in order to make up for an influx of work, but she was fortunate enough that she was done with all of her major tasks, meaning she got to go home at a reasonable time. Packing up a few of her belongings, she headed towards the exit where she put on her face mask, goggles, and a full bodysuit, both meant to protect against the harsh toxic conditions found outside.
The journey home was as uneventful as ever, or rather nothing was out of the ordinary. The vast neon lights of Neo Tokyo had ceased to amaze her after her first week outside. Although the technological marvels were impressive, they were vastly overshadowed by the soullessness of it all. Never would she think to have such disdain for the corporate world, even if she thought that this was a twisted perversion of capitalism, one most likely brought upon by Being X.
As usual she saw the occasional homeless beggars, some fortunate enough to have some form of protection, but many completely exposed to the acid rain and toxic air, causing their bodies to look tumorous and molding, likely filled with countless diseases scientists are too scared to name.
Still, none of these surprised her in the slightest. She had seen it all already at this point, and likely would see far worse before the month's end. This world was a truly awful place… And if God truly was real, there would be no way he would let it get this bad. I never read the christian bible, or any bible for that matter, but I once read that the rainbow was once god's promise to humanity. If that was the case, then where are those rainbows now? None are in the skies, only in the polluted puddles of sewage and toxic water that burns into the roads and sidewalks, shining unnaturally in the burning neon lights of this living contradiction to God's existence.
Eventually she arrived at the apartment building, riding up the elevator to her floor where she entered the passkey into the electronic keypad. A clicking sound was heard as she turned the doorknob and walked inside.
There she saw the lights already on, her older brother sitting at the table in the kitchen, slowly eating a brown gelatin of processed… stuff. She didn't really know what the 'meat slabs' were made of, nor did she want to know. However with the state of the food industry as a whole, most foods that weren't more expensive than her yearly salary tended to be little more than processed slabs of nutrition with artificial flavoring injected into it.
Walking inside she removed her various layers of protection and walked over to the coffee machine. Placing a tablet into the top of the machine, she let it start running. The machine whirred and buzzed for a few moments before hot 'coffee-flavored liquid' began pouring out of the dispenser. She absolutely hated the drink, but it was the closest she had. She wasn't even sure if coffee beans existed anymore, nor did she have the money to buy some if they did.
As she waited for her mug to fill she turned to see her brother, Albert, waving at her, "Yo Tana! How was work?"
Tana shrugged in response, looking back towards her mug to watch it slowly filling up. "It was fine as usual, some guys are slacking behind as usual, but it's nothing that impacts me too much. Work's slow this time of year, I should probably have a few more days off here soon. How's your job going?"
Albert stretched his arms behind his head, groaning, "How do you think it's going? Some asshole managed to clog the assembly line today, it took us two fucking hours to get it fixed. I'd shake the man's hand for giving me a break from my job if not for the fact that fixing it was ten times more of a headache. I'm just lucky they don't like paying people more than they have to so I was able to go home at a normal time. That's the next shift's problem now. They're probably still trying to fix the damn thing."
"I'm sure you could get a better job if you tried enough," Tana explained, to which Albert simply sighed.
"We've discussed this before, we both know it's not that easy… No, now that I have a job like this on my resume, none of those nicer office jobs will take me seriously. Trust me, I've tried. I'll just have to stick with what I got and hope I can find a promotion somewhere…"
Tana just sighed, picking up her mug and taking a sip of her artificial coffee. If she had been given this coffee in her last life, she would've spit it out instantly and gotten whoever had given it to her shot for attempted poisoning of a superior officer.
But this wasn't her last life, and this was the best she had. And she had spent way too much on that coffee maker to not at least use it.
Tana changed the subject. "So, I presume you're going to be logging onto that RPG of yours shortly?"
Albert nodded, "You know, you could always join me, I'm sure the clan would love to have an extra member! Together we could bring chaos and destruction across the nine realms!"
Tana sat down across from Albert, leaning against the back of the chair and taking another sip of her 'notffee.' "The answer's still probably no. I'm more into shooters if anything, I don't know if I could jump right into a high fantasy combat system of spells, swords, and bows."
Gaming had become one of the only forms of entertainment they had, and with how far gaming technology had come, it wasn't actually all too bad either. With the DIVE systems and neural chips just about everyone now had in their heads, you could fully immerse yourself into the games rather than just playing them through a screen. She had played a bit of strategy games and shooters in her first life, although not as extensively as she did now. With her past experience as a soldier, she was surprisingly good with many of the shooter games, with those having taken her primary focus as a result, although her brother had taken interest in a game called 'Yggdrasil.'
A smug grin grew on Albert's face as Tana raised an eyebrow in anticipation. "Well actually, the devs apparently just added a gunner class to the game alongside a bunch of rifles and more modern weaponry. There's also some gundam stuff now apparently if that's what you want."
Tana took another sip and thought for a moment. With a sigh she asked, "Is there by chance a way to fly in that game?"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Momonga appeared in the middle of the clan's meeting room. It was a simple room, with a few chairs and tables scattered around for various purposes. It was a rented space, one not meant for much permanence, but it served its purpose well enough.
Momonga looked down at the skeletal hands of his undead avatar, moving them around briefly before looking back up and at his peers. He had logged in a bit later than usual today, the trip home had a few hiccups that caused him to get home late. Still, the difference was miniscule as it simply meant everyone was online a bit before him today.
Looking around he saw many of his fellow members of the clan Nine's Own Goal, many of them already conversing among themselves and preparing for various expeditions. It seemed that there would be no major operation today, just basic errands and grinding. In a game with as much freedom as Yggdrasil, everyone had something different they wanted to do. Whether it be grinding data crystals for a new weapon or trying to get a specific rare drop, getting everyone on board with a single task required said task to be of significant importance. For now though, it appeared that there was no such task.
'Now… what should I do today?' Momonga thought to himself, folding his arms and lightly tapping his finger against his elbow as he looked at a map on his UI. 'I suppose there's not much I urgently need to do, might as well see who might need some help today.'
Before he could properly get started, he noticed a light glow as a player spawned in front of him. The player was a demon, his face that of a goat with large sharp-edged horns growing out the top. His attire was a little over-the-top, but it was fairly normal by Yggdrasil standards. The notification that appeared on Momonga's UI informed him of who this was, although he already knew very well; [Friend Ulbert Alain Odle is now online].
Instantly Ulbert appeared to be messing with his UI, although Momonga could not see what he was pressing. As he began to seemingly begin typing, Momonga approached him. "Ulbert, how have you been!"
The demon raised his goat-like head, turning to face Momonga as a smiley emoticon appeared, "Ah, Momonga, it's been a few days since I've seen you. Sorry, I've been having to log on a bit later due to my work schedule."
Momonga returned a smiley emoticon, the only way to express emotions in the game considering facial expressions didn't really exist, nodding. "Don't sweat it, though I hope work's not been too hard on you. Though judging by your tone of voice you seem excited about something."
From behind Momonga heard a familiar cutesy voice shout "Ulberts excited! Everyone take cover! Behind me!"
The voice came from a gelatinous blob of pink slime named Bukubukuchagama. Despite being visually just a slime, she was one of the tankier members of the clan, so it naturally made sense that she'd be the one protecting everyone. That being said, friendly fire didn't exist in Yggdrasil, so her warning was more teasing than anything.
Ulbert shook his head and explained, "I finally managed to convince my younger sister to download and play Yggdrasil. She's always been more into shooters and the occasional strategy game, but with the devs adding rifles to the game I've been able to convince her."
Another player walked over, this one a towering birdman who placed himself next to Bukubukuchagama. This was Peroroncino, the guild's top archer and Buku's younger brother. Tilting his head he exclaimed "I didn't know you had a sister! But isn't Yggdrasil somewhat of a strategy game itself if you think about it? Surely you could've convinced her of that."
Ulbert shook his head and sent up an exhausted emoticon. "No, it's more of a map-based strategy game. Something involving countries and armies and stuff like that. She's arguably more into history than I am. Some game about iron hearts or something. The game was released over a hundred years ago, but it's still getting DLC extensions."
Pero sent the same exhausted emoticon. "Ah… She's one of those."
"Yeah, but she should be done customizing her character here soon, she seems to be going for a build based around flight and rifle usage, so I told her to make her base race a Pixie," Ulbert explained.
Momonga scratched his chin. "An aerial shooter… Considering the lack of much support for the new gunner classes, I feel like it may lean into the territory of a dream build. Though I cannot refute that on paper it sounds very viable. Only issue I can see is that it would take a whole lot of skill with flight and evasiveness considering how much you'd need to sacrifice on defense."
Dream builds were the term used by players for builds that weren't exactly made to be optimal. Instead, they were met to fill an aesthetic or for roleplay purposes. In most games this wouldn't matter, but with Yggdrasil often placing hard caps on party sizes, it often meant that getting paired with one was more a detriment than anything. Nine's Own Goal was accepting enough to allow them without complaint, however other guilds were far less welcoming.
Pero meanwhile nodded in agreement. "There aren't many people good with Yggdrasil's flight mechanics. It's not like there's any real world equivalents to compare it to. Are you sure your sis wouldn't rather aim for one of those gundam builds? They're a lot less versatile but they're also far more tanky… At least compared to the build they seem to be going for."
"There's no way a gundam build could last into the upper levels!" Buku protested. "Those suits fall off fast. Once you're about level 80 they're basically useless. Even if you were to specialize in them, there's no way they'd be even somewhat viable at level 100. That being said, guns are so new that it's hard to tell whether or not a gunner-based build, let alone an aerial glass canon, could be viable…"
With all these items still relatively new to the game, few knew just how to integrate them with pre-existing classes, races, and items. Whether or not they were even viable strategies and builds remained to be seen, but they were all curious how it could be executed nonetheless.
"So where is your sister now?" Momonga asked with Ulbert once again tapping at his UI.
Ulbert looked up and explained, "She's probably exploring some of the initial areas right about now, I just need to find Touch Me to send her an invite to the clan. Where is that idiot anyways?"
A few messages later and an armored insectoid appeared in the clan hall. Donned in full plate armor, the crusader-like figure was their clan leader and arguably one of the best players in the game, Touch Me.
Touch me quickly found the commotion and approached, raising his hand as he sent a smiling emoticon. "So, I hear we're adding a new member! Your sister right, Ulbert?"
Ulbert nodded. "Yes, though if you rope her in with your hero larping I will end you," Ulbert declared, a hint of annoyance present in his voice.
"You cannot blame anyone for seeking to protect JUSTICE and HONOR!" Touch Me teased with a grinning emoticon.
Ulbert sighed and sent a rolling eyes icon, folding his arms. "I've seen her gameplay of those shooter games of hers… Yeah I don't think she'll fall into that category," he muttered. "Still, I've sent you her username, send her a Clan invite already."
Touch Me's fingers tapped against the empty air, typing away at his UI before swiping it away. "There, she should have received an invitation."
A few minutes of messing around later and a short girl appeared in the rented guild hall. Despite the race of 'pixie' implying an incredibly small size, she appeared to simply be a fairly short person. Her face was not quite Japanese as it was in real life, but rather had a Germanic look to it, with her appearance having been based on her memories of her prior life. Her hair was no longer a dark charcoal black but rather a golden platinum blonde, her eyes a deep aquatic blue and her face locked in a constant appearance of apathy. After many minutes of messing with the customization system, this was the face of Tanya von Degurechaff, her identity in her last life; hence her decided username '✠WhiteSilver✠.'
Ulbert raised his hand and sent a smile emoticon towards the newcomer. "Yo! Over here! Nice avatar, I half expected you to take one of the randomized options, but it looks like you put actual effort into it. Though what's the username from?"
"Nothing in particular, I just couldn't really think of anything. So is this the clan base or whatever? Lots of interesting characters in this game," WhiteSilver stated, looking around at all the various monsters and creatures that made up Nine's Own Goal.
Ulbert quickly put his arm around her shoulder, having to somewhat bend down to do so, "Yep! The skeleton there is Momonga, he's a necromancer/spellcaster specialist. Next to him is Bukubukuchagama, that pink slime creature. She's a tank, but avoid pissing her off. Next to her is her brother Peroroncino, the birdbrain. He's a sniping specialist, specifically as an archer though. And lastly behind them is the clan leader Touch Me, unfortunately one of the best players in the game."
"What do you mean unfortunately?" Touch Me inquired, a squinting emoticon appearing next to him.
"So how do I obtain a rifle?" WhiteSilver inquired, looking up at the goat demon avatar that her brother had chosen to use. She didn't really question it, rather she wasn't surprised at all, but having casual conversations with apparent monsters was a somewhat jarring experience.
"Right… Uuuh…" Ulbert began, tapping his finger against his face.
Momonga planted his hand against his face, sighing, "You didn't even bother to find out how to get a rifle before getting her to join solely on the promise of it?"
"Well… You know…" Ulbert began, scratching behind his head as the sighs of the other guild members could be heard.
Pero casually opened his inventory, pulling a low level rifle out of it and walking over to hand it to the pixie alongside a decent amount of ammo. She took it and froze for a few moments before a smiling emoticon finally appeared. "There we go, that's where that menu is. I was wondering where the buttons for those things were. Anyhow, thank you uuh… Per-Perry?"
"Peroroncino, but just call me Pero, full usernames are too long," Pero clarified. "I got that rifle close to when they first released not long ago. I thought it might be a decent addition to my build, but the rifles are far different to use than a bow and arrow, so I decided against adjusting my build. Still, I at least have that one left over. It should be a good enough start."
WhiteSilver began inspecting the weapon, the build of it was similar to many rifles she had seen in her last life. Specifically, the rifle would've been considered an 'Early World War' weapon, with the first two world wars often being grouped together in this world. Despite it fitting in with that era, its design didn't perfectly match with any rifle she had seen from that era. Instead it was close enough to several, taking aspects and elements from various weapons and sticking them together in a hodgepodge of world war weaponry. Despite that, it was fairly simple to use. Reloading would be done automatically, although an option for manual reload was there.
Testing the weapon she fired a few times before letting the auto-reload do its thing. It was slow, painfully slow. From a gameplay perspective someone may not have complained, but as a former soldier who knew how much every second mattered, if anyone reloaded such a weapon that slowly she would've personally gone down and knocked them out cold before they even pulled out the magazine.
After a bit of looking around the UI she finally figured out how to disable automatic reload. Now when she needed to reload, all she simply had to do was remove the empty magazine and a new one to appear in her hand to which she simply placed back inside and readied the weapon again. Although the weapon was unlike any she had used in terms of overall design, the fundamentals of how reloading seemed to work remained the same as with a few weapons she had used previously.
Now ready to test her manual reload speed she again fired the full magazine of bullets. In a near instant she dislodged the empty magazine and replaced the new one, firing another volley of bullets before quickly reloading again.
"Holy shit, what kind of games did your sister play before? I didn't know Dive shooter games required you to reload." Pero exclaimed in surprise, watching as the pixie was able to reload more than twice as fast as Yggdrasil's automatic reload feature, although he was personally well aware of how slow it was, having stopped using the bow's auto-reload feature himself a long time ago.
Truthfully, however, the games she had played didn't require manual reload, although some had the option for it. Her skills came from her last life, and hopefully, so too would her aim. But that was only half of it, there was still one other part of her 'build' she needed to obtain. "Now, how do I start flying?" She asked, looking back over at the partially shocked clan members.
"I'm not really sure the stats and abilities of pixies, but I imagine like most races you probably have to invest some levels into the race first. You might even need to unlock a more elite version of pixie first," Momonga explained, reaching into his inventory and pulling out a few potions. "For now, you should focus on leveling up. You're only level one, so you're easy pickings for any PKers. I'm sure that Ulbert would naturally be helping you level up but if you want further help I'd be glad to come along and provide supporting magic."
"Indeed!" Ulbert proclaimed proudly, "Soon you shall reach level 100 and we shall bring about destruction onto Yggdrasil! Let the realms fear our mighty power! The siblings of chaos shall-"
"That's enough, Al-Sorry, Ulbert. Stop larping for five minutes so we can get started. I have work tomorrow, I don't got all day," WhiteSilver spat, giving an annoyed emoticon after a delayed few seconds of scrolling through the UI.
Ulbert laughed, "Very well, let's begin!"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
I'm uploading this fic onto QQ after having uploaded it on SB and Ao3. I'm a tad lazy so I'ma just copy/paste straight from the other sites, so these authors comments after this may be a bit out of date from when you're seeing them.
Anyways, onto the basic stuffs. Discord invite link is ( https://discord.gg/Ghn8qtkaFz ) or ( Ghn8qtkaFz ) if your fanfic website of choice chooses to break the link for some reason. You can apply to be a beta reader there which grants you early access to completed chapters in exchange for looking over them for grammar mistakes, possible rephrases, or giving suggestions on the story. Now below are the Beta Readers who read for this chapter:
Fish Tank: Baptized in fire, 40:1!
She squinted as she looked around, seeing nothing but a foggy white void stretching in all directions. Below her was what appeared to be grass, although it lacked any coloration, whiter than snow and faintly glowing in the light. Picking herself up she finally noticed the towering pillars stretching indefinitely into the distance until the fog obscured them from sight.
The pillars were Greek, or perhaps Roman in style, as clear of a sign as any of what or rather who she was about to meet. She sighed and clenched her fists as she turned to face the man who had seemingly appeared from nothing. The shining light obscured the man's face, however it was easy to make out his tall muscular build and majestic beard; a spitting image of the abrahamic interpretation of 'god.'
Tanya groaned with annoyance, "I'm dead now, huh? Guess one of the various 'struggles' you threw at me finally did the trick… So now what? Are you satisfied? You've proven me wrong in one aspect; not even dire straits is enough to bring someone onto the path of your so-called 'faith.'"
The man, although his face was unreadable in the brightness of the light, appeared disappointed, or perhaps annoyed at the small girl before him. "I have given you what many people would kill to have; a second chance at life. Yet despite everything you continue to spit in the face of your creator."
Tanya folded her arms, looking more annoyed by the second. "You say that as if you didn't throw me into a world on the verge of war and proceeded to make my life actively worse all to prove some point. What kind of person would kill for this kind of torture? More importantly, what kind of God would be so petty as to try all of this? Even if by some chance you are the creator, you have no right to authority, you are no god. You're just a powerful man with an even more powerful ego. As soon as society develops proper liberal ideals of democracy and the free market principles of capitalism, faith begins to decline. There is no need to cling to a god in a world where man can forge their own future, especially not a god who sits by and lets the world's atrocities happen."
The man, or Being X as Tanya constantly referred to him as, didn't seem to be listening. Rather his annoyance appeared to only grow. With a heavy sigh he shook his head. "I tire of this," he began. "It is clear that I cannot convince you. I only wish that I had a proper hell to send you to… Well… I suppose…"
Being X was lost in thought for a moment, although his face soon distorted, as if a smug grin had grown on his covered face. "While it would be fun to wipe your memories and watch your soul get reincarnated until it finally found faith in me, there is one place I can send you…"
Being X took a step forward, Tanya taking a step backwards in response.
"If you wish to praise that materialistic free market so much, then how about I show you the end result of that endeavor. I hate to go back on my word, but consider this third life a wake up call; a final mercy I am showing you. Once it is again your time, I do hope that you've finally realized where that line of thinking gets you…"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Tana groaned to herself as she recalled Being X's last words to her. This was her third life now and readjusting to entirely different worlds was getting exhausting. At least this time around she was back in Japan, seemingly her Japan and not some Akitsushima Dominion like what existed in her previous life.
She typed away at the computer on her desk, trying to distract herself from memories that only served to annoy her.
This life was… Annoying to say the least. To say it was as stressful as the chaos that was living on the frontlines would be an exaggeration, however the conditions this world was in was just plain horrible.
Tana, formerly Tanya in her previous life, had always been of the belief that a free market and a democratic government was the right and proper structure of a society. Even now, she still believes that, however even she can admit where that system failed. She had always stressed the importance of keeping the government out of the economy, but upon seeing this world, she also now understood the equal importance of keeping the economy out of the government.
Corporations now control the world, and when a few corporations control the government and those same corporations also have full control of the economy, the end result is basically the same as the government controlling the economy, at least as far as Tana was concerned. To her, corporatism of this degree looped back around to being communism, except instead of lying that wealth would be distributed equally, they lied that the markets were truly free enough for one to rise the ranks.
With corporations controlling everything, any restrictions on making sure the world was a habitable place were reduced to nothing; the world was a toxic hellhole that would've made the inventor of mustard gas jealous… And simultaneously cause him to weep, considering his contributions to agriculture that no longer existed.
She soon finished typing up a report, exporting the document and emailing it around to a few people who needed it before moving onto another task.
Once again she was yet an ordinary salaryman. Unfortunately, however, she was forced to crawl up the corporate ladder from the very bottom. Unlike her last world where hard work and dedication truly could get any member of society upwards in any self-respecting organization, in this world things were hardly fair. As far as documents were concerned, she only had a middle school education, and although her brain was far above even a college level education, she had no real way to prove that. Without a high school education she couldn't get into college, and already being in her twenties, she couldn't hope to get into high school either.
High school unfortunately cost money to enter, most being privatized. Only up to middle school was actually covered by the government; and even that being solely so that the workers had the bare minimum knowledge needed to work either office jobs or manual labor. With her parents having died in a horrific work accident, she and her brother had been completely on their own.
At least I'm not completely alone this time… She thought to herself before returning to focus as she worked away at her computer, shuffling through a few tabs on out of date software which looked like it had hardly advanced from when she died in the early 21st century.
Her job wasn't bad, and with her older brother getting into the workforce early to cover for their now dead parents, she had enough time to secure a decent job. As thanks she and him still live together, neither of them having the money alone to afford anything more than the poorest quality apartments. At least by combining their wealth, which thanks to her slightly better job was mostly Tana's own money, they could afford a somewhat decent apartment with at least mediocre living standards. If nothing else, it stopped the toxic air from leaking into their living room.
Soon a notification appeared at the bottom right of her screen, alerting her that her shift was up. On many days she would have to work late in order to make up for an influx of work, but she was fortunate enough that she was done with all of her major tasks, meaning she got to go home at a reasonable time. Packing up a few of her belongings, she headed towards the exit where she put on her face mask, goggles, and a full bodysuit, both meant to protect against the harsh toxic conditions found outside.
The journey home was as uneventful as ever, or rather nothing was out of the ordinary. The vast neon lights of Neo Tokyo had ceased to amaze her after her first week outside. Although the technological marvels were impressive, they were vastly overshadowed by the soullessness of it all. Never would she think to have such disdain for the corporate world, even if she thought that this was a twisted perversion of capitalism, one most likely brought upon by Being X.
As usual she saw the occasional homeless beggars, some fortunate enough to have some form of protection, but many completely exposed to the acid rain and toxic air, causing their bodies to look tumorous and molding, likely filled with countless diseases scientists are too scared to name.
Still, none of these surprised her in the slightest. She had seen it all already at this point, and likely would see far worse before the month's end. This world was a truly awful place… And if God truly was real, there would be no way he would let it get this bad. I never read the christian bible, or any bible for that matter, but I once read that the rainbow was once god's promise to humanity. If that was the case, then where are those rainbows now? None are in the skies, only in the polluted puddles of sewage and toxic water that burns into the roads and sidewalks, shining unnaturally in the burning neon lights of this living contradiction to God's existence.
Eventually she arrived at the apartment building, riding up the elevator to her floor where she entered the passkey into the electronic keypad. A clicking sound was heard as she turned the doorknob and walked inside.
There she saw the lights already on, her older brother sitting at the table in the kitchen, slowly eating a brown gelatin of processed… stuff. She didn't really know what the 'meat slabs' were made of, nor did she want to know. However with the state of the food industry as a whole, most foods that weren't more expensive than her yearly salary tended to be little more than processed slabs of nutrition with artificial flavoring injected into it.
Walking inside she removed her various layers of protection and walked over to the coffee machine. Placing a tablet into the top of the machine, she let it start running. The machine whirred and buzzed for a few moments before hot 'coffee-flavored liquid' began pouring out of the dispenser. She absolutely hated the drink, but it was the closest she had. She wasn't even sure if coffee beans existed anymore, nor did she have the money to buy some if they did.
As she waited for her mug to fill she turned to see her brother, Albert, waving at her, "Yo Tana! How was work?"
Tana shrugged in response, looking back towards her mug to watch it slowly filling up. "It was fine as usual, some guys are slacking behind as usual, but it's nothing that impacts me too much. Work's slow this time of year, I should probably have a few more days off here soon. How's your job going?"
Albert stretched his arms behind his head, groaning, "How do you think it's going? Some asshole managed to clog the assembly line today, it took us two fucking hours to get it fixed. I'd shake the man's hand for giving me a break from my job if not for the fact that fixing it was ten times more of a headache. I'm just lucky they don't like paying people more than they have to so I was able to go home at a normal time. That's the next shift's problem now. They're probably still trying to fix the damn thing."
"I'm sure you could get a better job if you tried enough," Tana explained, to which Albert simply sighed.
"We've discussed this before, we both know it's not that easy… No, now that I have a job like this on my resume, none of those nicer office jobs will take me seriously. Trust me, I've tried. I'll just have to stick with what I got and hope I can find a promotion somewhere…"
Tana just sighed, picking up her mug and taking a sip of her artificial coffee. If she had been given this coffee in her last life, she would've spit it out instantly and gotten whoever had given it to her shot for attempted poisoning of a superior officer.
But this wasn't her last life, and this was the best she had. And she had spent way too much on that coffee maker to not at least use it.
Tana changed the subject. "So, I presume you're going to be logging onto that RPG of yours shortly?"
Albert nodded, "You know, you could always join me, I'm sure the clan would love to have an extra member! Together we could bring chaos and destruction across the nine realms!"
Tana sat down across from Albert, leaning against the back of the chair and taking another sip of her 'notffee.' "The answer's still probably no. I'm more into shooters if anything, I don't know if I could jump right into a high fantasy combat system of spells, swords, and bows."
Gaming had become one of the only forms of entertainment they had, and with how far gaming technology had come, it wasn't actually all too bad either. With the DIVE systems and neural chips just about everyone now had in their heads, you could fully immerse yourself into the games rather than just playing them through a screen. She had played a bit of strategy games and shooters in her first life, although not as extensively as she did now. With her past experience as a soldier, she was surprisingly good with many of the shooter games, with those having taken her primary focus as a result, although her brother had taken interest in a game called 'Yggdrasil.'
A smug grin grew on Albert's face as Tana raised an eyebrow in anticipation. "Well actually, the devs apparently just added a gunner class to the game alongside a bunch of rifles and more modern weaponry. There's also some gundam stuff now apparently if that's what you want."
Tana took another sip and thought for a moment. With a sigh she asked, "Is there by chance a way to fly in that game?"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Momonga appeared in the middle of the clan's meeting room. It was a simple room, with a few chairs and tables scattered around for various purposes. It was a rented space, one not meant for much permanence, but it served its purpose well enough.
Momonga looked down at the skeletal hands of his undead avatar, moving them around briefly before looking back up and at his peers. He had logged in a bit later than usual today, the trip home had a few hiccups that caused him to get home late. Still, the difference was miniscule as it simply meant everyone was online a bit before him today.
Looking around he saw many of his fellow members of the clan Nine's Own Goal, many of them already conversing among themselves and preparing for various expeditions. It seemed that there would be no major operation today, just basic errands and grinding. In a game with as much freedom as Yggdrasil, everyone had something different they wanted to do. Whether it be grinding data crystals for a new weapon or trying to get a specific rare drop, getting everyone on board with a single task required said task to be of significant importance. For now though, it appeared that there was no such task.
'Now… what should I do today?' Momonga thought to himself, folding his arms and lightly tapping his finger against his elbow as he looked at a map on his UI. 'I suppose there's not much I urgently need to do, might as well see who might need some help today.'
Before he could properly get started, he noticed a light glow as a player spawned in front of him. The player was a demon, his face that of a goat with large sharp-edged horns growing out the top. His attire was a little over-the-top, but it was fairly normal by Yggdrasil standards. The notification that appeared on Momonga's UI informed him of who this was, although he already knew very well; [Friend Ulbert Alain Odle is now online].
Instantly Ulbert appeared to be messing with his UI, although Momonga could not see what he was pressing. As he began to seemingly begin typing, Momonga approached him. "Ulbert, how have you been!"
The demon raised his goat-like head, turning to face Momonga as a smiley emoticon appeared, "Ah, Momonga, it's been a few days since I've seen you. Sorry, I've been having to log on a bit later due to my work schedule."
Momonga returned a smiley emoticon, the only way to express emotions in the game considering facial expressions didn't really exist, nodding. "Don't sweat it, though I hope work's not been too hard on you. Though judging by your tone of voice you seem excited about something."
From behind Momonga heard a familiar cutesy voice shout "Ulberts excited! Everyone take cover! Behind me!"
The voice came from a gelatinous blob of pink slime named Bukubukuchagama. Despite being visually just a slime, she was one of the tankier members of the clan, so it naturally made sense that she'd be the one protecting everyone. That being said, friendly fire didn't exist in Yggdrasil, so her warning was more teasing than anything.
Ulbert shook his head and explained, "I finally managed to convince my younger sister to download and play Yggdrasil. She's always been more into shooters and the occasional strategy game, but with the devs adding rifles to the game I've been able to convince her."
Another player walked over, this one a towering birdman who placed himself next to Bukubukuchagama. This was Peroroncino, the guild's top archer and Buku's younger brother. Tilting his head he exclaimed "I didn't know you had a sister! But isn't Yggdrasil somewhat of a strategy game itself if you think about it? Surely you could've convinced her of that."
Ulbert shook his head and sent up an exhausted emoticon. "No, it's more of a map-based strategy game. Something involving countries and armies and stuff like that. She's arguably more into history than I am. Some game about iron hearts or something. The game was released over a hundred years ago, but it's still getting DLC extensions."
Pero sent the same exhausted emoticon. "Ah… She's one of those."
"Yeah, but she should be done customizing her character here soon, she seems to be going for a build based around flight and rifle usage, so I told her to make her base race a Pixie," Ulbert explained.
Momonga scratched his chin. "An aerial shooter… Considering the lack of much support for the new gunner classes, I feel like it may lean into the territory of a dream build. Though I cannot refute that on paper it sounds very viable. Only issue I can see is that it would take a whole lot of skill with flight and evasiveness considering how much you'd need to sacrifice on defense."
Dream builds were the term used by players for builds that weren't exactly made to be optimal. Instead, they were met to fill an aesthetic or for roleplay purposes. In most games this wouldn't matter, but with Yggdrasil often placing hard caps on party sizes, it often meant that getting paired with one was more a detriment than anything. Nine's Own Goal was accepting enough to allow them without complaint, however other guilds were far less welcoming.
Pero meanwhile nodded in agreement. "There aren't many people good with Yggdrasil's flight mechanics. It's not like there's any real world equivalents to compare it to. Are you sure your sis wouldn't rather aim for one of those gundam builds? They're a lot less versatile but they're also far more tanky… At least compared to the build they seem to be going for."
"There's no way a gundam build could last into the upper levels!" Buku protested. "Those suits fall off fast. Once you're about level 80 they're basically useless. Even if you were to specialize in them, there's no way they'd be even somewhat viable at level 100. That being said, guns are so new that it's hard to tell whether or not a gunner-based build, let alone an aerial glass canon, could be viable…"
With all these items still relatively new to the game, few knew just how to integrate them with pre-existing classes, races, and items. Whether or not they were even viable strategies and builds remained to be seen, but they were all curious how it could be executed nonetheless.
"So where is your sister now?" Momonga asked with Ulbert once again tapping at his UI.
Ulbert looked up and explained, "She's probably exploring some of the initial areas right about now, I just need to find Touch Me to send her an invite to the clan. Where is that idiot anyways?"
A few messages later and an armored insectoid appeared in the clan hall. Donned in full plate armor, the crusader-like figure was their clan leader and arguably one of the best players in the game, Touch Me.
Touch me quickly found the commotion and approached, raising his hand as he sent a smiling emoticon. "So, I hear we're adding a new member! Your sister right, Ulbert?"
Ulbert nodded. "Yes, though if you rope her in with your hero larping I will end you," Ulbert declared, a hint of annoyance present in his voice.
"You cannot blame anyone for seeking to protect JUSTICE and HONOR!" Touch Me teased with a grinning emoticon.
Ulbert sighed and sent a rolling eyes icon, folding his arms. "I've seen her gameplay of those shooter games of hers… Yeah I don't think she'll fall into that category," he muttered. "Still, I've sent you her username, send her a Clan invite already."
Touch Me's fingers tapped against the empty air, typing away at his UI before swiping it away. "There, she should have received an invitation."
A few minutes of messing around later and a short girl appeared in the rented guild hall. Despite the race of 'pixie' implying an incredibly small size, she appeared to simply be a fairly short person. Her face was not quite Japanese as it was in real life, but rather had a Germanic look to it, with her appearance having been based on her memories of her prior life. Her hair was no longer a dark charcoal black but rather a golden platinum blonde, her eyes a deep aquatic blue and her face locked in a constant appearance of apathy. After many minutes of messing with the customization system, this was the face of Tanya von Degurechaff, her identity in her last life; hence her decided username '✠WhiteSilver✠.'
Ulbert raised his hand and sent a smile emoticon towards the newcomer. "Yo! Over here! Nice avatar, I half expected you to take one of the randomized options, but it looks like you put actual effort into it. Though what's the username from?"
"Nothing in particular, I just couldn't really think of anything. So is this the clan base or whatever? Lots of interesting characters in this game," WhiteSilver stated, looking around at all the various monsters and creatures that made up Nine's Own Goal.
Ulbert quickly put his arm around her shoulder, having to somewhat bend down to do so, "Yep! The skeleton there is Momonga, he's a necromancer/spellcaster specialist. Next to him is Bukubukuchagama, that pink slime creature. She's a tank, but avoid pissing her off. Next to her is her brother Peroroncino, the birdbrain. He's a sniping specialist, specifically as an archer though. And lastly behind them is the clan leader Touch Me, unfortunately one of the best players in the game."
"What do you mean unfortunately?" Touch Me inquired, a squinting emoticon appearing next to him.
"So how do I obtain a rifle?" WhiteSilver inquired, looking up at the goat demon avatar that her brother had chosen to use. She didn't really question it, rather she wasn't surprised at all, but having casual conversations with apparent monsters was a somewhat jarring experience.
"Right… Uuuh…" Ulbert began, tapping his finger against his face.
Momonga planted his hand against his face, sighing, "You didn't even bother to find out how to get a rifle before getting her to join solely on the promise of it?"
"Well… You know…" Ulbert began, scratching behind his head as the sighs of the other guild members could be heard.
Pero casually opened his inventory, pulling a low level rifle out of it and walking over to hand it to the pixie alongside a decent amount of ammo. She took it and froze for a few moments before a smiling emoticon finally appeared. "There we go, that's where that menu is. I was wondering where the buttons for those things were. Anyhow, thank you uuh… Per-Perry?"
"Peroroncino, but just call me Pero, full usernames are too long," Pero clarified. "I got that rifle close to when they first released not long ago. I thought it might be a decent addition to my build, but the rifles are far different to use than a bow and arrow, so I decided against adjusting my build. Still, I at least have that one left over. It should be a good enough start."
WhiteSilver began inspecting the weapon, the build of it was similar to many rifles she had seen in her last life. Specifically, the rifle would've been considered an 'Early World War' weapon, with the first two world wars often being grouped together in this world. Despite it fitting in with that era, its design didn't perfectly match with any rifle she had seen from that era. Instead it was close enough to several, taking aspects and elements from various weapons and sticking them together in a hodgepodge of world war weaponry. Despite that, it was fairly simple to use. Reloading would be done automatically, although an option for manual reload was there.
Testing the weapon she fired a few times before letting the auto-reload do its thing. It was slow, painfully slow. From a gameplay perspective someone may not have complained, but as a former soldier who knew how much every second mattered, if anyone reloaded such a weapon that slowly she would've personally gone down and knocked them out cold before they even pulled out the magazine.
After a bit of looking around the UI she finally figured out how to disable automatic reload. Now when she needed to reload, all she simply had to do was remove the empty magazine and a new one to appear in her hand to which she simply placed back inside and readied the weapon again. Although the weapon was unlike any she had used in terms of overall design, the fundamentals of how reloading seemed to work remained the same as with a few weapons she had used previously.
Now ready to test her manual reload speed she again fired the full magazine of bullets. In a near instant she dislodged the empty magazine and replaced the new one, firing another volley of bullets before quickly reloading again.
"Holy shit, what kind of games did your sister play before? I didn't know Dive shooter games required you to reload." Pero exclaimed in surprise, watching as the pixie was able to reload more than twice as fast as Yggdrasil's automatic reload feature, although he was personally well aware of how slow it was, having stopped using the bow's auto-reload feature himself a long time ago.
Truthfully, however, the games she had played didn't require manual reload, although some had the option for it. Her skills came from her last life, and hopefully, so too would her aim. But that was only half of it, there was still one other part of her 'build' she needed to obtain. "Now, how do I start flying?" She asked, looking back over at the partially shocked clan members.
"I'm not really sure the stats and abilities of pixies, but I imagine like most races you probably have to invest some levels into the race first. You might even need to unlock a more elite version of pixie first," Momonga explained, reaching into his inventory and pulling out a few potions. "For now, you should focus on leveling up. You're only level one, so you're easy pickings for any PKers. I'm sure that Ulbert would naturally be helping you level up but if you want further help I'd be glad to come along and provide supporting magic."
"Indeed!" Ulbert proclaimed proudly, "Soon you shall reach level 100 and we shall bring about destruction onto Yggdrasil! Let the realms fear our mighty power! The siblings of chaos shall-"
"That's enough, Al-Sorry, Ulbert. Stop larping for five minutes so we can get started. I have work tomorrow, I don't got all day," WhiteSilver spat, giving an annoyed emoticon after a delayed few seconds of scrolling through the UI.
Ulbert laughed, "Very well, let's begin!"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
I'm uploading this fic onto QQ after having uploaded it on SB and Ao3. I'm a tad lazy so I'ma just copy/paste straight from the other sites, so these authors comments after this may be a bit out of date from when you're seeing them.
Anyways, onto the basic stuffs. Discord invite link is ( https://discord.gg/Ghn8qtkaFz ) or ( Ghn8qtkaFz ) if your fanfic website of choice chooses to break the link for some reason. You can apply to be a beta reader there which grants you early access to completed chapters in exchange for looking over them for grammar mistakes, possible rephrases, or giving suggestions on the story. Now below are the Beta Readers who read for this chapter:
Fish Tank: Baptized in fire, 40:1!
Chapter II - The Nine Realms Trembled
SwissChocolatess
Shalltear is all and all is Shalltear
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2023
- Messages
- 16
"Party at 2 o'clock heading southwards at standard walking speed, approximately 440 units out."
WhiteSilver watched as a volley of blazing red orbs of flame erupted from the small group almost directly below her. It flew quickly, arching over the skies, and within moments struck the unsuspecting party of players. By the time they realized what was approaching them, it was far too late to retreat or to throw together barriers. The orbs landed amidst their ranks, massive explosions rocking the ground below. Instantly the entire party was dead, destroyed in an instant.
The attack that had struck them was [Calamity Bombardment], a Super-Tier spell of the World Disaster class. Her brother was quite proud of being one of the few that had it, but still sought to truly master it, thanks to her advice. [Calamity Bombardment] was always among the spells in his arsenal that was rarely ever used due to how finicky it was. It was a spell built for long-range, and it was impossible to fire fully straight. Instead, all firing angles had to be at least 30 degrees upwards, and it had to have an uninterrupted pathway the entire way through.
Due to this fact, the spell was really only useful in a few very niche situations. Unless you were fighting someone up some very steep high ground or had perfect distractions, someone very far away that you could see the incoming projectiles, likely due to you being on high ground or in an open field, or even if an enemy was lured into a location you knew ahead of time, you wouldn't be able to easily hit it since they could always flee.
While you could fire it nearly straight up, allowing you to attack a target at a far closer distance, the time it would take to go all the way up and then come all the way back down made it incredibly easy to dodge or anticipate, especially considering its initial casting time not being exactly short either.
Fortunately, you could decide what angle to fire at when the casting time for the spell was done as long as it met the minimum 30 degrees, meaning you didn't need to predict where the enemy would be and instead you could aim when you were actually ready to fire.
For all of the spell's shortcomings, its range was insane compared to most, even compared to other Super-Tier spells. Being capable of firing out several miles away, the person firing it was effectively a nuclear artillery gun firing further than most enemies could even spot you, and with enough firepower to one-shot anyone but tanks if you landed a direct hit, it was a spell that almost rivaled [Grand Catastrophe], the apex of the World Disaster class, in damage output.
However, if one were to know exactly where their enemies were, especially ones several miles away – or several hundred 'units' as the game had no consistent frame of reference for height – then the spell could suddenly become a very viable tool to take out potentially dangerous parties before they were even close enough to spot them, especially if you had an excellent scout.
That's where WhiteSilver came in. She had been playing long enough to reach almost Level 80, allowing her to at least hold her own in combat against higher-level players, so long as she avoided being hit. While this cut her out of a direct combat role aside from basic support, she could easily return to her old days as an artillery spotter, enabling her allies to rain hell upon their enemies. Except now that artillery was a goat demon firing off nuclear-sized bombardment spells, and occasionally a bird man from somewhat shorter long ranges.
Her Pixie race levels granted her three things that helped in this aspect: flight, illusionary magic, and vision/sense improvement spells. Because of this she could fly high in the air for relatively cheap, apply illusionary magic to hide herself from prying eyes, and use vision-based spells to spot enemies from afar. For most players, this wasn't a viable ability combination option, as ultimately even those with all those abilities wouldn't have the skills required to properly gauge the distance of enemies for the sole purpose of bombardment. At most one might use it for basic recon, but aiming a Super-Tier spell to hit a target miles away was unheard of in the global player community. At least until now.
Although it had taken some practice to get the angles right for the proper distances, a good few days of harsh training from WhiteSilver and she managed to get her brother, Ulbert, to become incredibly accurate with it. Peroroncino had once tried to join in, but a few hours of grinding later he had left, citing wanting to get used to orbital bombardment of archery before rejoining.
Satisfied with the latest bombardment, she flew down towards the players' loot as her brother quickly dashed over from the hidden ground as well. She soon landed next to the dropped items, her brother appearing shortly afterward. Although flight made her faster than a base walking speed, it was far less quick and agile than she would've liked, even with all of her levels in the Pixie class. She would have to look into spells or items that may help with that, but for now, there wasn't much.
Ulbert began to crouch down and survey the items dropped. In Yggdrasil, players who died didn't drop all their items, but they did drop their most important ones first. Most important in this specific scenario was the fact that World Items, the strongest items in the game, would almost always drop if a player was killed possessing them, turning any World Item holder into a massive target. Realistically it would be impractical to kill every player you found and hoped one of them had a World Item, but if you knew of a player who had one and were expecting them to come by… Then you had yourself a nice target to turn into digital ashes.
She soon began helping her brother with the inspections, picking up a chunk of a green stone, glowing faintly with small star-like lights twinkling within it. Her UI informed her that the stone was 'Celestial Uranium,' an ore she had learned to be one of the prismatic ores of the game. Fairly valuable, sure, but not what they were looking for. Momonga would enjoy squirreling it away though
"Although these are quite nice drops, none of these seem like World Items to me, are you sure you're really onto something?" WhiteSilver asked, looking at Ulbert whose body posture gave the impression of his annoyance.
"No, they're not. But I'm confident that my informant is correct. He said that he's looking for a rare drop from one of the mobs in this forest. He comes here frequently to grind away at it in hopes of obtaining it. Chances are, they're saving it for when there is a more powerful enemy somewhere," Ulbert explained, picking up the remaining loot and storing it away.
"If we keep blasting everyone that enters this forest to kingdom come he's going to eventually hear about it and grow cautious. How do you even know for certain that he has this world item on him?" WhiteSilver questioned, giving an annoyed emoticon.
Ulbert began to explain, "He got in a fight with an acquaintance of mine and a former friend of his; really pissed him off, and in response he gave all this intel to me. The guy doesn't have a guild or a clan and so he doesn't have a proper base to put his item, and since he hasn't publicly come out and announced that he has it, he just keeps it on him. Issue is, whenever he enters a dangerous PvP situation, he instantly bails. He has a dozen cash shop items that help him do so in addition to his own skills as a rogue class, along with his general skills. So if we want to actually kill him, he needs to go down in one shot, specifically in one shot that he doesn't see coming."
WhiteSilver nodded along at his explanation, commenting, "I suppose that does make sense. Do you know what World Item we're specifically going after though?"
Ulbert shrugged. "I don't think even his friend knew. All I know is that it's a very dangerous item to be in the hands of someone who doesn't exactly have the best opinion of Nine's Own Goal and Heteromorph players in general."
"Well, I suppose we'll just have to continue then. It'd be a whole lot easier if I could just cast the spells directly from the skies, instead of needing to play the artillery spotter role," WhiteSilver grumbled, stretching and reactivating her flight, her bug-like fairy wings fluttering on her back as she did, taking to the skies.
Ulbert didn't move for a few moments, hand under the muzzle of his goat-like head as he appeared to be typing. "You know what, I think we should call it here for today. Head back to the clan base, maybe find someone to help with refining your build. You still have a few more levels to go, after all."
WhiteSilver seemed confused, but shrugged it off, teleporting away as she assumed her brother simply had other things to do. It wasn't uncommon, after all, there were so many players in the clan to play with, and oftentimes missions required a full team of max-level players, something that she had yet to fully achieve, being only around level 80. She could only contribute to the lower-level quests, albeit since most of the clan was maxed out she had practically a buffet of options to choose from.
Appearing back in the Clan base, she noticed it to be unsurprisingly empty. Most people had already headed out for the day, forming together with groups or going out on their own; most members of the clan didn't have terribly long to play each day and so made the most of every moment they could.
Still though, one player remained in the hall, distracted with some items in his hands, likely inspecting them. WhiteSilver recognized the player as Momonga, a player of the Overlord race, basically a large undead skeleton. Regardless of his conventionally scary avatar, he was a close friend of her brother, though she had only limited interactions with him directly due to their initial split in player goals. She had focused hard on regaining her abilities to fly, dodge, and spot in the early levels after all.
With the guild hall empty, Momonga spotted her rather quickly. Waving his oversized skeletal hand in her direction, he sent a smiling emoticon. "Ah, WhiteSilver! I assume Ulbert should be here shortly."
WhiteSilver shrugged and approached him, explaining, "He said to go off on my own for now. He seems to be busy with something."
Momonga nodded in understanding. "I see, it's probably best to leave him to it. What are your plans now, then?"
WhiteSilver opened up a map on her UI, looking around at it as she thought of what to do. She leaned her head against her hand as she thought, Momonga quickly taking notice.
"Well if you're undecided, I could always help you with leveling up. Once you're level 100 you'll be able to go on a lot more quests and no longer have to worry about grinding," Momonga offered, placing the items he was inspecting back into his inventory and standing up.
WhiteSilver closed the map with her hand as she responded, "I suppose I have nothing better to do. Your masses of summoned undead should work quite well as a distraction while I blast them from the sky."
"Perfect. Follow me, I know a good area for grinding where the mobs are weak to explosive damage, it should be perfect for you."
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Momonga watched from an elevated position, before him were over a hundred summons, mostly skeletons and various undead. As he watched, large beasts made of stone tore through them, eyes glowing an intimidating red as they easily destroyed the low-level summons. Fortunately though, the summons weren't meant to be more than a nuisance to the monsters, just serve as a direction.
From above three beams of red light soared to the ground, erupting into massive explosions as they made impact with their targets, sending dirt flying across the area. Each bullet landed soundly and precisely between the eyes of the golems, landing critical blows that instantly dropped their HP to zero.
With a tap of a button on his UI, his undead army stopped its attack, parting ways and making a path for him to walk through. Momonga walked up to the item drops the monsters had left behind, inspecting the stones for any rare materials as he always did.
Shortly afterwards the pixie WhiteSilver hovered down beside him, kicking up a stone into her hands as she glanced at the direction the monsters had come from. "That's all of em' then? How long does it take for them to respawn?"
Momonga tossed the ore in his hands to the pixie who caught it and stored it away in their inventory without a word. "Shouldn't be too long if I remember correctly, we have a few minutes. Though for level 80 it's surprising just how quickly you were able to clear the area of them."
WhiteSilver stored away her weapon and sat on a nearby rock, filtering through her inventory to survey the drops she had obtained from the initial wave of the monsters. "I suppose it's a sign that my build's coming along well. I was hoping I could find a good way to increase my defense more, but the only option I have left to increase it in any significant capacity is to either invest levels into a more defensive class or invest in proper armor. The latter isn't really viable as it would basically cut down on my agility and limit my flight."
"Ah right, I almost forgot the weight system…" Momonga commented. The weight system wasn't something most players really needed to worry about, but for min-maxxers and for certain builds, it was vital. Weight impacted things like knockback and agility, playing into player strength and buffs. Heavier characters took less knockback, making it advantageous for tanks, reinforced by their brute strength. Meanwhile, lighter characters moved faster and could make the most out of their agility stat, making lighter armor more advantageous for more agile builds. Of course, many builds couldn't wear armor either way, but when it came to races with innate flight abilities, having too much weight would slow down one's flight, if not outright prevent it with the heavier armors.
As a spellcaster whose feet were always firmly planted on the ground, it was never much of a concern for him, but it made sense how it would be a much bigger deal for a flight-oriented build like WhiteSilver's. Meanwhile, the pixie continued, "While investing in a tankier class might be a good decision, it would mean dropping many opportunities to boost my firepower by taking levels in such classes, which is also annoying."
Momonga began to fully understand. "So it's a choice between sacrificing firepower for a more well-rounded build, or going full-on glass cannon, right?"
"Precisely. However, with my flight and illusion magic, it suddenly becomes a lot easier to avoid taking hits, so perhaps it's a good trade-off," WhiteSilver thought out loud.
"For most players I'd suggest taking the safer option. The glass cannon build you're making is certainly powerful, but it requires an exceptional amount of skill in evasion and flight mechanics that most players don't have. That being said, I don't think I've ever seen someone actually master the flight system like you have. And here I thought it was just a mediocre mode of transportation completely unviable for combat before you came along."
WhiteSilver grunted and pulled out a boot from her inventory. It seemed somewhat mechanical in nature, fully metallic with a flat bottom with glowing lines along it. "It kind of is," She muttered, looking at the boot.
"What's that boot for?" Momonga asked, looking down at the pixie who seemed annoyed at the item, even if her avatar's facial expressions remained unmoving.
"It was an experiment, I suppose. An attempt to increase my maneuverability in the air. Aerial movement always felt clunky, I was trying to fix it. Unfortunately, the boots I created function as little more than a glorified jump pack. Its ability to boost me while already in the air is basically non-existent," she explained, tossing it back in her inventory as she lifted herself up. "There might be a class, spell, or item that could help me, but if it exists it's not been discovered yet, or at least not publicized yet. And I'll be damned if I have to spend real money on it."
"Spoken like a true member of the No Cash Item Alliance," Momonga laughed. A question mark then appeared next to the pixie's head as she tapped on her UI, causing Momonga to explain, "It's a pact between a few of us here in the clan to never use cash shop items. Your brother is an avid member of it, so I assumed he roped you into it."
"I wouldn't say I'm completely opposed to Cash Items. Should I have been in a better financial situation I probably wouldn't mind too much considering this is a free-to-play game, although being on the poorer end of the playerbase I can understand how frustrating the pay-to-win style of this game can be, even if I do understand its existence."
Momonga nodded to her response, commenting, "I get it. Though it's interesting how light you are on the subject considering your brother. With how calm you tend to be I sometimes forget you're related to him."
"Ulbert is… chaotic. But in the real world, he's surprisingly normal, if a bit prone to anger at times. If I had to guess, this is where he goes to let it out. We didn't have much of a childhood, him especially. When our parents died I was too young to work, even by corporate standards. Instead, my brother had to take the first job he could land in an assembly line to keep us going. Thanks to him I was able to get a half-decent job as a salarywoman. With how poor his job is and with how mediocre mine is, we still live together solely so that we can combine our limited wealth to live at least decently." She sighed and returned her rifle to her hand, hefting it in the direction of the respawn area. "Sorry, I've gone off-topic. Pretend I said nothing."
WhiteSilver quickly launched into the sky, reaching higher altitudes as the stone monsters began to respawn and advance against his summons. Momonga thought to say something for a moment but decided not to pry into her personal life too much. He knew she and Ulbert had it hard, even if he wasn't much better off himself. Yggdrasil was meant as an escape from the harshness of reality, it wasn't his place to push it further. He knew many others came here for the same.
Without another word said, the streaks of light once more rained down onto the monsters, large explosions lighting up the rocky mountainside. Momonga, of course, had a part to play. A small part, sure, but he would play it to perfection. "[Undeath Army]!"
His friends had decided to make this their home, and he would protect that joy with all his might.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
The last stone dragon collapsed as a massive explosion engulfed its torso, tearing it into falling boulders before fading away into a cloud of particle effects. It had been a few hours and WhiteSilver's grinding progress had been impressive. With ten levels of progress having been made so far, the Pixie player was now level 92, with the two of them having moved on to the stronger dragon boss that spawned nearby, switching between the normal golems and the dragon depending on their cooldowns.
"I'm surprised I managed to level up as fast as I did," WhiteSilver commented, analyzing her stat page as she distributed her points, although she held onto her levels for the time being.
Momonga began picking up the loot and explained, "With the most recent update, whether by intentional design or a bug in the code, many enemies got their XP values janked up. Some gave way too much XP while others gave way too little. The newer enemies were especially affected. Eventually, the devs readjusted their values back to reasonable levels, but every now and again players find mobs that they seem to have missed, such as most of the golems in these mountains. Tabula's made quite an effort to locate some of these. Honestly, I'm impressed by how well he can find them."
WhiteSilver nodded along with Momonga's explanation, beginning to scroll through some of the class options on her UI as she spoke, "Interesting… Explains the absurd level-up speed I've gotten. Give us a few more hours and I'd probably make it to level 100 in no time."
"Right," Momonga began, "though I'm curious, what are you putting your levels into anyways? I haven't seen you try any new spells out just yet I don't think."
"That's because I haven't spent them yet," she stated, closing her UI. "I don't really know what I want to put levels into yet. I do plan on taking your advice on going all in with the Glass Cannon build, but that being said, there's still a lot of directions I can take it. Just what kind of cannon do I want to be? Perhaps I could even spec more into some support classes, even if solely to get a bit of additional utility considering I'll often be in the backline once the spells start to fly."
"Still indecisive I see," Momonga mused. "Well, it may be best to sleep on it or perhaps do a bit of research. If you meet the requirements, the 'Disciple of Disaster' class is quite like Ulbert's World Disaster class. It might not pair the best with him, but it would certainly provide the firepower."
Ulbert's voice could suddenly be heard from behind, "Why settle for a weak class like that?" Momonga turned to see Ulbert walking over, hand raised as the dark void of the [Gate] spell closed behind him. "Tabula told me you were grinding over here, thought I'd pay a visit."
"Are you done with that business of yours?" WhiteSilver questioned, looking up at her brother.
Ulbert folded his arms and lifted his expressionless head up smugly, "Not quite! But I do require you for the rest. Momonga, it may be helpful to have you come as well."
Momonga stepped forward, rubbing his skeletal chin and inquiring, "What exactly are you doing?"
"I've organized a secret meeting with a fellow World Disaster. He'll be bringing some friends as escorts, and so I wish to bring the two of you as mine," Ulbert gladly explained.
World Disasters were a unique class, with obtaining it only being possible by killing its previous owner. For that reason, World Disaster players often had targets on their backs. Fortunately, the class wasn't one that many people actually wanted to play, even despite its usefulness in a party due to a variety of reasons. For that reason, oftentimes the only people who could properly organize a meeting or deal with a World Disaster were fellow World Disasters themselves – who couldn't steal a class they already had – and even then they rarely came alone, with it being easily assumed that anyone in a party, clan, or guild with a World Disaster wouldn't be terribly desperate for another one considering how resource-intensive or niche they could be.
"What exactly would you want with a fellow World Disaster? Are you planning to take over one of the realms or something?" Momonga questioned, a squinting expression popping up next to Momonga's skull.
Ulbert gave a hearty laugh. "Not at all! Though, that is a good idea… But no! What I want is his class! The meeting is a trap!"
"Don't you already have the World Disaster class? Is there some kind of 'World Disaster Squared' class that I've not heard of?" Momonga asked with confusion.
Ulbert lightly smacked Momonga, no damage being registered thanks to Yggdrasil's anti-friendly fire features. "Not for me! For my sister!"
WhiteSilver sent a questioning emoticon. "Me?"
Ulbert proudly nodded, moving his entire upper body in the process. Striking a dramatic pose, he waved his hand outwards, causing his cape to wave dramatically behind him for a brief moment. "Indeed! Let us bring carnage and disaster to this world together! Let the realms tremble! Let their cities burn! Let thei-"
WhiteSilver raised her hand. "Alright that's enough." She looked back over at her UI, gazing over her stats for a brief moment, considering her options and ultimately sighing. "Very well, let's do this."
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Ulbert and Momonga walked through foggy fields of decayed grass, stretching as far as the eyes could see. For many people, that distance wasn't very far thanks to the fog, however, Momonga and Ulbert could see just fine thanks to a mixture of racial traits and applied buffs.
It wasn't long before they met with the other party; a group of three individuals each at level 100. In the front was a human player, clad in crimson robes with deep crimson eyes and a comically large wizard hat upon their head. They held a large staff, likely a spellcasting focus for their other classes. Despite their more wizard-like appearance, they were very much one of the very few World Disasters that existed in Yggdrasil, easily recognizable from their feats against world-level bosses.
Behind them were two players; the first was a woman, seemingly a support player dressed in a blue dress with matching blue hair and eyes and a skirt that nearly violated Yggdrasil's TOS in terms of length; the absolute territory was strong with this one. The second was an armored fighter, the party's tank, and as analysis would show; a player of the paladin class, their armor was blindingly white and orange, a feathered pad covering their right shoulder.
Ulbert approached the group, standing in front of Momonga while maintaining a good distance away from the trio in front of him. "Thank you for coming, I'm glad you could arrive on such short notice. Us World Disasters need to stick together."
The fellow World Disaster – hardly more than a teenage girl – proudly struck a pose, acting more stand-outish than even Ulbert often did. "Hahaha! Indeed! The nine realms cower wherever we move! Our path of destruction leaves nothing but the ashes of the realms behind! Our meeting shall shake the very foundations of the world tree itself! Pray tell, what business does thou bringeth?"
"My sincerest apologies for being so cryptic when organizing this meeting, I'm sure you'll understand how it would be best if others did not find out about this too soon. But I believe I have found a bug with some of our spells as of the most recent update. The bug… Well, it'd be a lot easier to show you. Do you mind if I launch an attack right between the two of us? It is a basic [Catastrophic Blast] spell, so it shouldn't hit you if I aim it right in the middle," Ulbert stated, leaning forward.
The chuuni wizard nodded, "Very well! Though I'm sure you'll understand if I apply some resistances first just in case. Arch-Priest!"
The blue priestess behind her raised her staff, the World Disaster and her allies glowing one color after another as various barriers and buffs were applied. Momonga watched closely as Ulbert turned and glanced in his direction. With a subtle nod, Ulbert continued.
"If you're ready, I am launching my attack! [Catastrophic Blast]!" Ulbert pointed to the ground between them and tapped on the spell's icon in his UI. In the same instant, a meteor materialized in the sky, immediately beginning to fly down rapidly towards the ground, flames erupting along its sides as it made its way down. Hovering behind where the meteor spawned was WhiteSilver, who quickly moved with the attack, soaring as fast as her flight system would allow as it plummeted into the ground.
The attack soon made impact, a large explosion filling the space between Ulbert and the other World Disaster. In the cloud of fire and smoke, WhiteSilver moved, closing the distance before the bayonet of her rifle found its way into the World Disaster's chest, straight through the heart. The various colored glows previously applied to the mage appeared one by one only to instantly shatter as they reappeared.
Without a moment to react, WhiteSilver shouted, "[Assassination]!"
A bang was heard and the World Disaster's HP instantly dropped to zero, turning them into a pixelated body. The crusader, although startled, leaped forward and slashed her sword at the pixie, who simply leaped into the air and took to the skies. In response, the priest angrily began firing volleys of ranged magical attacks, each expertly dodged by WhiteSilver as she increased her elevation.
Ulbert glanced back down at the remaining two members of the party, watching as the Crusader's focus shifted from the flying pixie to the grounded demon and skeleton. "That might be our cue to leave," Ulbert explained.
Momonga nodded, tapping on his UI. "[Greater Teleportation]!" The two appeared atop a nearby hill hidden well by the fog, surveying the situation. Momonga watched as the priestess's spells continued to miss their target, both from the priestess' inaccuracy and WhiteSilver's own evasive skills. Invested in watching the spectacle, he mused, "I didn't know the gunner class had a spell that powerful…"
Ulbert was surprised, a shocked expression appearing next to his avatar. "You didn't know about their [Assassination] spell? As someone who specs a lot into instant death magic, you'd think you'd at least hear about it."
"Huh?! Gunners get instant death magic?!" Momonga exclaimed in shock.
Ulbert just nodded and shrugged. "Since it's a projectile that can be relatively easily blocked, dodged, or otherwise interfered with, it's arguably a lot harder to nullify than most instant death abilities. Issue is actually landing a hit with it, even if it's designed to be some of a gunner's strongest abilities. For it to work, you have to fully pierce whatever armor you're facing, whether it be magical or physical. Gunners can do damage without fully piercing something, but Assassination won't work if it doesn't. Furthermore, some instant death protections and general buffs can still nullify it, but they're usually dependent on extremely expensive pay-to-win items."
"Sounds about right. She got really lucky that the other player didn't have too many buffs applied. What kind of idiot goes to a meeting like this without basic anti-PKing defenses?" Momonga questioned, turning to see Ulbert just shaking his head with his arms folded. Confused, he questioned, "Am I wrong about something?"
"Their defenses were actually pretty standard if I had to guess. Perhaps even above standard," Ulbert stated. "However, WhiteSilver's bayonet has quite a lot of data on it. Most people wouldn't bother with a bayonet or would apply mostly offensive buffs and modifiers to it. WhiteSilver however stocked that thing full of only piercing capabilities and debuffs. Specifically, debuffs to counter things like anti-death protection and other general defensive and vitality buffs. After she snuck with my attack as cover, she stabbed the player and broke all of their buffs before shooting them point-blank with the [Assassination] spell to ensure it didn't miss or get blocked by some other means."
"That's… Actually a pretty terrifying combination, albeit very risky considering her build," Momonga recognized, though quickly acknowledged, "Though, knowing her, she probably could pull it off consistently."
Ulbert simply laughed. "I mean she pulled it off there! And look at her! She hasn't even taken any damage yet!"
"Speaking of…" Momonga muttered, "Should we help her retreat? Instant death spells or no, those are level 100 players."
Ulbert placed his hand out to stop Momonga as he began preparing his spells. "No need. If she hasn't retreated on her own by now, she's planning something. Just sit and watch."
Momonga grew worried but went along with it. Whatever WhiteSilver had planned, he was now fully invested to see it.
Meanwhile, the bombardment of the pixie continued as she sat mid-air looking at her UI, dodging around the occasional spell that got too close for comfort. "Will you stop wasting your MP down there! I'm trying to find something!" After a bit of scrolling, she finally found it, "There! World Disaster! Max that out… Sheesh, only five levels? Well, I suppose it is an elite class. Guess I can put the remaining five into a racial class. But which one… Eh, well there's only one viable option for this class I suppose. Besides, my karma value is technically in the negatives right now, even if only slightly, so most of the popular pixie classes aren't even open to me right now. Not that I need them. The best option is right in front of me."
WhiteSilver tapped on the text 'Unseelie' and set the level all the way up to five. In an instant her avatar's appearance changed, her rounded wings with a light green hue turning to jagged wings of crimson red and bloody orange. Her skin paled and her aqua-blue eyes turned to a fiery shade of red to match her wings. Although her appearance otherwise stayed the same, her stats across the board took a noticeable increase, both from her World Disaster class and her new racial one. Tapping on one of her newfound spells, she thought of no better time to test it out.
Pointing her finger towards the remaining two on the ground, she tapped on her UI and unleashed the ultimate spell of the World Disaster class – unlocked by maxing out its level at five – [Grand Catastrophe].
A destructive surge of energy came from WhiteSilver, pouring onto the two below. In mere seconds the HP of the priestess dropped to zero with the crusader being the last one standing, HP low but not quite gone yet.
Enraged, the crusader raised their sword to the sky and shouted, "Come down here and fight me properly!"
Although her avatar remained expressionless, WhiteSilver felt a grin growing on her face. Landing down on the ground with a thud, she politely bowed and swapped out her rifle for a high-tier shovel. "As you wish, [Perfect Warrior]."
"You really think [Perfect Warrior] can compete with an actual Crusader build?! Are you insane?!" The crusader spat, readying their own blade.
WhiteSilver spun the shovel in her hand, noting the reflection of the moon shining against it through the foggy air. "You see, the tricky thing about physical attackers…" WhiteSilver failed to suppress a rising giggle, "Is that you have to actually HIT YOUR TARGET!"
The pixie dashed forward, ducking under a slash from the crusader as her fist hit their chestplate, knocking them back several feet. The crusader stumbled back but quickly secured their posture and dashed back towards WhiteSilver. The crusader's sword swung down, clashing against the pixie's shovel as she slid to the left, knocking the sword to the right before swinging the shovel back up to bang against the front of their face.
As WhiteSilver again ran towards the crusader, they brought their sword down onto her, only for her to sidestep their slash and rotate their body along the crusader's right shoulder. Arriving behind them, she lifted her shovel up and slashed along their back before kicking them away, gaining distance once more.
The pixie watched as the crusader stumbled back into posture. Even without expressions or even a visible face under their armored helmet, she could practically smell their fear through the game. WhiteSilver had never been proud of her fighting skills in her previous life, but with no real lives on the line, she would be lying if she said she wasn't enjoying it.
Having gauged the skills of the–frankly clumsy–crusader, she returned the shovel to her inventory, much to the confusion of said crusader. With a rising wave of laughter, she dashed towards her faster than ever. The crusader swung wildly, applying spells, skills, anything they had, with each and every one of them failing to hit the blitzing pixie. With each missed strike, the pixie landed a powerful blow with their fists. The damage wasn't anything impressive, but [Grand Catastrophe] had already gotten them incredibly low, and the hits were beginning to add up.
The crusader desperately swung their sword down one last time as the pixie sidestepped their swing, pushing their blade aside with their left arm as their right pulled back, launching forward as their fist punched straight through the crusader as their HP hit zero, their avatar disappearing moments after.
From atop the hill, Momonga watched in awe at the spectacle. For a brief moment he wondered why she was playing a ranged class to begin with, however, he quickly suppressed his questions. With a heavy sigh, he turned to his friend. "Ulbert…" He said, exhaustion and concern in his voice.
"Yes, Momonga?" Ulbert replied.
"Your sister scares me."
"I know. I'm so proud!"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
New Chapter is le done. Le beholdeth. I previously had a 'behind the scenes' type post-chapter post on SpaceBattles for Mage x Family a while back that people seemed to like, so if yall (specifically over at SpaceBattles, sorry other sites) wanna see something like that to get my thought process or whatnot I'd be down to start doing it again.
Discord invite link is ( https://discord.gg/Ghn8qtkaFz ) or ( Ghn8qtkaFz ) if your fanfic website of choice chooses to break the link for some reason. You can apply to be a beta reader there which grants you early access to completed chapters in exchange for looking over them for grammar mistakes, possible rephrases, or giving suggestions on the story. Now below are the Beta Readers who read for this chapter:
LuckCrusader: 2 Kings 2:23-24
Dr. Rx: No need for an annoying Being X this time around to rain hell upon her enemies from above.
Fish Tank: "I have become death, destroyer of worlds." - xXWhiteSilverXx
WhiteSilver watched as a volley of blazing red orbs of flame erupted from the small group almost directly below her. It flew quickly, arching over the skies, and within moments struck the unsuspecting party of players. By the time they realized what was approaching them, it was far too late to retreat or to throw together barriers. The orbs landed amidst their ranks, massive explosions rocking the ground below. Instantly the entire party was dead, destroyed in an instant.
The attack that had struck them was [Calamity Bombardment], a Super-Tier spell of the World Disaster class. Her brother was quite proud of being one of the few that had it, but still sought to truly master it, thanks to her advice. [Calamity Bombardment] was always among the spells in his arsenal that was rarely ever used due to how finicky it was. It was a spell built for long-range, and it was impossible to fire fully straight. Instead, all firing angles had to be at least 30 degrees upwards, and it had to have an uninterrupted pathway the entire way through.
Due to this fact, the spell was really only useful in a few very niche situations. Unless you were fighting someone up some very steep high ground or had perfect distractions, someone very far away that you could see the incoming projectiles, likely due to you being on high ground or in an open field, or even if an enemy was lured into a location you knew ahead of time, you wouldn't be able to easily hit it since they could always flee.
While you could fire it nearly straight up, allowing you to attack a target at a far closer distance, the time it would take to go all the way up and then come all the way back down made it incredibly easy to dodge or anticipate, especially considering its initial casting time not being exactly short either.
Fortunately, you could decide what angle to fire at when the casting time for the spell was done as long as it met the minimum 30 degrees, meaning you didn't need to predict where the enemy would be and instead you could aim when you were actually ready to fire.
For all of the spell's shortcomings, its range was insane compared to most, even compared to other Super-Tier spells. Being capable of firing out several miles away, the person firing it was effectively a nuclear artillery gun firing further than most enemies could even spot you, and with enough firepower to one-shot anyone but tanks if you landed a direct hit, it was a spell that almost rivaled [Grand Catastrophe], the apex of the World Disaster class, in damage output.
However, if one were to know exactly where their enemies were, especially ones several miles away – or several hundred 'units' as the game had no consistent frame of reference for height – then the spell could suddenly become a very viable tool to take out potentially dangerous parties before they were even close enough to spot them, especially if you had an excellent scout.
That's where WhiteSilver came in. She had been playing long enough to reach almost Level 80, allowing her to at least hold her own in combat against higher-level players, so long as she avoided being hit. While this cut her out of a direct combat role aside from basic support, she could easily return to her old days as an artillery spotter, enabling her allies to rain hell upon their enemies. Except now that artillery was a goat demon firing off nuclear-sized bombardment spells, and occasionally a bird man from somewhat shorter long ranges.
Her Pixie race levels granted her three things that helped in this aspect: flight, illusionary magic, and vision/sense improvement spells. Because of this she could fly high in the air for relatively cheap, apply illusionary magic to hide herself from prying eyes, and use vision-based spells to spot enemies from afar. For most players, this wasn't a viable ability combination option, as ultimately even those with all those abilities wouldn't have the skills required to properly gauge the distance of enemies for the sole purpose of bombardment. At most one might use it for basic recon, but aiming a Super-Tier spell to hit a target miles away was unheard of in the global player community. At least until now.
Although it had taken some practice to get the angles right for the proper distances, a good few days of harsh training from WhiteSilver and she managed to get her brother, Ulbert, to become incredibly accurate with it. Peroroncino had once tried to join in, but a few hours of grinding later he had left, citing wanting to get used to orbital bombardment of archery before rejoining.
Satisfied with the latest bombardment, she flew down towards the players' loot as her brother quickly dashed over from the hidden ground as well. She soon landed next to the dropped items, her brother appearing shortly afterward. Although flight made her faster than a base walking speed, it was far less quick and agile than she would've liked, even with all of her levels in the Pixie class. She would have to look into spells or items that may help with that, but for now, there wasn't much.
Ulbert began to crouch down and survey the items dropped. In Yggdrasil, players who died didn't drop all their items, but they did drop their most important ones first. Most important in this specific scenario was the fact that World Items, the strongest items in the game, would almost always drop if a player was killed possessing them, turning any World Item holder into a massive target. Realistically it would be impractical to kill every player you found and hoped one of them had a World Item, but if you knew of a player who had one and were expecting them to come by… Then you had yourself a nice target to turn into digital ashes.
She soon began helping her brother with the inspections, picking up a chunk of a green stone, glowing faintly with small star-like lights twinkling within it. Her UI informed her that the stone was 'Celestial Uranium,' an ore she had learned to be one of the prismatic ores of the game. Fairly valuable, sure, but not what they were looking for. Momonga would enjoy squirreling it away though
"Although these are quite nice drops, none of these seem like World Items to me, are you sure you're really onto something?" WhiteSilver asked, looking at Ulbert whose body posture gave the impression of his annoyance.
"No, they're not. But I'm confident that my informant is correct. He said that he's looking for a rare drop from one of the mobs in this forest. He comes here frequently to grind away at it in hopes of obtaining it. Chances are, they're saving it for when there is a more powerful enemy somewhere," Ulbert explained, picking up the remaining loot and storing it away.
"If we keep blasting everyone that enters this forest to kingdom come he's going to eventually hear about it and grow cautious. How do you even know for certain that he has this world item on him?" WhiteSilver questioned, giving an annoyed emoticon.
Ulbert began to explain, "He got in a fight with an acquaintance of mine and a former friend of his; really pissed him off, and in response he gave all this intel to me. The guy doesn't have a guild or a clan and so he doesn't have a proper base to put his item, and since he hasn't publicly come out and announced that he has it, he just keeps it on him. Issue is, whenever he enters a dangerous PvP situation, he instantly bails. He has a dozen cash shop items that help him do so in addition to his own skills as a rogue class, along with his general skills. So if we want to actually kill him, he needs to go down in one shot, specifically in one shot that he doesn't see coming."
WhiteSilver nodded along at his explanation, commenting, "I suppose that does make sense. Do you know what World Item we're specifically going after though?"
Ulbert shrugged. "I don't think even his friend knew. All I know is that it's a very dangerous item to be in the hands of someone who doesn't exactly have the best opinion of Nine's Own Goal and Heteromorph players in general."
"Well, I suppose we'll just have to continue then. It'd be a whole lot easier if I could just cast the spells directly from the skies, instead of needing to play the artillery spotter role," WhiteSilver grumbled, stretching and reactivating her flight, her bug-like fairy wings fluttering on her back as she did, taking to the skies.
Ulbert didn't move for a few moments, hand under the muzzle of his goat-like head as he appeared to be typing. "You know what, I think we should call it here for today. Head back to the clan base, maybe find someone to help with refining your build. You still have a few more levels to go, after all."
WhiteSilver seemed confused, but shrugged it off, teleporting away as she assumed her brother simply had other things to do. It wasn't uncommon, after all, there were so many players in the clan to play with, and oftentimes missions required a full team of max-level players, something that she had yet to fully achieve, being only around level 80. She could only contribute to the lower-level quests, albeit since most of the clan was maxed out she had practically a buffet of options to choose from.
Appearing back in the Clan base, she noticed it to be unsurprisingly empty. Most people had already headed out for the day, forming together with groups or going out on their own; most members of the clan didn't have terribly long to play each day and so made the most of every moment they could.
Still though, one player remained in the hall, distracted with some items in his hands, likely inspecting them. WhiteSilver recognized the player as Momonga, a player of the Overlord race, basically a large undead skeleton. Regardless of his conventionally scary avatar, he was a close friend of her brother, though she had only limited interactions with him directly due to their initial split in player goals. She had focused hard on regaining her abilities to fly, dodge, and spot in the early levels after all.
With the guild hall empty, Momonga spotted her rather quickly. Waving his oversized skeletal hand in her direction, he sent a smiling emoticon. "Ah, WhiteSilver! I assume Ulbert should be here shortly."
WhiteSilver shrugged and approached him, explaining, "He said to go off on my own for now. He seems to be busy with something."
Momonga nodded in understanding. "I see, it's probably best to leave him to it. What are your plans now, then?"
WhiteSilver opened up a map on her UI, looking around at it as she thought of what to do. She leaned her head against her hand as she thought, Momonga quickly taking notice.
"Well if you're undecided, I could always help you with leveling up. Once you're level 100 you'll be able to go on a lot more quests and no longer have to worry about grinding," Momonga offered, placing the items he was inspecting back into his inventory and standing up.
WhiteSilver closed the map with her hand as she responded, "I suppose I have nothing better to do. Your masses of summoned undead should work quite well as a distraction while I blast them from the sky."
"Perfect. Follow me, I know a good area for grinding where the mobs are weak to explosive damage, it should be perfect for you."
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Momonga watched from an elevated position, before him were over a hundred summons, mostly skeletons and various undead. As he watched, large beasts made of stone tore through them, eyes glowing an intimidating red as they easily destroyed the low-level summons. Fortunately though, the summons weren't meant to be more than a nuisance to the monsters, just serve as a direction.
From above three beams of red light soared to the ground, erupting into massive explosions as they made impact with their targets, sending dirt flying across the area. Each bullet landed soundly and precisely between the eyes of the golems, landing critical blows that instantly dropped their HP to zero.
With a tap of a button on his UI, his undead army stopped its attack, parting ways and making a path for him to walk through. Momonga walked up to the item drops the monsters had left behind, inspecting the stones for any rare materials as he always did.
Shortly afterwards the pixie WhiteSilver hovered down beside him, kicking up a stone into her hands as she glanced at the direction the monsters had come from. "That's all of em' then? How long does it take for them to respawn?"
Momonga tossed the ore in his hands to the pixie who caught it and stored it away in their inventory without a word. "Shouldn't be too long if I remember correctly, we have a few minutes. Though for level 80 it's surprising just how quickly you were able to clear the area of them."
WhiteSilver stored away her weapon and sat on a nearby rock, filtering through her inventory to survey the drops she had obtained from the initial wave of the monsters. "I suppose it's a sign that my build's coming along well. I was hoping I could find a good way to increase my defense more, but the only option I have left to increase it in any significant capacity is to either invest levels into a more defensive class or invest in proper armor. The latter isn't really viable as it would basically cut down on my agility and limit my flight."
"Ah right, I almost forgot the weight system…" Momonga commented. The weight system wasn't something most players really needed to worry about, but for min-maxxers and for certain builds, it was vital. Weight impacted things like knockback and agility, playing into player strength and buffs. Heavier characters took less knockback, making it advantageous for tanks, reinforced by their brute strength. Meanwhile, lighter characters moved faster and could make the most out of their agility stat, making lighter armor more advantageous for more agile builds. Of course, many builds couldn't wear armor either way, but when it came to races with innate flight abilities, having too much weight would slow down one's flight, if not outright prevent it with the heavier armors.
As a spellcaster whose feet were always firmly planted on the ground, it was never much of a concern for him, but it made sense how it would be a much bigger deal for a flight-oriented build like WhiteSilver's. Meanwhile, the pixie continued, "While investing in a tankier class might be a good decision, it would mean dropping many opportunities to boost my firepower by taking levels in such classes, which is also annoying."
Momonga began to fully understand. "So it's a choice between sacrificing firepower for a more well-rounded build, or going full-on glass cannon, right?"
"Precisely. However, with my flight and illusion magic, it suddenly becomes a lot easier to avoid taking hits, so perhaps it's a good trade-off," WhiteSilver thought out loud.
"For most players I'd suggest taking the safer option. The glass cannon build you're making is certainly powerful, but it requires an exceptional amount of skill in evasion and flight mechanics that most players don't have. That being said, I don't think I've ever seen someone actually master the flight system like you have. And here I thought it was just a mediocre mode of transportation completely unviable for combat before you came along."
WhiteSilver grunted and pulled out a boot from her inventory. It seemed somewhat mechanical in nature, fully metallic with a flat bottom with glowing lines along it. "It kind of is," She muttered, looking at the boot.
"What's that boot for?" Momonga asked, looking down at the pixie who seemed annoyed at the item, even if her avatar's facial expressions remained unmoving.
"It was an experiment, I suppose. An attempt to increase my maneuverability in the air. Aerial movement always felt clunky, I was trying to fix it. Unfortunately, the boots I created function as little more than a glorified jump pack. Its ability to boost me while already in the air is basically non-existent," she explained, tossing it back in her inventory as she lifted herself up. "There might be a class, spell, or item that could help me, but if it exists it's not been discovered yet, or at least not publicized yet. And I'll be damned if I have to spend real money on it."
"Spoken like a true member of the No Cash Item Alliance," Momonga laughed. A question mark then appeared next to the pixie's head as she tapped on her UI, causing Momonga to explain, "It's a pact between a few of us here in the clan to never use cash shop items. Your brother is an avid member of it, so I assumed he roped you into it."
"I wouldn't say I'm completely opposed to Cash Items. Should I have been in a better financial situation I probably wouldn't mind too much considering this is a free-to-play game, although being on the poorer end of the playerbase I can understand how frustrating the pay-to-win style of this game can be, even if I do understand its existence."
Momonga nodded to her response, commenting, "I get it. Though it's interesting how light you are on the subject considering your brother. With how calm you tend to be I sometimes forget you're related to him."
"Ulbert is… chaotic. But in the real world, he's surprisingly normal, if a bit prone to anger at times. If I had to guess, this is where he goes to let it out. We didn't have much of a childhood, him especially. When our parents died I was too young to work, even by corporate standards. Instead, my brother had to take the first job he could land in an assembly line to keep us going. Thanks to him I was able to get a half-decent job as a salarywoman. With how poor his job is and with how mediocre mine is, we still live together solely so that we can combine our limited wealth to live at least decently." She sighed and returned her rifle to her hand, hefting it in the direction of the respawn area. "Sorry, I've gone off-topic. Pretend I said nothing."
WhiteSilver quickly launched into the sky, reaching higher altitudes as the stone monsters began to respawn and advance against his summons. Momonga thought to say something for a moment but decided not to pry into her personal life too much. He knew she and Ulbert had it hard, even if he wasn't much better off himself. Yggdrasil was meant as an escape from the harshness of reality, it wasn't his place to push it further. He knew many others came here for the same.
Without another word said, the streaks of light once more rained down onto the monsters, large explosions lighting up the rocky mountainside. Momonga, of course, had a part to play. A small part, sure, but he would play it to perfection. "[Undeath Army]!"
His friends had decided to make this their home, and he would protect that joy with all his might.
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The last stone dragon collapsed as a massive explosion engulfed its torso, tearing it into falling boulders before fading away into a cloud of particle effects. It had been a few hours and WhiteSilver's grinding progress had been impressive. With ten levels of progress having been made so far, the Pixie player was now level 92, with the two of them having moved on to the stronger dragon boss that spawned nearby, switching between the normal golems and the dragon depending on their cooldowns.
"I'm surprised I managed to level up as fast as I did," WhiteSilver commented, analyzing her stat page as she distributed her points, although she held onto her levels for the time being.
Momonga began picking up the loot and explained, "With the most recent update, whether by intentional design or a bug in the code, many enemies got their XP values janked up. Some gave way too much XP while others gave way too little. The newer enemies were especially affected. Eventually, the devs readjusted their values back to reasonable levels, but every now and again players find mobs that they seem to have missed, such as most of the golems in these mountains. Tabula's made quite an effort to locate some of these. Honestly, I'm impressed by how well he can find them."
WhiteSilver nodded along with Momonga's explanation, beginning to scroll through some of the class options on her UI as she spoke, "Interesting… Explains the absurd level-up speed I've gotten. Give us a few more hours and I'd probably make it to level 100 in no time."
"Right," Momonga began, "though I'm curious, what are you putting your levels into anyways? I haven't seen you try any new spells out just yet I don't think."
"That's because I haven't spent them yet," she stated, closing her UI. "I don't really know what I want to put levels into yet. I do plan on taking your advice on going all in with the Glass Cannon build, but that being said, there's still a lot of directions I can take it. Just what kind of cannon do I want to be? Perhaps I could even spec more into some support classes, even if solely to get a bit of additional utility considering I'll often be in the backline once the spells start to fly."
"Still indecisive I see," Momonga mused. "Well, it may be best to sleep on it or perhaps do a bit of research. If you meet the requirements, the 'Disciple of Disaster' class is quite like Ulbert's World Disaster class. It might not pair the best with him, but it would certainly provide the firepower."
Ulbert's voice could suddenly be heard from behind, "Why settle for a weak class like that?" Momonga turned to see Ulbert walking over, hand raised as the dark void of the [Gate] spell closed behind him. "Tabula told me you were grinding over here, thought I'd pay a visit."
"Are you done with that business of yours?" WhiteSilver questioned, looking up at her brother.
Ulbert folded his arms and lifted his expressionless head up smugly, "Not quite! But I do require you for the rest. Momonga, it may be helpful to have you come as well."
Momonga stepped forward, rubbing his skeletal chin and inquiring, "What exactly are you doing?"
"I've organized a secret meeting with a fellow World Disaster. He'll be bringing some friends as escorts, and so I wish to bring the two of you as mine," Ulbert gladly explained.
World Disasters were a unique class, with obtaining it only being possible by killing its previous owner. For that reason, World Disaster players often had targets on their backs. Fortunately, the class wasn't one that many people actually wanted to play, even despite its usefulness in a party due to a variety of reasons. For that reason, oftentimes the only people who could properly organize a meeting or deal with a World Disaster were fellow World Disasters themselves – who couldn't steal a class they already had – and even then they rarely came alone, with it being easily assumed that anyone in a party, clan, or guild with a World Disaster wouldn't be terribly desperate for another one considering how resource-intensive or niche they could be.
"What exactly would you want with a fellow World Disaster? Are you planning to take over one of the realms or something?" Momonga questioned, a squinting expression popping up next to Momonga's skull.
Ulbert gave a hearty laugh. "Not at all! Though, that is a good idea… But no! What I want is his class! The meeting is a trap!"
"Don't you already have the World Disaster class? Is there some kind of 'World Disaster Squared' class that I've not heard of?" Momonga asked with confusion.
Ulbert lightly smacked Momonga, no damage being registered thanks to Yggdrasil's anti-friendly fire features. "Not for me! For my sister!"
WhiteSilver sent a questioning emoticon. "Me?"
Ulbert proudly nodded, moving his entire upper body in the process. Striking a dramatic pose, he waved his hand outwards, causing his cape to wave dramatically behind him for a brief moment. "Indeed! Let us bring carnage and disaster to this world together! Let the realms tremble! Let their cities burn! Let thei-"
WhiteSilver raised her hand. "Alright that's enough." She looked back over at her UI, gazing over her stats for a brief moment, considering her options and ultimately sighing. "Very well, let's do this."
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Ulbert and Momonga walked through foggy fields of decayed grass, stretching as far as the eyes could see. For many people, that distance wasn't very far thanks to the fog, however, Momonga and Ulbert could see just fine thanks to a mixture of racial traits and applied buffs.
It wasn't long before they met with the other party; a group of three individuals each at level 100. In the front was a human player, clad in crimson robes with deep crimson eyes and a comically large wizard hat upon their head. They held a large staff, likely a spellcasting focus for their other classes. Despite their more wizard-like appearance, they were very much one of the very few World Disasters that existed in Yggdrasil, easily recognizable from their feats against world-level bosses.
Behind them were two players; the first was a woman, seemingly a support player dressed in a blue dress with matching blue hair and eyes and a skirt that nearly violated Yggdrasil's TOS in terms of length; the absolute territory was strong with this one. The second was an armored fighter, the party's tank, and as analysis would show; a player of the paladin class, their armor was blindingly white and orange, a feathered pad covering their right shoulder.
Ulbert approached the group, standing in front of Momonga while maintaining a good distance away from the trio in front of him. "Thank you for coming, I'm glad you could arrive on such short notice. Us World Disasters need to stick together."
The fellow World Disaster – hardly more than a teenage girl – proudly struck a pose, acting more stand-outish than even Ulbert often did. "Hahaha! Indeed! The nine realms cower wherever we move! Our path of destruction leaves nothing but the ashes of the realms behind! Our meeting shall shake the very foundations of the world tree itself! Pray tell, what business does thou bringeth?"
"My sincerest apologies for being so cryptic when organizing this meeting, I'm sure you'll understand how it would be best if others did not find out about this too soon. But I believe I have found a bug with some of our spells as of the most recent update. The bug… Well, it'd be a lot easier to show you. Do you mind if I launch an attack right between the two of us? It is a basic [Catastrophic Blast] spell, so it shouldn't hit you if I aim it right in the middle," Ulbert stated, leaning forward.
The chuuni wizard nodded, "Very well! Though I'm sure you'll understand if I apply some resistances first just in case. Arch-Priest!"
The blue priestess behind her raised her staff, the World Disaster and her allies glowing one color after another as various barriers and buffs were applied. Momonga watched closely as Ulbert turned and glanced in his direction. With a subtle nod, Ulbert continued.
"If you're ready, I am launching my attack! [Catastrophic Blast]!" Ulbert pointed to the ground between them and tapped on the spell's icon in his UI. In the same instant, a meteor materialized in the sky, immediately beginning to fly down rapidly towards the ground, flames erupting along its sides as it made its way down. Hovering behind where the meteor spawned was WhiteSilver, who quickly moved with the attack, soaring as fast as her flight system would allow as it plummeted into the ground.
The attack soon made impact, a large explosion filling the space between Ulbert and the other World Disaster. In the cloud of fire and smoke, WhiteSilver moved, closing the distance before the bayonet of her rifle found its way into the World Disaster's chest, straight through the heart. The various colored glows previously applied to the mage appeared one by one only to instantly shatter as they reappeared.
Without a moment to react, WhiteSilver shouted, "[Assassination]!"
A bang was heard and the World Disaster's HP instantly dropped to zero, turning them into a pixelated body. The crusader, although startled, leaped forward and slashed her sword at the pixie, who simply leaped into the air and took to the skies. In response, the priest angrily began firing volleys of ranged magical attacks, each expertly dodged by WhiteSilver as she increased her elevation.
Ulbert glanced back down at the remaining two members of the party, watching as the Crusader's focus shifted from the flying pixie to the grounded demon and skeleton. "That might be our cue to leave," Ulbert explained.
Momonga nodded, tapping on his UI. "[Greater Teleportation]!" The two appeared atop a nearby hill hidden well by the fog, surveying the situation. Momonga watched as the priestess's spells continued to miss their target, both from the priestess' inaccuracy and WhiteSilver's own evasive skills. Invested in watching the spectacle, he mused, "I didn't know the gunner class had a spell that powerful…"
Ulbert was surprised, a shocked expression appearing next to his avatar. "You didn't know about their [Assassination] spell? As someone who specs a lot into instant death magic, you'd think you'd at least hear about it."
"Huh?! Gunners get instant death magic?!" Momonga exclaimed in shock.
Ulbert just nodded and shrugged. "Since it's a projectile that can be relatively easily blocked, dodged, or otherwise interfered with, it's arguably a lot harder to nullify than most instant death abilities. Issue is actually landing a hit with it, even if it's designed to be some of a gunner's strongest abilities. For it to work, you have to fully pierce whatever armor you're facing, whether it be magical or physical. Gunners can do damage without fully piercing something, but Assassination won't work if it doesn't. Furthermore, some instant death protections and general buffs can still nullify it, but they're usually dependent on extremely expensive pay-to-win items."
"Sounds about right. She got really lucky that the other player didn't have too many buffs applied. What kind of idiot goes to a meeting like this without basic anti-PKing defenses?" Momonga questioned, turning to see Ulbert just shaking his head with his arms folded. Confused, he questioned, "Am I wrong about something?"
"Their defenses were actually pretty standard if I had to guess. Perhaps even above standard," Ulbert stated. "However, WhiteSilver's bayonet has quite a lot of data on it. Most people wouldn't bother with a bayonet or would apply mostly offensive buffs and modifiers to it. WhiteSilver however stocked that thing full of only piercing capabilities and debuffs. Specifically, debuffs to counter things like anti-death protection and other general defensive and vitality buffs. After she snuck with my attack as cover, she stabbed the player and broke all of their buffs before shooting them point-blank with the [Assassination] spell to ensure it didn't miss or get blocked by some other means."
"That's… Actually a pretty terrifying combination, albeit very risky considering her build," Momonga recognized, though quickly acknowledged, "Though, knowing her, she probably could pull it off consistently."
Ulbert simply laughed. "I mean she pulled it off there! And look at her! She hasn't even taken any damage yet!"
"Speaking of…" Momonga muttered, "Should we help her retreat? Instant death spells or no, those are level 100 players."
Ulbert placed his hand out to stop Momonga as he began preparing his spells. "No need. If she hasn't retreated on her own by now, she's planning something. Just sit and watch."
Momonga grew worried but went along with it. Whatever WhiteSilver had planned, he was now fully invested to see it.
Meanwhile, the bombardment of the pixie continued as she sat mid-air looking at her UI, dodging around the occasional spell that got too close for comfort. "Will you stop wasting your MP down there! I'm trying to find something!" After a bit of scrolling, she finally found it, "There! World Disaster! Max that out… Sheesh, only five levels? Well, I suppose it is an elite class. Guess I can put the remaining five into a racial class. But which one… Eh, well there's only one viable option for this class I suppose. Besides, my karma value is technically in the negatives right now, even if only slightly, so most of the popular pixie classes aren't even open to me right now. Not that I need them. The best option is right in front of me."
WhiteSilver tapped on the text 'Unseelie' and set the level all the way up to five. In an instant her avatar's appearance changed, her rounded wings with a light green hue turning to jagged wings of crimson red and bloody orange. Her skin paled and her aqua-blue eyes turned to a fiery shade of red to match her wings. Although her appearance otherwise stayed the same, her stats across the board took a noticeable increase, both from her World Disaster class and her new racial one. Tapping on one of her newfound spells, she thought of no better time to test it out.
Pointing her finger towards the remaining two on the ground, she tapped on her UI and unleashed the ultimate spell of the World Disaster class – unlocked by maxing out its level at five – [Grand Catastrophe].
A destructive surge of energy came from WhiteSilver, pouring onto the two below. In mere seconds the HP of the priestess dropped to zero with the crusader being the last one standing, HP low but not quite gone yet.
Enraged, the crusader raised their sword to the sky and shouted, "Come down here and fight me properly!"
Although her avatar remained expressionless, WhiteSilver felt a grin growing on her face. Landing down on the ground with a thud, she politely bowed and swapped out her rifle for a high-tier shovel. "As you wish, [Perfect Warrior]."
"You really think [Perfect Warrior] can compete with an actual Crusader build?! Are you insane?!" The crusader spat, readying their own blade.
WhiteSilver spun the shovel in her hand, noting the reflection of the moon shining against it through the foggy air. "You see, the tricky thing about physical attackers…" WhiteSilver failed to suppress a rising giggle, "Is that you have to actually HIT YOUR TARGET!"
The pixie dashed forward, ducking under a slash from the crusader as her fist hit their chestplate, knocking them back several feet. The crusader stumbled back but quickly secured their posture and dashed back towards WhiteSilver. The crusader's sword swung down, clashing against the pixie's shovel as she slid to the left, knocking the sword to the right before swinging the shovel back up to bang against the front of their face.
As WhiteSilver again ran towards the crusader, they brought their sword down onto her, only for her to sidestep their slash and rotate their body along the crusader's right shoulder. Arriving behind them, she lifted her shovel up and slashed along their back before kicking them away, gaining distance once more.
The pixie watched as the crusader stumbled back into posture. Even without expressions or even a visible face under their armored helmet, she could practically smell their fear through the game. WhiteSilver had never been proud of her fighting skills in her previous life, but with no real lives on the line, she would be lying if she said she wasn't enjoying it.
Having gauged the skills of the–frankly clumsy–crusader, she returned the shovel to her inventory, much to the confusion of said crusader. With a rising wave of laughter, she dashed towards her faster than ever. The crusader swung wildly, applying spells, skills, anything they had, with each and every one of them failing to hit the blitzing pixie. With each missed strike, the pixie landed a powerful blow with their fists. The damage wasn't anything impressive, but [Grand Catastrophe] had already gotten them incredibly low, and the hits were beginning to add up.
The crusader desperately swung their sword down one last time as the pixie sidestepped their swing, pushing their blade aside with their left arm as their right pulled back, launching forward as their fist punched straight through the crusader as their HP hit zero, their avatar disappearing moments after.
From atop the hill, Momonga watched in awe at the spectacle. For a brief moment he wondered why she was playing a ranged class to begin with, however, he quickly suppressed his questions. With a heavy sigh, he turned to his friend. "Ulbert…" He said, exhaustion and concern in his voice.
"Yes, Momonga?" Ulbert replied.
"Your sister scares me."
"I know. I'm so proud!"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
New Chapter is le done. Le beholdeth. I previously had a 'behind the scenes' type post-chapter post on SpaceBattles for Mage x Family a while back that people seemed to like, so if yall (specifically over at SpaceBattles, sorry other sites) wanna see something like that to get my thought process or whatnot I'd be down to start doing it again.
Discord invite link is ( https://discord.gg/Ghn8qtkaFz ) or ( Ghn8qtkaFz ) if your fanfic website of choice chooses to break the link for some reason. You can apply to be a beta reader there which grants you early access to completed chapters in exchange for looking over them for grammar mistakes, possible rephrases, or giving suggestions on the story. Now below are the Beta Readers who read for this chapter:
LuckCrusader: 2 Kings 2:23-24
Dr. Rx: No need for an annoying Being X this time around to rain hell upon her enemies from above.
Fish Tank: "I have become death, destroyer of worlds." - xXWhiteSilverXx
Chapter III - The First Guardian
SwissChocolatess
Shalltear is all and all is Shalltear
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2023
- Messages
- 16
WhiteSilver hovered far above the forests, below her were no doubt countless enemies and players, all carrying on and about their business without a care in the world for the pixie hovering just out of their sight. She had spent a good few hours here over the past several days, on the hunt for a lucrative yet simple prize: a World Item.
Her brother had given up the hunt a few days prior, deeming it a waste of time, and even she had lost most of her interest. Still, more intel about the target had recently come through, and although none of it helped them pinpoint his location, it did explain more about what the item was.
Apparently it was a consumable, one-time-use World Item, although seemingly not one of the 'Twenty' that were the strongest in the game, just one of the many that could bend in-game rules slightly. Still, it being a single-use item meant that she or the clan could easily use it without worrying about having to hold onto it. The clan had already lost the World Item 'Atlas' to another group previously, so not having to worry about it being stolen would be optimal for the group. Still, the question was why haven't they used it yet? The answer was either that the situation to do so hadn't presented itself yet, or alternatively they were hoping to use it as leverage in a deal of sorts, perhaps to garner more supplies or scare off threats. With who or what didn't matter; what mattered was that he seemingly still had it in his possession, and that was the important part.
As she thought of what the World Item could be, she watched for players. Anyone in a group was instantly a non-target. The target worked almost exclusively alone, and his stealth-based build meant he wouldn't even enlist Mercenary NPCs either. If a player was in a group, there was no use in firing upon them, and doing so would only alert more players to her hunt. If the target ever learned there was someone PKing here, he would never show up.
After a few minutes of searching, she finally spotted someone; a lone player wandering alone through the woods. He wore no armor, either being a spellcaster or a more agile-based class like a rogue. A prime candidate.
WhiteSilver raised her rifle, pointing it in the direction of her next victim. Countless circles appeared around her and along the barrel of her rifle, loading her magical shot. A few moments later she pulled the trigger, unleashing a powerful beam of [Grand Catastrophe] down at the lone player.
The World Disaster class was a dynamic one, and although the attacks were all functionally the same, they adjusted based on the other classes of the player. In WhiteSilver's case, they manifested through her rifle, given her classing into gunners. In Ulbert's case, they became massive meteors, and in the case of the mage she usurped the class from, direct and massive explosions.
Soon the beam of chaotic energy made impact with its target, a massive flash blinding all within the forest as a ball of light several stories high engulfed the player. In an instant he was dead, his health dropping to zero as WhiteSilver landed roughly onto the ground to see what she had won from his death, ensuring nobody was nearby to get the jump on her.
Amidst the few items the player dropped was what appeared to be a standard lump of clay. Despite its basic appearance, the light of the sun gently shimmered against its surface, causing it to stand out amidst the otherwise fairly high-tier items the player dropped. Picking up the blob of clay, she almost gasped in shock.
Looking at the UI pop-up told her exactly what she had been waiting to see; '[Clay of Creation] - [World Class Item].' A brief skimming through its info page taught her all she needed to know about the item, instantly sending it into her inventory to hide it from possibly prying eyes who could be arriving given the unavoidable theatrics of her unleashed spell of choice.
Despite the name getting her hopes up about potentially being able to create anything, the item in particular seemed to be for creating an NPC, a feat that usually required a Guild Base. With this World Item, she could theoretically create her own to join her as a companion without the need to rely on the shitty AI of the mercenary NPCs, who were dumber than rocks most of the time. Despite its apparent utility, she couldn't help herself from feeling a tad bit disappointed considering the stories she heard about the other World Items. Disappointment or not, this was still a World Item, and although she could easily use this without another word, she was a productive member of her clan and would prove herself as such. She would bring this up to them before doing anything further. However, with how late it was getting, she was better off logging out for the night… Once she was in a safe location first, that is.
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Tana sighed as the clock struck the end of her shift. In her first life, she would have normally been satisfied with a long day's work, knowing that it was yet another step closer to her ambition to become a comfy executive. Now she found said motivation increasingly difficult to come by, even despite her beliefs. This wasn't the free market she had once lived through, this was a corrupt corporatocracy that was functionally little different from communism, barring some legal jargon.
Still, she was determined and refused to give up that easily, but the data she had experienced and researched spoke for itself. She wasn't moving, she wasn't even close. Sure, she was still relatively young, but even despite her skills, experience, and accomplishments, they all fell on deaf ears in a corporation that cared little for expanding or even replacing its upper ranks. It almost felt impractically stupid how they refused time and time again to let her rise upwards, given especially how many of the upper echelons were only present because they were literal offspring of further higher-ups.
If she had to guess, Being X possibly had something to do with it, but given the state of the world and what she heard from colleagues and acquaintances alike, this was likely just how things were. If there was one way up, it was through being born into the right families, and that was it. If you weren't lucky, you could die and nobody would care. If you were, the management positions were handed to you on a 24 karat golden platter with a 12-course meal of endless riches, perfect healthcare, and a meaningful life.
It all felt dull to her. It was repetition with no progress, stagnation in the upper lower classes rather than in the lower upper classes. It was a progress bar that hadn't moved from 5% in even ten hours. In her previous life, such stagnation would have come from a reason. Nobody stagnated without it being some fault of their own or due to some awful accident too improbable to make a dent in the statistics. Perhaps in a way, she was a result of one of those improbable accidents, but from what she heard from her peers, it was seemingly the standard of this world. She wasn't one to quit, but she also wasn't one to ignore the sisyphean nature of the task in front of her.
Time and time again she had searched for some other route upwards, another job or career perhaps, but none of them came with any real hope to move forward, in fact many were worse than the route she held now. She was stuck in endless stagnation with the only hope being that something, anything, happened to allow her an opening. For now, she had no choice but to wait. She could try to sell her body to the higher-ups, but that route was both morally repugnant and rumored to be a quick way to an "accident" that removed you from your lease on life. The fact she even thought of such an idea was a testament to how deep this world drove her to insanity.
Standing up from her computer, she made her way to the elevator, carrying her protective gear in her right arm as she stepped inside. The elevator was quiet, just her and a coworker getting off at the same time as her, seemingly equally as quick with clocking out as she was.
"Suzuki Satoru, right?" Tana asked, looking up at the man who was a good bit taller than her, although was seemingly about the same age. Unfortunately, Being X had cursed her with short height once again in this life.
The man seemed completely zoned out, blinking a few times before finally processing what she had said, "Huh? Oh right – Yes, that's me. Tana right?"
Tana nodded, "I sent you and some others an email about some things I need looked over. I sent it just before clocking out so you probably haven't seen it yet, just be sure to check it sometime tomorrow, the earlier the better."
Satoru nodded, "Yes, of course. Thank you for telling me, I'll get to that tomorrow."
"You seem distracted, is something going on?" Tana asked, trying her best to sound empathetic. To her credit, she was actually quite good at it when she wanted to. She'd be lying if she said she genuinely cared about the individual lives of the random coworkers she had, but if she wanted a chance to move up, she needed all the cards possible. That included being a friend to all her coworkers. A bit of small talk with the right person could mean everything, after all, and who knows who might have a powerful cousin who could help secure her future?
Satoru seemed startled at the conversation but simply scratched the back of his neck nervously as he explained, "Oh, no it's nothing like that. I'm just thinking of what I'm going to be doing when I get home. I-I don't let it interrupt my work or anything like that though, don't worry about it…"
Satoru knew better than to piss off Tana. She was friendly with all of her coworkers, but also arguably the best at her job, and made certain that everyone else kept up the near-breakneck pace too. She was determined to make sure the department she was in wasn't falling behind, even if she could only do so much without being a manager of some kind. Frankly it was surprising to everyone that she hadn't been promoted yet. But given the nature of the company and work in this time period, he understood why she wouldn't be that lucky. Still, some of his coworkers speculated that she had pissed off someone really high up, who that was or what she did is still unclear even if that was the case.
Their manager was highly incompetent too, but this was this and that was that.
Regardless, if she found out you were slacking off, even if she couldn't do anything about it besides inform management, the glares she would give you would seemingly pierce right into your soul. If not for fear of her, he probably would be a bit lazier when it came to his actual work.
"Ah, I see. That's good, it must be something really exciting then," Tana commented with a professional smile.
Satoru merely glanced away nervously, hoping the elevator ride would end soon. Unfortunately, most buildings in the city were extraordinarily tall, and while architecture had advanced greatly in the last century, elevator technology had somehow stagnated, at least as far as this building was concerned.
Still, a mixture of his fear and the genuine friendliness she was giving off encouraged him to keep talking. "Well it's more of a video game than anything, a game called Yggdrasil to be exact, I doubt you'd really understand," he explained, hoping bringing up a topic like video games would throw her off.
"Yggdrasil, huh? I've played that somewhat," Tana commented, causing Satoru to turn with a shocked expression. Tana raised her eyebrow at his face. "I have a personal life too, you know. But I suppose I don't strike you as someone who's into a game like that. Normally I wouldn't, but my brother got me into it, so I suppose I'll stick with it."
"I suppose not… Sorry, I didn't mean to jump to any conclusions," Satoru muttered, scratching the back of his neck again.
Tana turned back towards the elevator doors as the number above it inched closer to one. "Although I'm sure it could be fun to talk about Yggdrasil, it's about time I leave. Just remember to keep your game life out of your work. Don't want to be distracted trying to think of how to beat some dungeon boss."
"Right, of course," Satoru muttered as the elevator doors opened and the two parted ways.
As Satoru walked away he was left a bit startled. To think the terrifying devil of the office was somehow also a fellow Yggdrasil player was shocking to hear.
He could only dread just what kind of terrifying monstrosity she was playing and hope he never got on her bad side in-game.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Suzuki Satoru logged onto Yggdrasil as he felt reality warp around him. Soon, he looked down to see skeletal hands dressed in dark elegant robes. His avatar Momonga fully materialized in a room of almost undetailed grey material. On one side of the room was an exit, walking through it would lead the player into the game, usually where they logged out.
Normally this room would be empty, at most with a few other people around who tended to go straight for the door. When he did see people, none of them were those he recognized, however for the first time since he started playing, he actually did.
Walking over he waved his hand, an emoticon appearing next to his avatar. "Hey, WhiteSilver! Seems we logged on at the same time. Don't think I've ever met someone in this room before."
WhiteSilver looked up from her UI, turning to Momonga and nodding in response, "Ah, same here, you almost startled me. Sorry, I was busy trying to read more about this item I got yesterday. I was going to show it to the clan today."
"If it's worth bringing up to most of the clan, it's gotta be something interesting. What is it?" Momonga asked, sending a question mark next to his face with instinctive muscle memory.
WhiteSilver pulled out what at first glance was merely a boring piece of clay. Confused, he ran an inspection on it only to jump back in shock. "Holy shit!"
WhiteSilver quickly put the clay away, assuming Momonga had realized just what it was. "It seems to allow me to make an NPC without a guild base. The NPC will function just like an NPC made from a guild base would, except with the guild base technically being me. As such if it dies, I can revive them with gold, and I can fully customize their stats, classes, levels, and gear. Theoretically, this item allows me to request aspects of the NPC that aren't even possible for players to have, which could be quite useful."
"Depending on how you use it, it could either be incredibly OP or painfully mediocre. That being said, it is a World Item. That fact alone, along with the immunity to other World Items you get just by holding it or being linked to it, makes it very valuable. Honestly, I wouldn't fault you if you just decided to use it selfishly."
WhiteSilver scoffed, "I wish to actually be a productive member of our clan. Best to see what others think we should do it with. Even I can admit that it's not the best World Item to begin with, but maybe we can trade it off for something good if we have to."
"I understand, well we should probably stop stalling then. I presume your brother is already online as usual?" Momonga continued, to which WhiteSilver nodded.
"He gets off a bit before me, so he's usually already on by the time I get home nowadays."
Without another word, the two walked through the hallway towards the exit, reentering the game proper.
After a few minutes it wasn't long before the two of them had made their way to the Clan Base, most active members of the clan already being present and beginning to go about their plans, teleporting or flying off.
Soon WhiteSilver and Momonga approached the largest group of people, consisting of some of the top and most active members of the clan. Although gathering everyone around for a meeting was tricky, if this group of people could agree on something, the clan was almost certain to go along with it anyways.
As they approached the group that stood huddled around a small table, WhiteSilver tossed the clay onto it, causing a few to look down and stop their conversation.
"Is that…?" Buku muttered under her breath.
A proud laugh came from Ulbert, "Ahahaha! You fuckin' got em! Nice job!"
"What do you mean by 'got em?'" Pero inquired, a confused face appearing with the tap of a button.
Ulbert shrugged and explained, "Some idiot with a World Item pissed off a friend who told us all we needed to know to track him down. I gave up looking a bit ago, but it seems my fellow disaster managed to catch em'."
WhiteSilver nodded, "Yes, I got this World Item from randomly one-shotting some player in the middle of the forest. Killed him long before he could probably even find out who I was. Best he could probably deduce is that it was a World Disaster, one that had access to long-range magic. But there's about a dozen of us, so best of luck to him in narrowing it down."
Touch Me, the clan leader, stared at the item, reading information on it as he ran inspection on it. "So, what do you plan to do with this? The Clan doesn't technically have any rules on World Items unless they're obtained as a group like Atlas was. Since you got this all on your own, I'd argue it's yours to use."
WhiteSilver shook her head. "I wanted to see if the clan would have any use for it. I didn't want to just use it without seeing if we might need it first."
Touch Me looked at the World Item and thought for a few moments, ultimately declaring, "I see… Truth be told, no matter what we do, if we use it, it's gonna be bound to someone as the 'creator' of it. Might as well be you. It's not like we could trade it off either, even if we can get a good deal for a world item like this, we'd be basically asking to get tricked and robbed. It's best if we use it quickly, lest we get another World Item stolen. Besides, even if we did have a use for it, your brother would kill me if I tried to use it instead of you."
"Damn right," Ulbert responded, grinning behind the unmoving expression of his avatar.
WhiteSilver picked up the clay once again, peering down at it with curiosity. She had been thinking a lot about how to possibly use it for the clan, but she had only briefly gone over how to use it for herself. Now that she was, she was getting plenty of ideas.
"If you wouldn't mind…" The braineater Tabula Smaragdina politely raised his hand, his masked face turning down to glance at the lump of clay. "I would love to help you write the request to the devs for that item. I've heard of that item being used once before, albeit said NPC was made incredibly mediocrely, and I am quite interested to see its potential. Given its World Item status, it could open the door to all sorts of interesting abilities and possible exploits for the NPC. Though I don't have too many ideas right now, I could easily help you min-max your ideas."
"I suppose I didn't have any specifics in mind anyways, so help in making it stronger would be appreciated," WhiteSilver responded with a nod to Tabula.
"Just what kind of build were you going to give this NPC of yours do you think?" Tabula continued, taking the clay himself and reading its description.
"My build is a glass cannon. I have more than enough firepower for three people, but I lack any sort of defense. I was thinking of making a counter-build to my own. An NPC specced fully into the sheer defensive and protective capabilities at the cost of their own firepower and range, albeit one that can still keep up with my speed and maneuvers."
Tabula nodded along with her explanation, intrigued by her idea. "So a personal bodyguard basically? I can see that being very useful for your build."
"If not for your World Disaster class, I'd say that'd be a waste. But since you have more than enough firepower for both of you and abysmal defenses, having a bodyguard to defend you against attacks you can't dodge could be very interesting," Pero remarked.
"I'd be more interested to see what kind of monstrosity of a build comes out when your sole focus is on defense with little to no care for offensive capabilities. WhiteSilver is already a build that's the opposite of that – all firepower with no care for defense – but even she specced into more than sheer offense. An NPC with just defense with a side of agility would be a terrifying flying brick wall," Buku remarked with a shifting of her slime, chuckling.
"Wasn't there already a player with a build like that? The one with the flying turtle? Though if I recall, she makes up for her lack of firepower with a bunch of overpowered items and classes, probably a few Cash Items too," Momonga brought up to the collective shivers of some of his clanmates.
Tabula raised his hand, "Indeed. She's actually a friend of mine, though the absurdities of her build are more a result of her tendency to occasionally stumble into exploits rather than intentional self-empowerment. However, what she's done accidentally, we could recreate intentionally. Add on the additional bonuses of a Heteromorph class and flight and we could make a beast that could rival the highest defensive stats of anyone in the game."
"Something along those lines would probably work…" WhiteSilver responded, taking the clay back from Tabula and opening the box to make a request to the devs. Unfortunately, the use of the World Item wasn't as instantaneous as most of them were. She would need to wait for the devs to respond, however, during that time the item wouldn't be in her possession, meaning losing it wasn't something she needed to be worried about. It was officially in the hands of the devs now, and if she died it'd still stay in the queue for attention.
Still, depending on what she requested, she could get completely different things. It would take a lot of thought and consideration to decide just what type of defensive build she wanted to craft. She was the sword, she just now had to make the shield.
The group watched with interest as WhiteSilver and Tabula walked over to nearby seats to discuss the finer details of her future creation. As they left, a few others in the group walked away as well, leaving only Momonga, Buku, Pero, and Touch Me left standing there in interest.
"She is quite the interesting player, I'll say that much," Touch Me commented, pulling out some maps. "Though having seen her fight with [Perfect Warrior] before you'd think she was a monk main with how skillfully she could fight, especially when dodging. Ulbert said this was one of her first dive video games besides a few shooters. I wonder where she learned to fight like that."
"Some people have hobbies, you know. Some parts of the world are quite dangerous, after all, perhaps she needs to know how to defend herself," Buku responded, casually giving a shrugging emoticon.
"Whatever she played before certainly gave her some interesting ideas. I've never heard of a build like hers – at least not to the extremes that she's taken it – let alone anyone who could execute it to that level. She's taken a dream roleplaying build and turned it into a fully viable strategy through sheer skill," Pero admired, folding his arms and looking at the table where WhiteSilver and Tabula were avidly discussing minor points and battle tactics.
The pink slime to his left quickly raised an arm and slapped him on the back of the head. Although no damage was registered, the message was still sent. "Stop staring, idiot! We both know you pay so much attention to her because she's got a flat chest!"
Pero waved his sister off with a groan, "We both know there's no way in hell I'd get with her, even if I knew her IRL. If she didn't kill me herself, Ulbert certainly would. It's like those mantis bugs that get their heads bitten off after sex. Except I wouldn't even get to the first date."
Buku sent a smug emoticon, teasing, "Oh so you're not denying it?"
"Sure she's attractive, not my type though. She reminds me too much of you when she gets angry. Really you should hang out more, you're nearly the same person–" Pero explained.
"Ey!" Buku snapped, her voice dropping its higher pitch as she raised her hand again.
"–and although her short height is definitely appealing, she frankly scares me. Besides, I think she's into chicks anyways."
"You two should probably stop discussing this before either she or Ulbert hears you," Momonga suggested, the conversation ending abruptly afterward.
Momonga suppressed a sigh; Pero could be a bit deranged sometimes, but it was all in good fun. That being said, Momonga knew that he really shouldn't push his luck with topics like that, especially with game permissions. Still, his sister would likely sort him out later, best for him not to add onto the impending rant he's bound to deal with once he logged off.
"Where did Ulbert go anyways?" Pero asked, glancing around and noticing that Ulbert had seemingly left the clan base entirely.
"I believe he's become interested in trying to recreate a World Item capable of summoning armies of demons. He's only just started work on the project, but apparently there's still quite a few more niche items he needs to grind for to even create a prototype," Momonga explained simply.
Before the topic shifted, Tabula and WhiteSilver returned to the group. "Well then, now all we need to do is wait for the devs to review the request an-" WhiteSilver stopped as a popup appeared on her UI.
<Dev Request Approved - Select Confirm to Summon NPC>
"Huh… Well then…" she muttered, selecting confirmation as instructed as the clay once more appeared before her, hovering mid-air. It began to glow and warp for a few seconds before manifesting into a woman of generally basic features with large glowing wings extruding from their back. Their attire was basic plated armor with a large but visually bland tower shield attached to their right arm, their left holding a much smaller but still equally bland one-handed shield.
The NPC was one of the randomly generated appearances that players could create if they lacked the skills or care to design the finer details of their avatar or NPCs.
Momonga walked over and analyzed the new NPC, commenting, "An angel, huh? Interesting choice."
"I heard the devs usually just skim over requests for World Items like these, but I didn't think they'd approve it this quickly," Tabula commented with surprise, leaning forward.
"What's with the angel pick anyway? You're gonna scare off your brother with something like that considering his own race," Pero asked, his voice filled with a bit of disappointment as he added, "Also you went with a basic rando design? Boooring! C'mon, you gotta customize it somewhat at least! Yggdrasil uses your brain to run itself, so it's pretty good at copying anything you can imagine, so surely you can imagine something more unique than that."
WhiteSilver walked past Pero and scoffed, almost wanting to ignore him. "The angel pick is simple. For one, there's only so many races that provide flight without needing to invest in a specific class for it, and every class and level counts. Intrinsic flight through racial abilities is far cheaper to maintain than using the spell-based [Fly] or other alternatives. Secondly, the other flight races don't work as well as my support. Pixies and Fairies, although good supports overall, are completely lacking in innate defensive and physical capabilities. Demons and their variants such as Succubi are far more invested in sheer firepower, although not a bad option in all fairness. Angels meanwhile allow for flight, tankiness, and even some support traits like healing. Whether I like it or not, the cultural idea of a 'guardian angel' has led the devs to give some of the angel classes quite a bit in the realm of protecting teammates."
WhiteSilver meanwhile turned back towards her NPC, opening up its customization panel. With a sigh, she remarked, "I suppose you're right on customization. My apologies but…" She closed her eyes as she imagined what she wanted the NPC to look like. Although closing her eyes was unnecessary for the system to work, as soon as she opened them, the appearance of the NPC had dramatically changed. Now it resembled someone from her past life she used to know; Viktoriya Serebryakov. She didn't feel perfectly right using her likeness, but she couldn't think of anyone better to fill the role of her bodyguard.
"Who are you apologizing to?" Pero inquired, a tad confused at WhiteSilver's comment.
"Nobody, I was talking to myself more than anything." WhiteSilver suppressed a sigh and began to reconsider the NPC's appearance. It felt… disrespectful. Perhaps it was best to let the memories sleep in her head, though perhaps mockery is flattery in a way. Would Visha be flattered or confused by her decision? In the end, WhiteSilver decided she would likely be the former, and that was enough to keep it as it was. It was more than just a visual replication of her former adjutant, it was a constant reminder of how low Being X was willing to go just to convert one person. How many additional deaths had Being X caused in his crusade? How could he do all of that and still call himself a benevolent God? How could he demand faith when all he did was needlessly slaughter. How could he-
"WhiteSilver, are you alright?"
Momonga's voice snapped WhiteSilver out of her own internal thoughts. Although her avatar's face was apathetic as ever, her fists were balled up and shaking with rage. Quickly calming herself, she sent a smiling emoticon to reassure her allies. "I'm fine, don't worry about it."
"If you say so…" Momonga muttered, sounding unconvinced.
Pero meanwhile leaned forward, eyeing over the NPC's new appearance, sending a smug emoticon as his gaze turned towards its chest. "Looks like WhiteSilver's definitely got a type. Told ya', definitely into chi-"
<Bukubukuchagama has left [Nine's Own Goal]>
<✠WhiteSilver✠ has left [Nine's Own Goal]>
A moment later, Pero's avatar was sent flying across the Clan hall, left on critical HP as Buku and WhiteSilver stood, fists raised where he was once standing.
As the two accepted Touch Me's invites back into the Clan, Buku respectfully bowed and apologized, "Sorry about my brother. That idiot doesn't know when to shut his mouth."
"I'm sorry you have to deal with that…" WhiteSilver muttered to Buku with a polite nod in her direction. "It's not that big of a deal though, I understand he's not that serious, just a moron."
Truth be told, he probably wasn't wrong either, despite having been a girl for arguably longer than she was ever a guy, her male preferences had never truly faded. Though she's never been too interested in a relationship anyways, even if she did once consider it in her first life. Especially now she has no interest in any relationship, male or female.
"Getting back on-topic," Tabula began, "I'd be interested to help you gather the needed materials to level up the NPC properly. My ideas to maximize her potential only begin with the dev request. If you don't mind some experimentation, I wish to use this as an opportunity to plan for my magnum opus, whenever we should become a proper guild."
Touch Me hummed to himself as Tabula mentioned a guild, glancing around briefly before being interrupted by Momonga.
"Touch Me? What's up?" Momonga asked, looking at the armored insectoid.
Touch Me shook his head, "I may have an idea for this clan going forward, but I'll need a few days at least before I settle on the best course of action."
Momonga gazed at Touch Me, perplexed, but simply let it go. When Touch Me needed to think about something like that, it was probably rather important. Momonga was quick to assume that his input likely wouldn't be all too helpful, given Touch Me's tone.
"Well if we have nothing better to do, grinding to maximize this NPC could be fun to do with a group," Momonga remarked, turning towards Buku and Pero, the latter of which was finally healing from his pummeling a few moments prior. "What about you two? It wouldn't exactly be the most optimal party, but it could be fun."
"I suppose I owe it to her…" Pero mumbled, scratching the back of his head as if he was actually hurt from the attack.
Buku adopted a cutesy voice she gained from years of voice acting, shouting, "Let's do it! The first NPC of our clan! The progenitor of what's to come!"
"We shouldn't get ahead of ourselves," Tabula remarked, "Even if we became a proper guild tomorrow, we still wouldn't have a permanent base to make NPCs yet."
Buku slithered over and patted Tabula on the shoulder, "You don't gotta be a downer all the time! Look at how big the clan is, we'll be a proper guild with a base in no time!"
Touch Me seemed even more in his own world now, Pero even waving his hand in front of his eyes to no response. "Huh, didn't think someone could be AFK in a dive game."
Touch Me looked up and quickly stammered, "Oh sorry, I'll be on my own today. Busy thinking about some things. You five go on ahead."
"Alright, whatever you say." Pero shrugged and walked forward, opening his map, "Now then, where we droppin'?"
"Oh shut up!" Buku spat.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Next Chapter
Chapter IV: Glory to Ainz Ooal Gown!
Beta Readers:
LuckCrusader: One must imagine Tanya happy.
Fish Tank: Gotta love that double whammy that Pero received.
Dr. Rx: Huh. Tanky Visha. Instead of a gun she's got a shield! Let's see where this goes.
Her brother had given up the hunt a few days prior, deeming it a waste of time, and even she had lost most of her interest. Still, more intel about the target had recently come through, and although none of it helped them pinpoint his location, it did explain more about what the item was.
Apparently it was a consumable, one-time-use World Item, although seemingly not one of the 'Twenty' that were the strongest in the game, just one of the many that could bend in-game rules slightly. Still, it being a single-use item meant that she or the clan could easily use it without worrying about having to hold onto it. The clan had already lost the World Item 'Atlas' to another group previously, so not having to worry about it being stolen would be optimal for the group. Still, the question was why haven't they used it yet? The answer was either that the situation to do so hadn't presented itself yet, or alternatively they were hoping to use it as leverage in a deal of sorts, perhaps to garner more supplies or scare off threats. With who or what didn't matter; what mattered was that he seemingly still had it in his possession, and that was the important part.
As she thought of what the World Item could be, she watched for players. Anyone in a group was instantly a non-target. The target worked almost exclusively alone, and his stealth-based build meant he wouldn't even enlist Mercenary NPCs either. If a player was in a group, there was no use in firing upon them, and doing so would only alert more players to her hunt. If the target ever learned there was someone PKing here, he would never show up.
After a few minutes of searching, she finally spotted someone; a lone player wandering alone through the woods. He wore no armor, either being a spellcaster or a more agile-based class like a rogue. A prime candidate.
WhiteSilver raised her rifle, pointing it in the direction of her next victim. Countless circles appeared around her and along the barrel of her rifle, loading her magical shot. A few moments later she pulled the trigger, unleashing a powerful beam of [Grand Catastrophe] down at the lone player.
The World Disaster class was a dynamic one, and although the attacks were all functionally the same, they adjusted based on the other classes of the player. In WhiteSilver's case, they manifested through her rifle, given her classing into gunners. In Ulbert's case, they became massive meteors, and in the case of the mage she usurped the class from, direct and massive explosions.
Soon the beam of chaotic energy made impact with its target, a massive flash blinding all within the forest as a ball of light several stories high engulfed the player. In an instant he was dead, his health dropping to zero as WhiteSilver landed roughly onto the ground to see what she had won from his death, ensuring nobody was nearby to get the jump on her.
Amidst the few items the player dropped was what appeared to be a standard lump of clay. Despite its basic appearance, the light of the sun gently shimmered against its surface, causing it to stand out amidst the otherwise fairly high-tier items the player dropped. Picking up the blob of clay, she almost gasped in shock.
Looking at the UI pop-up told her exactly what she had been waiting to see; '[Clay of Creation] - [World Class Item].' A brief skimming through its info page taught her all she needed to know about the item, instantly sending it into her inventory to hide it from possibly prying eyes who could be arriving given the unavoidable theatrics of her unleashed spell of choice.
Despite the name getting her hopes up about potentially being able to create anything, the item in particular seemed to be for creating an NPC, a feat that usually required a Guild Base. With this World Item, she could theoretically create her own to join her as a companion without the need to rely on the shitty AI of the mercenary NPCs, who were dumber than rocks most of the time. Despite its apparent utility, she couldn't help herself from feeling a tad bit disappointed considering the stories she heard about the other World Items. Disappointment or not, this was still a World Item, and although she could easily use this without another word, she was a productive member of her clan and would prove herself as such. She would bring this up to them before doing anything further. However, with how late it was getting, she was better off logging out for the night… Once she was in a safe location first, that is.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Tana sighed as the clock struck the end of her shift. In her first life, she would have normally been satisfied with a long day's work, knowing that it was yet another step closer to her ambition to become a comfy executive. Now she found said motivation increasingly difficult to come by, even despite her beliefs. This wasn't the free market she had once lived through, this was a corrupt corporatocracy that was functionally little different from communism, barring some legal jargon.
Still, she was determined and refused to give up that easily, but the data she had experienced and researched spoke for itself. She wasn't moving, she wasn't even close. Sure, she was still relatively young, but even despite her skills, experience, and accomplishments, they all fell on deaf ears in a corporation that cared little for expanding or even replacing its upper ranks. It almost felt impractically stupid how they refused time and time again to let her rise upwards, given especially how many of the upper echelons were only present because they were literal offspring of further higher-ups.
If she had to guess, Being X possibly had something to do with it, but given the state of the world and what she heard from colleagues and acquaintances alike, this was likely just how things were. If there was one way up, it was through being born into the right families, and that was it. If you weren't lucky, you could die and nobody would care. If you were, the management positions were handed to you on a 24 karat golden platter with a 12-course meal of endless riches, perfect healthcare, and a meaningful life.
It all felt dull to her. It was repetition with no progress, stagnation in the upper lower classes rather than in the lower upper classes. It was a progress bar that hadn't moved from 5% in even ten hours. In her previous life, such stagnation would have come from a reason. Nobody stagnated without it being some fault of their own or due to some awful accident too improbable to make a dent in the statistics. Perhaps in a way, she was a result of one of those improbable accidents, but from what she heard from her peers, it was seemingly the standard of this world. She wasn't one to quit, but she also wasn't one to ignore the sisyphean nature of the task in front of her.
Time and time again she had searched for some other route upwards, another job or career perhaps, but none of them came with any real hope to move forward, in fact many were worse than the route she held now. She was stuck in endless stagnation with the only hope being that something, anything, happened to allow her an opening. For now, she had no choice but to wait. She could try to sell her body to the higher-ups, but that route was both morally repugnant and rumored to be a quick way to an "accident" that removed you from your lease on life. The fact she even thought of such an idea was a testament to how deep this world drove her to insanity.
Standing up from her computer, she made her way to the elevator, carrying her protective gear in her right arm as she stepped inside. The elevator was quiet, just her and a coworker getting off at the same time as her, seemingly equally as quick with clocking out as she was.
"Suzuki Satoru, right?" Tana asked, looking up at the man who was a good bit taller than her, although was seemingly about the same age. Unfortunately, Being X had cursed her with short height once again in this life.
The man seemed completely zoned out, blinking a few times before finally processing what she had said, "Huh? Oh right – Yes, that's me. Tana right?"
Tana nodded, "I sent you and some others an email about some things I need looked over. I sent it just before clocking out so you probably haven't seen it yet, just be sure to check it sometime tomorrow, the earlier the better."
Satoru nodded, "Yes, of course. Thank you for telling me, I'll get to that tomorrow."
"You seem distracted, is something going on?" Tana asked, trying her best to sound empathetic. To her credit, she was actually quite good at it when she wanted to. She'd be lying if she said she genuinely cared about the individual lives of the random coworkers she had, but if she wanted a chance to move up, she needed all the cards possible. That included being a friend to all her coworkers. A bit of small talk with the right person could mean everything, after all, and who knows who might have a powerful cousin who could help secure her future?
Satoru seemed startled at the conversation but simply scratched the back of his neck nervously as he explained, "Oh, no it's nothing like that. I'm just thinking of what I'm going to be doing when I get home. I-I don't let it interrupt my work or anything like that though, don't worry about it…"
Satoru knew better than to piss off Tana. She was friendly with all of her coworkers, but also arguably the best at her job, and made certain that everyone else kept up the near-breakneck pace too. She was determined to make sure the department she was in wasn't falling behind, even if she could only do so much without being a manager of some kind. Frankly it was surprising to everyone that she hadn't been promoted yet. But given the nature of the company and work in this time period, he understood why she wouldn't be that lucky. Still, some of his coworkers speculated that she had pissed off someone really high up, who that was or what she did is still unclear even if that was the case.
Their manager was highly incompetent too, but this was this and that was that.
Regardless, if she found out you were slacking off, even if she couldn't do anything about it besides inform management, the glares she would give you would seemingly pierce right into your soul. If not for fear of her, he probably would be a bit lazier when it came to his actual work.
"Ah, I see. That's good, it must be something really exciting then," Tana commented with a professional smile.
Satoru merely glanced away nervously, hoping the elevator ride would end soon. Unfortunately, most buildings in the city were extraordinarily tall, and while architecture had advanced greatly in the last century, elevator technology had somehow stagnated, at least as far as this building was concerned.
Still, a mixture of his fear and the genuine friendliness she was giving off encouraged him to keep talking. "Well it's more of a video game than anything, a game called Yggdrasil to be exact, I doubt you'd really understand," he explained, hoping bringing up a topic like video games would throw her off.
"Yggdrasil, huh? I've played that somewhat," Tana commented, causing Satoru to turn with a shocked expression. Tana raised her eyebrow at his face. "I have a personal life too, you know. But I suppose I don't strike you as someone who's into a game like that. Normally I wouldn't, but my brother got me into it, so I suppose I'll stick with it."
"I suppose not… Sorry, I didn't mean to jump to any conclusions," Satoru muttered, scratching the back of his neck again.
Tana turned back towards the elevator doors as the number above it inched closer to one. "Although I'm sure it could be fun to talk about Yggdrasil, it's about time I leave. Just remember to keep your game life out of your work. Don't want to be distracted trying to think of how to beat some dungeon boss."
"Right, of course," Satoru muttered as the elevator doors opened and the two parted ways.
As Satoru walked away he was left a bit startled. To think the terrifying devil of the office was somehow also a fellow Yggdrasil player was shocking to hear.
He could only dread just what kind of terrifying monstrosity she was playing and hope he never got on her bad side in-game.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Suzuki Satoru logged onto Yggdrasil as he felt reality warp around him. Soon, he looked down to see skeletal hands dressed in dark elegant robes. His avatar Momonga fully materialized in a room of almost undetailed grey material. On one side of the room was an exit, walking through it would lead the player into the game, usually where they logged out.
Normally this room would be empty, at most with a few other people around who tended to go straight for the door. When he did see people, none of them were those he recognized, however for the first time since he started playing, he actually did.
Walking over he waved his hand, an emoticon appearing next to his avatar. "Hey, WhiteSilver! Seems we logged on at the same time. Don't think I've ever met someone in this room before."
WhiteSilver looked up from her UI, turning to Momonga and nodding in response, "Ah, same here, you almost startled me. Sorry, I was busy trying to read more about this item I got yesterday. I was going to show it to the clan today."
"If it's worth bringing up to most of the clan, it's gotta be something interesting. What is it?" Momonga asked, sending a question mark next to his face with instinctive muscle memory.
WhiteSilver pulled out what at first glance was merely a boring piece of clay. Confused, he ran an inspection on it only to jump back in shock. "Holy shit!"
WhiteSilver quickly put the clay away, assuming Momonga had realized just what it was. "It seems to allow me to make an NPC without a guild base. The NPC will function just like an NPC made from a guild base would, except with the guild base technically being me. As such if it dies, I can revive them with gold, and I can fully customize their stats, classes, levels, and gear. Theoretically, this item allows me to request aspects of the NPC that aren't even possible for players to have, which could be quite useful."
"Depending on how you use it, it could either be incredibly OP or painfully mediocre. That being said, it is a World Item. That fact alone, along with the immunity to other World Items you get just by holding it or being linked to it, makes it very valuable. Honestly, I wouldn't fault you if you just decided to use it selfishly."
WhiteSilver scoffed, "I wish to actually be a productive member of our clan. Best to see what others think we should do it with. Even I can admit that it's not the best World Item to begin with, but maybe we can trade it off for something good if we have to."
"I understand, well we should probably stop stalling then. I presume your brother is already online as usual?" Momonga continued, to which WhiteSilver nodded.
"He gets off a bit before me, so he's usually already on by the time I get home nowadays."
Without another word, the two walked through the hallway towards the exit, reentering the game proper.
After a few minutes it wasn't long before the two of them had made their way to the Clan Base, most active members of the clan already being present and beginning to go about their plans, teleporting or flying off.
Soon WhiteSilver and Momonga approached the largest group of people, consisting of some of the top and most active members of the clan. Although gathering everyone around for a meeting was tricky, if this group of people could agree on something, the clan was almost certain to go along with it anyways.
As they approached the group that stood huddled around a small table, WhiteSilver tossed the clay onto it, causing a few to look down and stop their conversation.
"Is that…?" Buku muttered under her breath.
A proud laugh came from Ulbert, "Ahahaha! You fuckin' got em! Nice job!"
"What do you mean by 'got em?'" Pero inquired, a confused face appearing with the tap of a button.
Ulbert shrugged and explained, "Some idiot with a World Item pissed off a friend who told us all we needed to know to track him down. I gave up looking a bit ago, but it seems my fellow disaster managed to catch em'."
WhiteSilver nodded, "Yes, I got this World Item from randomly one-shotting some player in the middle of the forest. Killed him long before he could probably even find out who I was. Best he could probably deduce is that it was a World Disaster, one that had access to long-range magic. But there's about a dozen of us, so best of luck to him in narrowing it down."
Touch Me, the clan leader, stared at the item, reading information on it as he ran inspection on it. "So, what do you plan to do with this? The Clan doesn't technically have any rules on World Items unless they're obtained as a group like Atlas was. Since you got this all on your own, I'd argue it's yours to use."
WhiteSilver shook her head. "I wanted to see if the clan would have any use for it. I didn't want to just use it without seeing if we might need it first."
Touch Me looked at the World Item and thought for a few moments, ultimately declaring, "I see… Truth be told, no matter what we do, if we use it, it's gonna be bound to someone as the 'creator' of it. Might as well be you. It's not like we could trade it off either, even if we can get a good deal for a world item like this, we'd be basically asking to get tricked and robbed. It's best if we use it quickly, lest we get another World Item stolen. Besides, even if we did have a use for it, your brother would kill me if I tried to use it instead of you."
"Damn right," Ulbert responded, grinning behind the unmoving expression of his avatar.
WhiteSilver picked up the clay once again, peering down at it with curiosity. She had been thinking a lot about how to possibly use it for the clan, but she had only briefly gone over how to use it for herself. Now that she was, she was getting plenty of ideas.
"If you wouldn't mind…" The braineater Tabula Smaragdina politely raised his hand, his masked face turning down to glance at the lump of clay. "I would love to help you write the request to the devs for that item. I've heard of that item being used once before, albeit said NPC was made incredibly mediocrely, and I am quite interested to see its potential. Given its World Item status, it could open the door to all sorts of interesting abilities and possible exploits for the NPC. Though I don't have too many ideas right now, I could easily help you min-max your ideas."
"I suppose I didn't have any specifics in mind anyways, so help in making it stronger would be appreciated," WhiteSilver responded with a nod to Tabula.
"Just what kind of build were you going to give this NPC of yours do you think?" Tabula continued, taking the clay himself and reading its description.
"My build is a glass cannon. I have more than enough firepower for three people, but I lack any sort of defense. I was thinking of making a counter-build to my own. An NPC specced fully into the sheer defensive and protective capabilities at the cost of their own firepower and range, albeit one that can still keep up with my speed and maneuvers."
Tabula nodded along with her explanation, intrigued by her idea. "So a personal bodyguard basically? I can see that being very useful for your build."
"If not for your World Disaster class, I'd say that'd be a waste. But since you have more than enough firepower for both of you and abysmal defenses, having a bodyguard to defend you against attacks you can't dodge could be very interesting," Pero remarked.
"I'd be more interested to see what kind of monstrosity of a build comes out when your sole focus is on defense with little to no care for offensive capabilities. WhiteSilver is already a build that's the opposite of that – all firepower with no care for defense – but even she specced into more than sheer offense. An NPC with just defense with a side of agility would be a terrifying flying brick wall," Buku remarked with a shifting of her slime, chuckling.
"Wasn't there already a player with a build like that? The one with the flying turtle? Though if I recall, she makes up for her lack of firepower with a bunch of overpowered items and classes, probably a few Cash Items too," Momonga brought up to the collective shivers of some of his clanmates.
Tabula raised his hand, "Indeed. She's actually a friend of mine, though the absurdities of her build are more a result of her tendency to occasionally stumble into exploits rather than intentional self-empowerment. However, what she's done accidentally, we could recreate intentionally. Add on the additional bonuses of a Heteromorph class and flight and we could make a beast that could rival the highest defensive stats of anyone in the game."
"Something along those lines would probably work…" WhiteSilver responded, taking the clay back from Tabula and opening the box to make a request to the devs. Unfortunately, the use of the World Item wasn't as instantaneous as most of them were. She would need to wait for the devs to respond, however, during that time the item wouldn't be in her possession, meaning losing it wasn't something she needed to be worried about. It was officially in the hands of the devs now, and if she died it'd still stay in the queue for attention.
Still, depending on what she requested, she could get completely different things. It would take a lot of thought and consideration to decide just what type of defensive build she wanted to craft. She was the sword, she just now had to make the shield.
The group watched with interest as WhiteSilver and Tabula walked over to nearby seats to discuss the finer details of her future creation. As they left, a few others in the group walked away as well, leaving only Momonga, Buku, Pero, and Touch Me left standing there in interest.
"She is quite the interesting player, I'll say that much," Touch Me commented, pulling out some maps. "Though having seen her fight with [Perfect Warrior] before you'd think she was a monk main with how skillfully she could fight, especially when dodging. Ulbert said this was one of her first dive video games besides a few shooters. I wonder where she learned to fight like that."
"Some people have hobbies, you know. Some parts of the world are quite dangerous, after all, perhaps she needs to know how to defend herself," Buku responded, casually giving a shrugging emoticon.
"Whatever she played before certainly gave her some interesting ideas. I've never heard of a build like hers – at least not to the extremes that she's taken it – let alone anyone who could execute it to that level. She's taken a dream roleplaying build and turned it into a fully viable strategy through sheer skill," Pero admired, folding his arms and looking at the table where WhiteSilver and Tabula were avidly discussing minor points and battle tactics.
The pink slime to his left quickly raised an arm and slapped him on the back of the head. Although no damage was registered, the message was still sent. "Stop staring, idiot! We both know you pay so much attention to her because she's got a flat chest!"
Pero waved his sister off with a groan, "We both know there's no way in hell I'd get with her, even if I knew her IRL. If she didn't kill me herself, Ulbert certainly would. It's like those mantis bugs that get their heads bitten off after sex. Except I wouldn't even get to the first date."
Buku sent a smug emoticon, teasing, "Oh so you're not denying it?"
"Sure she's attractive, not my type though. She reminds me too much of you when she gets angry. Really you should hang out more, you're nearly the same person–" Pero explained.
"Ey!" Buku snapped, her voice dropping its higher pitch as she raised her hand again.
"–and although her short height is definitely appealing, she frankly scares me. Besides, I think she's into chicks anyways."
"You two should probably stop discussing this before either she or Ulbert hears you," Momonga suggested, the conversation ending abruptly afterward.
Momonga suppressed a sigh; Pero could be a bit deranged sometimes, but it was all in good fun. That being said, Momonga knew that he really shouldn't push his luck with topics like that, especially with game permissions. Still, his sister would likely sort him out later, best for him not to add onto the impending rant he's bound to deal with once he logged off.
"Where did Ulbert go anyways?" Pero asked, glancing around and noticing that Ulbert had seemingly left the clan base entirely.
"I believe he's become interested in trying to recreate a World Item capable of summoning armies of demons. He's only just started work on the project, but apparently there's still quite a few more niche items he needs to grind for to even create a prototype," Momonga explained simply.
Before the topic shifted, Tabula and WhiteSilver returned to the group. "Well then, now all we need to do is wait for the devs to review the request an-" WhiteSilver stopped as a popup appeared on her UI.
<Dev Request Approved - Select Confirm to Summon NPC>
"Huh… Well then…" she muttered, selecting confirmation as instructed as the clay once more appeared before her, hovering mid-air. It began to glow and warp for a few seconds before manifesting into a woman of generally basic features with large glowing wings extruding from their back. Their attire was basic plated armor with a large but visually bland tower shield attached to their right arm, their left holding a much smaller but still equally bland one-handed shield.
The NPC was one of the randomly generated appearances that players could create if they lacked the skills or care to design the finer details of their avatar or NPCs.
Momonga walked over and analyzed the new NPC, commenting, "An angel, huh? Interesting choice."
"I heard the devs usually just skim over requests for World Items like these, but I didn't think they'd approve it this quickly," Tabula commented with surprise, leaning forward.
"What's with the angel pick anyway? You're gonna scare off your brother with something like that considering his own race," Pero asked, his voice filled with a bit of disappointment as he added, "Also you went with a basic rando design? Boooring! C'mon, you gotta customize it somewhat at least! Yggdrasil uses your brain to run itself, so it's pretty good at copying anything you can imagine, so surely you can imagine something more unique than that."
WhiteSilver walked past Pero and scoffed, almost wanting to ignore him. "The angel pick is simple. For one, there's only so many races that provide flight without needing to invest in a specific class for it, and every class and level counts. Intrinsic flight through racial abilities is far cheaper to maintain than using the spell-based [Fly] or other alternatives. Secondly, the other flight races don't work as well as my support. Pixies and Fairies, although good supports overall, are completely lacking in innate defensive and physical capabilities. Demons and their variants such as Succubi are far more invested in sheer firepower, although not a bad option in all fairness. Angels meanwhile allow for flight, tankiness, and even some support traits like healing. Whether I like it or not, the cultural idea of a 'guardian angel' has led the devs to give some of the angel classes quite a bit in the realm of protecting teammates."
WhiteSilver meanwhile turned back towards her NPC, opening up its customization panel. With a sigh, she remarked, "I suppose you're right on customization. My apologies but…" She closed her eyes as she imagined what she wanted the NPC to look like. Although closing her eyes was unnecessary for the system to work, as soon as she opened them, the appearance of the NPC had dramatically changed. Now it resembled someone from her past life she used to know; Viktoriya Serebryakov. She didn't feel perfectly right using her likeness, but she couldn't think of anyone better to fill the role of her bodyguard.
"Who are you apologizing to?" Pero inquired, a tad confused at WhiteSilver's comment.
"Nobody, I was talking to myself more than anything." WhiteSilver suppressed a sigh and began to reconsider the NPC's appearance. It felt… disrespectful. Perhaps it was best to let the memories sleep in her head, though perhaps mockery is flattery in a way. Would Visha be flattered or confused by her decision? In the end, WhiteSilver decided she would likely be the former, and that was enough to keep it as it was. It was more than just a visual replication of her former adjutant, it was a constant reminder of how low Being X was willing to go just to convert one person. How many additional deaths had Being X caused in his crusade? How could he do all of that and still call himself a benevolent God? How could he demand faith when all he did was needlessly slaughter. How could he-
"WhiteSilver, are you alright?"
Momonga's voice snapped WhiteSilver out of her own internal thoughts. Although her avatar's face was apathetic as ever, her fists were balled up and shaking with rage. Quickly calming herself, she sent a smiling emoticon to reassure her allies. "I'm fine, don't worry about it."
"If you say so…" Momonga muttered, sounding unconvinced.
Pero meanwhile leaned forward, eyeing over the NPC's new appearance, sending a smug emoticon as his gaze turned towards its chest. "Looks like WhiteSilver's definitely got a type. Told ya', definitely into chi-"
<Bukubukuchagama has left [Nine's Own Goal]>
<✠WhiteSilver✠ has left [Nine's Own Goal]>
A moment later, Pero's avatar was sent flying across the Clan hall, left on critical HP as Buku and WhiteSilver stood, fists raised where he was once standing.
As the two accepted Touch Me's invites back into the Clan, Buku respectfully bowed and apologized, "Sorry about my brother. That idiot doesn't know when to shut his mouth."
"I'm sorry you have to deal with that…" WhiteSilver muttered to Buku with a polite nod in her direction. "It's not that big of a deal though, I understand he's not that serious, just a moron."
Truth be told, he probably wasn't wrong either, despite having been a girl for arguably longer than she was ever a guy, her male preferences had never truly faded. Though she's never been too interested in a relationship anyways, even if she did once consider it in her first life. Especially now she has no interest in any relationship, male or female.
"Getting back on-topic," Tabula began, "I'd be interested to help you gather the needed materials to level up the NPC properly. My ideas to maximize her potential only begin with the dev request. If you don't mind some experimentation, I wish to use this as an opportunity to plan for my magnum opus, whenever we should become a proper guild."
Touch Me hummed to himself as Tabula mentioned a guild, glancing around briefly before being interrupted by Momonga.
"Touch Me? What's up?" Momonga asked, looking at the armored insectoid.
Touch Me shook his head, "I may have an idea for this clan going forward, but I'll need a few days at least before I settle on the best course of action."
Momonga gazed at Touch Me, perplexed, but simply let it go. When Touch Me needed to think about something like that, it was probably rather important. Momonga was quick to assume that his input likely wouldn't be all too helpful, given Touch Me's tone.
"Well if we have nothing better to do, grinding to maximize this NPC could be fun to do with a group," Momonga remarked, turning towards Buku and Pero, the latter of which was finally healing from his pummeling a few moments prior. "What about you two? It wouldn't exactly be the most optimal party, but it could be fun."
"I suppose I owe it to her…" Pero mumbled, scratching the back of his head as if he was actually hurt from the attack.
Buku adopted a cutesy voice she gained from years of voice acting, shouting, "Let's do it! The first NPC of our clan! The progenitor of what's to come!"
"We shouldn't get ahead of ourselves," Tabula remarked, "Even if we became a proper guild tomorrow, we still wouldn't have a permanent base to make NPCs yet."
Buku slithered over and patted Tabula on the shoulder, "You don't gotta be a downer all the time! Look at how big the clan is, we'll be a proper guild with a base in no time!"
Touch Me seemed even more in his own world now, Pero even waving his hand in front of his eyes to no response. "Huh, didn't think someone could be AFK in a dive game."
Touch Me looked up and quickly stammered, "Oh sorry, I'll be on my own today. Busy thinking about some things. You five go on ahead."
"Alright, whatever you say." Pero shrugged and walked forward, opening his map, "Now then, where we droppin'?"
"Oh shut up!" Buku spat.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Next Chapter
Chapter IV: Glory to Ainz Ooal Gown!
Beta Readers:
LuckCrusader: One must imagine Tanya happy.
Fish Tank: Gotta love that double whammy that Pero received.
Dr. Rx: Huh. Tanky Visha. Instead of a gun she's got a shield! Let's see where this goes.
Chapter IV - Glory to Ainz Ooal Gown!
SwissChocolatess
Shalltear is all and all is Shalltear
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2023
- Messages
- 16
The sound of a slashing blade was heard as Touch Me dashed through a dozen enemies, their HP stats plummeting to zero as he rapidly sped towards the main boss, eager to dish out damage and draw agro. All around him, countless summoned monsters were redirected towards Touch Me, forcing him to divert his attention to clear the crowds, much to his irritation and anticipation.
Stepping forward from far behind the chaos was a monstrosity of plants and vegetation, dressed in pearl white and blinding gold robes, one of the top strategists of Nine's Own Goal—Punitto Moe. Raising their staff, they summoned large vines and tree-like roots that erupted from the ground, entrapping the massive boss—a giant, three-horned demon with six glowing red eyes.
"WhiteSilver! Now! It won't hold for long!" Punitto Moe shouted, glancing up at the Pixie of Disaster hovering above the battlefield, glowing with buffs.
Various magical circles around the pixie converged onto a single point as she raised her rifle and took aim. With a pull of the trigger, she fired the spell [Calamity Bombardment] high into the air. One by one, the vines holding the boss in place began to unravel, their duration and durability spent. However, before the boss could fully break free, the glowing ball of destructive power struck its target, engulfing its pulsating red skin in a fiery inferno. What few mob enemies around the boss that hadn't already been annihilated by Touch Me were immediately hit with splash damage, turning them into ashes. All but a few were eliminated instantly, and those that survived were left at critically low health, easy pickings for her allies.
The boss wasn't without its response, however. Now finally freeing itself from its vegetative entanglement, it unhinged its jaw as a glowing ball of energy manifested within its mouth. A second later, an undodgeable beam of energy erupted towards the skies; aiming for the seemingly defenseless Pixie.
As the beam made impact, it failed to reach its target. Instead, it was cut short by a massive tower shield held by an angel clad in full plate armor, who had teleported in at the last second. The beam, although capable of causing massive damage to most Level 100 players it hit, failed to pierce through the sheer defensive stats of the pixie's personal guardian angel, only chipping at the latter's hitpoints.
With the beam failing to do any damage, the boss fell right into a trap the players had planned. The boss' beam was set to stop firing after it either dealt a certain amount of damage or after a set amount of time, and the boss wouldn't stop its laser until one of those two requirements were met. Although the time until it went off automatically wasn't long, it was more than enough time for Touch Me to make his move, especially after many players had applied defensive buffs to WhiteSilver's NPC to extend its duration.
Now unopposed by summoned mobs, Touch Me dashed towards the boss, slashing across it as its HP finally dropped to zero, ending with a stab through the head. Beams of light began to shine out of the demonic abomination, its form slowly fading away as its drops lowered to the ground for all to enjoy.
WhiteSilver hovered gently to the ground, their personal guardian, the angel NPC Victoria, following a few feet behind her, tower shield in one hand and shovel in the other. The NPC was donned in high level armor, colored a clean stainless white with red accents all over the equipment. WhiteSilver had worked with many of the clanmates such as Tabula and Momonga to level the NPC up rapidly. Already it was level 100, and all that was supposedly left was to get its equipment 'up to par.' Despite the lack of satisfaction in the NPC's current armor, it was still fairly high-tier equipment, as shown clearly by how the angel had tanked the beam attack of the boss without any problem. The only individuals it would suffer greatly against were raid-scale bosses, World Enemies, and large parties of max-level players.
The three actual players began to look over the loot, quickly storing them before other players could interfere. All in all, the drops were nothing too impressive, but they were at least good enough to be made useful to some extent most likely. Overall, a job well done.
Touch Me glanced at the clock on his UI, nodding as he helped distribute the items to his party members based on who would make the best use out of each one. "We should probably head back to base, it's about that time of day when people are getting off of work, so we should probably have the usual meeting here soon."
It had become customary for the clan to have a weekly meeting to ensure that everyone was on board with most plans and to coordinate greater operations if need be. Although the clan wasn't the most frequent with group activities, it was a good time for the clan members to meet up and discuss any topics that needed to come up, plus scheduling and trading. With all members of Nine's Own Goal having real-life jobs, the meetings were usually held fairly late to allow people time to get home from work and log on. The three of them already there had been spared from work today and as such had gotten on earlier to do a bit of early grinding, which they didn't mind.
With the collective nods of Punitto Moe and WhiteSilver, the latter raised their hand and casted [Gate], a teleportation spell that permitted several people to walk through at once to arrive at a location near-instantly. As they walked through the dark passageway they found themselves back at the same familiar Clan base as more people began to trickle in by the minute.
It wasn't long before Touch Me went off to handle his own affairs, busy as ever as the clan leader, even if WhiteSilver had noticed he had come under some controversy as of late. Apparently one of the first original nine members of the guild had left after an argument with Touch Me, and although none had said it, the illusion of Touch Me's ability to hold the guild together had effectively shattered among the clan members. A silent few had had their issues with Touch Me's leadership before, but now there was a quiet mutual understanding from said people about Touch Me. None seemingly outright hated the guy, but most agreed that he wasn't the best suited for clan leadership. They just weren't sure who else would be best.
With nothing else to do until the meeting began, WhiteSilver and Punitto Moe decided to gather some chairs around and take a seat, the NPC Victoria silently taking post behind her as usual.
"That NPC of yours sure is quite the effective tank when she needs to be," Punitto commented, gazing up at the angel that stood unmoving behind WhiteSilver's chair. "I didn't think an NPC could properly fill in the gap of a player in combat. I always assumed they would fall completely short. I'd be lying if I said that Victoria was a perfect 1:1, but since they only need to worry about teleporting in and blocking attacks, they certainly get their use more than any mercenary on the market."
The words meant quite a lot considering who they came from, being a huge compliment. Punitto Moe was one of Nine's Own Goal's top strategists, their mind rivaled only by the likes of WhiteSilver herself and a sparse handful of others who could be counted on one hand. Whereas WhiteSilver was far better at devising a 'grand' strategy involving several teams in a massive long-term operation, Punitto Moe was far better at devising the smaller scale strategies of individual parties, not that neither also fared well in the other's specialty. While WhiteSilver could easily coordinate the entire clan into an operation spanning multiple battles and phases, particularly in battles involving mountainous or forest terrain, Punitto Moe was far better at coordinating a single battle to an assured victory.
Together the two were Nine's Own Goal's best 'think tank,' the top strategists that made the most out of every ounce of value the clan had to offer. It was in part thanks to their collective efforts that the clan could punch far beyond its weight class and even hold its own against stronger guilds if it absolutely needed to. Nine's Own Goal wasn't well known on the global scale, but it was still a force to be reckoned with in the local region.
WhiteSilver meanwhile opened the code for her NPC, Victoria, scrolling through it and running through all of her programming. Data in NPCs came in two forms; being the largely irrelevant flavor text, and the far more essential AI programming. The former was more for lore purposes that was largely for RPers to add more flavor to their NPCs. Since it took far less data than the AI programming did, most often just used whatever extra data storage their NPCs had to flesh out the 'lore' and 'personality' of their NPCs. Meanwhile the programming determined everything the NPC did, from the ground up. It was for that reason she had spent quite a lot of data invested into making sure Victoria had paragraphs upon paragraphs explaining how she fights, with even different modes for combat, covering every scenario she could think of.
According to Tabula, Victoria seemingly had three times the base data storage of a normal NPC, a result of both the specifics of their dev request upon first making her as well as an added bonus from the [Clay of Creation] World Item. A secondary bonus of that World Item was that Victoria was effectively considered a World Item, or at least was treated with the protections of one, meaning she came with a multitude of benefits. While that didn't unfortunately give WhiteSilver the protections of a World Item holder, it did treat Victoria herself as if she was one, with this being the biggest benefit. In short, if someone tried to kill or attack Victoria with a World Item, she would be completely immune. Meaning so long as WhiteSilver was careful, no holder of World Items would ever be able to harm her.
For now, WhiteSilver opened up a keyboard and began typing away at her data, having achieved a few more data crystals to utilize in increasing both her stats and her programming. In addition, she changed around some of the data already present, refining her battle strategies and the way she fought and defended based on how the battle had gone. If she was to hold her own in PvP combat, she needed to fight with the skill of a player, even if it meant spending an absurd amount of data defining every possible situation, capable of countering almost every playstyle and meta on the battlefield.
Despite her additions, WhiteSilver considered Victoria's data to be almost perfectly refined; at least as perfect as an NPC could get. Better yet that she was running out of data space to add much more anyhow. She could probably fit in some 'lore' to Victoria eventually, but it wasn't something she felt like wasting data on, not yet anyways. The more vital part of refining the NPC now was their armor. She had been saving up resources to make the perfect set of armor for a while now, however, with so many people contributing to what was the clan's first NPC, there was quite a lot of debate on what the armor should actually look like.
WhiteSilver, for her part, didn't really care. It was this apathy towards the look of the avatar's armor that caused the clan to get into a debate on what the design should be; if she had been set on an appearance nobody would have disagreed. With quite a few skilled designers and artists within the clan, there was a surprising amount of back and forth over what they thought it should look like. It seemed that there were many people itching to finally have a Guild base so that they could finally make NPCs of their own, and WhiteSilver's NPC would be recorded as one of the first NPCs the clan ever had. .
In the end, she knew the final decision on Victoria's attire would – either fortunately or unfortunately – come down to her. But between the various proposals of things ranging from an armored maid dress to making her look like a literal walking tank of armor, she decided it would be best for them to settle on some concrete ideas before letting them hopefully decide for themselves, then taking a look at their suggestions. She still needed to grind for more materials anyways.
Momonga strangely enough had suggested dressing her up in "an old world war uniform," but it had been shot down for now. She would just have to wait and see. Not that the suggested appearance was accurate anyways, or that she particularly cared to dress Visha up this way. It felt wrong enough to use Visha's likeness as an NPC, giving her a military uniform would push it too far. She doubted Viktoriya would've wanted to be remembered solely as a soldier.
As she finished up her touches on Victoria's code, she noticed Tabula approaching and sitting down with Punitto and herself. A smile was sent from the two of them as Tabula sent one in response, the common greeting of Yggdrasil players for friendly intentions. "Greetings," he began, taking a seat and gazing down at where WhiteSilver's hands were typing away at. "Still refining Victoria, I see. I will say, I admire your thoroughness with her settings, though I would wish you would add some lore to her."
"Is there a particular reason why the lore is so important?" WhiteSilver asked, briefly looking up from her last few lines of programming.
Tabula shook his head and shrugged. "I suppose it's just superstition, but I like to believe an NPC with lore will fight harder for you. Who knows, perhaps one day the devs will do something to make that lore relevant. They wouldn't add a feature for no reason."
"Tabula, we both know that last part isn't true," Punitto Moe grumbled, suppressing a rant about the shitty devs of Yggdrasil that most players seemed to have in their back pocket, if not multiple.
Tabula nodded and sent an apologetic emoticon with a slight bow. "Yeah, you're right, sorry. Though my point stands."
"If it reassures you, I'll add some lore to her once I'm confident with her programming. I don't want to use up too much of her data with lore that I have to use a Cash Shop item to add more," WhiteSilver muttered, returning to her typing and refining.
"You added all of that programming without expanding her data limit with cash items? I'm impressed," Punitto stated, folding their arms and leaning back in their chair.
WhiteSilver raised her hand to stop him as she shook her head, disagreeing, "No, I've used three. Quite a few of our clanmates got NPC data increasers from gacha pulls and since I'm the only one with an NPC, they just usually let me have it in exchange for a favor or something."
"I will personally pay for a Cash Shop item to increase Victoria's data so long as you use it to add some backstory to her," Tabula offered, pulling open the Cash shop interface and already making the motions to use the search bar.
WhiteSilver waved her hand dismissively, "Alright, alright. I'll do it later. We got a meeting today anyways, I don't have time to be typing that up yet. If we do anything big today I want to use it as an opportunity to test out Victoria's party programming."
"Party programming? What's that mean?" Punitto inquired, Tabula showing some intrigue as well.
"Normally Victoria is solely focused on protecting me, however in cases where party size is capped, Victoria may end up replacing the tank slot in the party. To compensate, I have created an alternate combat mode for her where she focuses on defending everyone rather than just me."
"Makes sense, but part of being a Tank is to make space and force enemies to focus on you. Victoria doesn't really have the offensive power to be more than a mild nuisance to an enemy. It's possible for Victoria to block hits of one person, but I feel like it could be difficult to do on a whole group," Punitto Moe reasoned, leaning forward.
"I have a feeling I think I just realized where this is going…" Tabula mumbled, remembering an ability a friend of his tended to use.
"High level angels which meet the right requirements can obtain the 'Guardian Angel' job class, much like the Eclipse class for Overlords or the Fae Queen class for Pixies. Through it, they can unlock a skill called [Holy Martyr]," WhiteSilver began.
Tabula placed his hand on his face as his suspicions were confirmed, mumbling, "Here it comes…"
"When it's used, all allies within a radius of the user are effectively protected by said user. In short, any attacks on someone under the effects of [Holy Martyr] will instead damage the caster of [Holy Martyr]. However, the damage calculation utilizes the caster's equipment and stats to calculate damage, meaning that if the user of [Holy Martyr] is capable of completely nullifying an attack due to high defense, then said attack would do nothing at all to the targeted player and Victoria."
"Shit, I didn't think of that. I always considered that spell as more of a self-sacrificing kind of ability, hence the name. Most of the time when someone uses it they end up taking so much damage that they straight up just die in seconds, dropping out of the fight as a last resort. The best use I've seen of it is when someone uses it on an AOE attack that would normally wipe out or at least cripple an entire party. By using that spell, the caster instantly dies but the party gets out with minimal damage. It's broken in that sense of the word, but with a build that doesn't give two shits about offense…" Punitto muttered, terror in their voice as they began to consider the implications.
"The entire team would be effectively immortal against anything Victoria has high resistances or nullifications against so long as they stayed within the casting range…" Tabula finished Punitto's sentence, the two both understanding the implications of such a combo, nodding. "It's frankly genius, not to mention a massive oversight by the devs."
"I mean can you blame them? Who the hell is playing a character with no offensive abilities or classes? If a player had a build exactly like Victoria's they'd be bored out of their mind!" Punitto Moe exclaimed in amazement at the monstrosity WhiteSilver had prepared to introduce to Yggdrasil.
WhiteSilver nodded along and continued, "There's more to it than just standing in the middle of the team and absorbing damage. Victoria has arguably one of, if not the best defensive capabilities in all of Yggdrasil, but even she would slowly have her health trickle down with [Holy Martyr]. So part of her party defense programming is her blocking major attacks with her shield. Attacks successfully blocked with a shield don't count towards damage at all, so she can avoid taking at least a bit of damage with it, furthering her effective defense. It may not be a lot but it adds up."
"Wait," Punitto muttered, "I just realized… If Victoria is basically absorbing all of the team's damage anyways, is there much need for defensive spells to be applied at all? If not that would not only save a whole bunch of MP but would open the door for more offensive focused buff spells."
There was a set amount of buff spells one could have running at any given time. Interestingly however, there was no limit to how many could be applied onto a single player, though the modifiers wouldn't stack and some were mutually exclusive with one another, so in practice there technically was a limit, and more powerful ones had duration caps. Nevertheless, for most max level spellcasters, the number of buff spells they could maintain was often fairly high, however since these spellcasters were often expected to run buffs on not only themselves but their teammates who could only cast a few, in a full squad they tended to stack up. However in Victoria's case, only she needed to have defensive buffs for the entire team to benefit. Therefore, so long as you kept her alive, you could get away with casting a copious amount of offensive buffs on the rest of the team, using the magic power and items that should've been used for defense elsewhere. It wasn't a strategy that would win a war of attrition, but with WhiteSilver's and a few others' sheer firepower, they wouldn't get into one in the first place. And with only one person on the team taking all the damage, there was realistically only one target for the team's healer to focus.
Punitto was now slouched over, head in their hands as they grumbled in defeat, "This hurts my head… Thank god you're on our side."
"Oi guys, the meeting's about to start!" Touch Me's voice echoed through the clan hall, causing everyone's attention to turn towards him and shuffle over to the round table. Each of them took a seat, some having to move seats back to the table before sitting down.
Looking around, WhiteSilver noticed that all twenty-eight members of the clan were present, a rare occurrence even for clan meetings. WhiteSilver sat between Ulbert and Momonga, the latter she had only just noticed was there, Tabula and Punitto Moe having taken seats further along the table. Standing on guard behind her was her NPC Victoria. Having her behind her made her feel like she was some kind of monarch with her aid by her side, but it wasn't entirely inaccurate. She was her adjutant in a way.
With everyone seated aside from Touch Me who stood where he spoke, "There are some things I need to discuss with everyone, but that can come last. To start, does anyone have anything of interest to share? Any discoveries?"
WhiteSilver raised her hand with Touch Me nodding in her direction.
"Victoria is finally at level 100 and I believe she is ready for her first proper test drive. I'd like to take her with a full party for a proper dungeon raid. So far I've only taken her on smaller excursions against more exposed bosses in open areas, and has thus far been extremely successful. There she was only an aid for me, I want to see how she'll fare in a proper dungeon."
Punitto Moe raised his hand as well, "I can confirm, if our theories are correct, she should be absolutely fucking broken."
"Fuck yeah! Lemme see that! I call dibs on joining for her test drive," Ulbert eagerly insisted. His posture had given WhiteSilver the impression that he was frustrated with something, but his tone now appeared to be his usual self. Or perhaps he was simply distracted by this news and was still upset. About what, she couldn't tell.
"Well I may have some good news for you then."
Who spoke was what could only be described as a stereotypical ninja, one of the clan's top stealth players, Nishiki Enrai. Continuing he elaborated, "I've found an unexplored dungeon."
The clan was met with a wave of surprise and curiosity. Instantly everyone began murmuring to themselves and amongst each other, a plethora of questions about this dungeon flurrying about. Ulbert however managed to pierce through the quiet murmuring and asked, "Where did you find it?"
"Are you aware of the huge poison swamp in the marshes of Helheim?" Nishiki asked.
"The one filled with all those Tuvegs? That poison swamp?"
Nishiki nodded, "That's the one, I found it in the swamps there."
Tabula, intrigued, spoke up, "Fascinating, but how? A lot of people have done reconnaissance, even some within our own clan, but nobody's reported finding a dungeon. I've even seen recordings of it."
Who spoke next was the monstrosity of Death Vines, Punitto Moe. "We're not doubting you, but Tuvegs make a loud cry whenever they spot enemies. Going undetected through the swamps would be a pain."
"You see my friend, you're making a simple mistake," Nishiki laughed. "In order to deal with a Tuveg, you must simply sneak up behind one and quickly revoke his head privileges. That way you won't alert either its friends or any nearby players."
Punitto Moe was left flabbergasted by his response, resigning himself with a sigh and a grin.
Soon however the conversation began to derail, Nishiki and Punitto Moe beginning discussions about some other game that WhiteSilver had never played. Instinctively she folded her arms and leaned back in her chair, somewhat bored, as these meetings tended to fare.
It's not that she minded, however she'd be lying if she said she didn't wish for them to get on with it already.
To her right Momonga let out an awkward chuckle, muttering, "You have no idea what they're talking about either, huh?"
WhiteSilver raised an eyebrow, although her avatar didn't show it, "Hm? Oh, no. Never played whatever game they're talking about. Aside from a few shooters and strategy games I used to play, I've only really played Yggdrasil."
Momonga laughed again, "Glad I'm not the only one."
Soon a clapping brought the clan back to attention. "Enough, we're getting off topic. Nishiki, tell us about the dungeon."
"Ah right, Touch Me, apologies. Anyways, there's an island in the deepest parts of the poison swamp – or rather there's a base there, with the dungeon right in the middle. It's called the Great Tomb of Nazarick."
"I've personally done some aerial recon over there before, how come nobody including myself found it?" WhiteSilver asked with genuine curiosity.
"I think it's a dungeon that can only be discovered under special circumstances," Punitto replied.
"Perhaps it's only accessible to those who traveled the poison swamp on foot?" Tabula speculated. "Or maybe it's only visible under a certain altitude. You tend to fly especially high, WhiteSilver."
WhiteSilver nodded, "I see… Well then, I need to test Victoria, so why don't we all go there after this meeting? It's possible this dungeon was recently and silently added by the devs, if that's the case it could be only a few days before someone else finds it. If nothing else, even if we fail, we'd gain invaluable information on how to beat it. Not to mention the loot bonuses for us being the first ones running it. Even if we die, that additional loot could very well make up for it, and the multitude of debuffs would be a good test for Victoria."
WhiteSilver's suggestion was met with a more mixed response, but nevertheless the majority seemed more in agreement. Their reason for hesitancy made sense however. Beating a dungeon in one try was basically unheard of, or at least was incredibly rare. Dungeons were often meant to be faced by trial and error, through hook or by crook. It could sometimes take countless failed attempts of gathering information before a complete and successful raid could be launched.
That being said, they wouldn't learn anything if they never went in. And the fact remained that they were the first to find this dungeon. If they could complete it first, the reward could easily be worth it. Doubly so if they somehow beat it on the first try, which would increase their rewards even more.
Various statements of agreement came from the other members of the clan. In the end, Touch Me raised his hand to silence the clan. "Well then, it seems as if the majority of the clan is in agreement of this. It's rare that we have everyone together, so what better opportunity than this? Now then, anything else to share?"
Touch Me waited for a few minutes as silence filled the clan hall as nobody responded. "Good, then I shall move onto the subject I wish to bring up." Touch me looked around for a few seconds before placing his hand on the circular table, "Firstly, I want to disband the clan."
The silence that followed was deafening, only to soon be squashed by the erupting of mass confusion and panic. After a few seconds of this Touch Me raised his hands, trying to say something before another voice cut through the shouting.
"He left because you're so damn selfish!"
WhiteSilver looked up to her left as her brother stared daggers into Touch Me. His regular tone had dropped completely, fury overtaking his usual polite voice. She had sensed something was nagging at him earlier, but she hadn't expected it to erupt like this.
If she recalled correctly, the one who Touch Me had driven to leave the game was a friend of her brothers, although she had rarely played with him herself. Due to both Ulbert and herself having the World Disaster class, it was usually more of a liability to party together for the higher difficulty missions that required full parties. As such, it was often that he partied with this friend of his, although due to this WhiteSilver herself had rarely interacted with him.
That being said, she knew how close the two of them were in-game, him leaving seemingly having really pissed off her brother, even if she was somehow only learning of it now.
Ulbert's fists clenched, as if preparing for a fight despite the nature of Yggdrasil, "You son of a bitch!"
WhiteSilver sat stunned. Her brother, although occasionally prone to anger, often kept it under control. At most he would rant about work, but never had she seen her brother seem so… confrontational.
It wasn't a side she knew how to deal with, at least not as a sister. In the military she would've been able to calm the situation down easily, but this was a different situation.
Fortunately Momonga the Mediator™ quickly stepped in. "Ulbert, you've said too much."
Ulbert slowly calmed down after a few more seconds. "You're right, I went too far. But still, don't you think he's being selfish? First he chased them away, and now this. If it's like that, shouldn't he have disbanded us earlier?"
"You're not wrong, but I feel like there's more to it than that…" WhiteSilver commented. "I've played a bit with Touch Me recently, he's had something on his mind for a bit before that player left."
"Huh? How can you tell?" Ulbert asked, confused.
WhiteSilver shrugged. "He's usually very straight to the point, but lately he's been stopping to think to himself a lot more. Either something's going on that we shouldn't pry into, or he's planning something."
Touch Me nodded, "Right, sorry for scaring everyone… I phrased that poorly. I've been thinking that with our numbers, being a clan no longer suits us. I was going to transform the clan into a proper guild, but as you can't just change a clan's designation to a guild, the clan must be disbanded for the guild to form."
A wave of "Oh"s filled the room.
The clan had possessed more than enough people to become a guild for probably months now, however, with the name and leader of the guild being effectively unchangeable, it was essential that these two points were agreed upon before making one. As such, Nine's Own Goal had never become a guild.
Now, it seemed, Touch Me was finally ready to force through a decision.
Ulbert sighed and leaned back in his chair. "He should've just said so."
Continuing, Touch Me asked, "Are there any objections to disbanding the clan and refounding us as a guild?"
As expected, the clan remained silent. People had been itching to be a guild for weeks if not months now. It was getting to the point where people may have started to consider leaving if they weren't able to start customizing a proper guild base. WhiteSilver could tell a good number of people in the clan were jealous of her NPC, and not just because it was a living World Item.
The clan name would definitely have to change, however. Not only because it was the beginning of a 'new era' as some of the more RP-heavy in the clan would say, but also because the name 'Nine's Own Goal' came from a time when the clan consisted of nine members. Now it had nearly thirty, and was only growing. Furthermore, one of the original nine in question had just left the game entirely for specific reasons unknown. Even if she wasn't one to care about the clan name, she understood how it could be rude to go by that name after one had left the game on such poor terms.
Next was the question of guildmaster. Naturally WhiteSilver assumed it would probably just be the clan leader, Touch Me, however his next statement shut down that possibility. "This time around, I'd like to beg off the position of clan – no, guildmaster. I feel bad about saying this before being picked, but I hope everyone will take it into consideration."
WhiteSilver was both and not surprised simultaneously. Touch Me's reputation within the clan had been debatable, and while nobody hated him, except maybe her brother considering their interaction, he definitely lacked the skills to lead a group of this size. The question now was who did?
Unfortunately, she realized a valid answer was sitting in her very seat.
However, there was an equally valid answer to her right.
"Then who would like to be the next leader, or guildmaster rather. Or would anyone like to recommend someone for the role?" Touch Me asked, looking around at the clan.
"I think my sister should do it," Ulbert eagerly suggested, his thumb pointing at her.
'As expected,' WhiteSilver thought, looking around the table to gauge the clan's response.
She wasn't opposed to the proposition, but she wasn't going to force it either. This clan was fragile enough as it was. Even with less than thirty members, there were several people itching to tear each other apart at the seams. She wasn't sure she could keep them all in line without their full support.
"I, for one, am not opposed to that proposition." The approval came from Tabula, who raised his hand from across the table. "I believe WhiteSilver could be a very impartial leader, not to mention her strategic skill."
"I forward that," Punitto Moe added, "If she's in charge, I don't doubt we'll eventually be able to conquer one of the realms if we really set out to do so."
It was flattering to have Nine's Own Goal's intellectual elite on her side, however, the rest of the clan didn't seem universally convinced.
"Personally, I recommend Momonga," Touch Me offered.
Momonga nearly leaped out of his seat. "Guehhh?!"
Logically, he was arguably a better choice than her. She would keep the guild together, sure, but it likely would come at the cost of the same spirit the clan had now. Momonga was a mediator for a reason. He was a friend of all and cared for keeping the peace more than anybody. There was hardly a person more passionate for the clan and Yggdrasil than him, nobody spent more time logged into the game and exploring its relations more than him. Logically, even if he didn't necessarily have the skills for leadership, he definitely had the passion. Which was a lot more than WhiteSilver had, and she knew it. They all knew it.
'Though, then again, how far can passion truly take someone?' She mentally questioned, but suppressed it as murmurings of approval circulated around the table.
Before this could devolve into a longer discussion, WhiteSivler felt the need to pin the responsibility on Momonga. "Frankly, I agree with Touch Me. If some of you all really want me in charge of something, there's no reason that Momonga couldn't make a proper structure and elect people to certain roles within the guild. I wouldn't mind being our War Marshal to give battle advice, it'd still do the same job."
If the clan was indecisive about her, then managing the clan would be ten times harder. If the clan didn't fully want her to lead it, then best to leave it to someone she could at least trust to hold the clan together.
"Oi oi oi, come on, give me a break. Really, Touch Me, this is all too sudden. You can't decide things so quickly, give me a little more time!" Momonga protested.
The one who responded was Ulbert, "Personally, I think you're an excellent candidate. Even if it would be way cooler if my sister was the leader. You log in regularly, you're meticulous, you don't got any strange habits. Also you're the clan's go-to mediator. You earned that trademark for a reason."
"That's not how trademarks work…" WhiteSilver grumbled, mostly to herself.
"C-C-C'mon guys! I'm not confident that I can lead everyone as outstandingly as Touch Me. Wouldn't someone else be better? L-Like WhiteSilver! You're right Ulbert, it would really be cool if she was leader!"
<✠WhiteSilver✠ Has Logged Off>
"Fuck."
Momonga looked down at his UI as he got three emails from different members of the clan. They were sent not via in-game magic, but via an email through a cash shop item, so they were clearly very important.
The emails, although from three different players that made up a good portion of the intellectual elite of the clan, each contained roughly the same explanation.
In short, there were only two valid candidates for leader of the guild.
The first was WhiteSilver, which was somewhat surprising, but at the same time not so much. She was an unconventional player, not to mention siblings with the occasionally chaotic Ulbert. That being said, she was a very competent leader, and knew how to get things done when push came to shove. She was charismatic when she needed to be and logical at pretty much all times. She had made obvious no enemies in the guild and due to her surprisingly effective leadership and management skills she could probably hold the Guild together by sheer skill alone.
That being said, while she would not tear the guild apart, there would definitely be some members lost over the months or years. She would keep it together, sure, and would arguably raise it to unseen heights, but said metamorphosis would not come without its damage as her personality would certainly come into conflict with some of the more whimsical players.
The second option was unfortunately himself. So much so that if neither he nor WhiteSilver become clan leader, these players were interested in leaving the guild and joining another one with Momonga and possibly WhiteSilver if they could get her on board, likely dragging Ulbert along with them. And doing this would collapse any hope of their barely budding to-be guild whatsoever.
With WhiteSilver seemingly disinterested in the role, he had no choice. If he wanted the clan to stay together, if he wanted the guild that they would create to stand… He needed to be guildmaster.
Although he hesitated, he resigned to his fate. "I understand. If there is nobody else, then I will take the role."
<✠WhiteSilver✠ Has Logged In>
WhiteSilver appeared back in her chair, looking around. "Sorry, I ran out of nanomachines and it kicked me out. Had to inject some back in to keep playing, anyways what did I miss?"
"Oh only the very minor point of deciding our clan leader," Ulbert wryly explained, although WhiteSilver didn't seem too fazed.
"Ah so Momonga finally accepted?" WhiteSilver continued, to which Momonga nervously nodded in acknowledgement.
"Now then, as future Guildmaster I suppose I should ask, what should be the name of the guild? Should I come up with one?"
Momonga looked around with growing anxiety, the weight of being Guildmaster becoming ever present by each passing second in silence.
"Nah, don't worry about it. I think…" Buku muttered, shuffling in her seat as she seemingly tried to think of a proper name.
Discussions immediately began on what the guild name should be, the room quickly devolving into organized chaos. WhiteSilver, for her sake, didn't really care nor did she have any in mind. She was more than content to leave such matters for the rest of the guild to decide, somewhat tuning out the conversation as suggestions like 'Heteromorphic Zoo' and strangely enough 'Knights Templar' were tossed around.
In the end it was decided to not completely abandon the guild name, but rather to simply change some of the sounds. The end result was changing Nine's Own Goal to Ainz Ooal Gown. How they got there WhiteSilver wasn't exactly sure, but those three words of gibberish had been what the clan, now newly founded guild, decided on. It didn't sound too cringey, so she gave her thumbs up.
"Then we shall combine the suggestions from Takemikazuchi and Punitto Moe to make the new guild's name. Does anyone disagree?"
"Nope!" Buku exclaimed, the rest of the guild following suit.
"Very well, then our guild's new name is Heteromorphic Zoo!" The clan laughed for a few seconds before Momonga raised his hand and clarified, "That was a joke, we're all in agreement on Ainz Ooal Gown, yes?"
The clan agreed unanimously, spamming thumbs up, laughing, and smiling emoticons.
"Great, now then, who would like to partake in the quest we need to set up the guild? I don't mind chipping away at it in my own free time," Momonga offered, only to be shut down by Touch Me pulling out a scroll from his inventory.
"Don't bother Momonga, I already did it," He explained, passing the scroll to him.
Guilds in Yggdrasil needed certain items to be created and registered, requiring the completion of one of a few types of quests to obtain it. Now with it in his possession, Momonga could instantly create the guild Ainz Ooal Gown.
Momonga unraveled the scroll as Touch Me nodded, "Alright, I'll disband the clan."
Mournful music came from Touch Me to the surprise of very few as he stalled the disbandment of the clan for well over a minute. Finally, the anticipated notification appeared on everyone's UI.
<Clan 'Nine's Own Goal' Has Been Disbanded>
"Everyone! I have made the guild. I'll begin sending out invites, look out for them." Momonga began to send out invites to the guild clockwise around the table, starting with him. As such, WhiteSilver was the first to receive and accept an invite, with the entire table having been invited within just a few moments. After about a minute of everyone tapping away at their UI, all the former members of Nine's Own Goal were now part of the new Ainz Ooal Gown, grinning.
"As the first action of Ainz Ooal Gown, I say we should complete the dungeon Nishiki found. Any objections?" Momonga declared, followed by a general silence of agreement amongst the clan.
Before he could continue, someone asked, "I have a question. Since this dungeon is unknown, shouldn't we only be making a reconnaissance mission first? When are we planning to seriously try and clear the dungeon?"
Momonga shook his head. "No, I actually have an idea… I was hoping to clear the unexplored swamp dungeon in one go."
There was an uproar, although it was only to be expected. The proposition could only be seen as incredibly ballsy. The chance of success was near-zero, but if they could pull it off, it would be a legendary start to the new guild; that was Momonga's goal.
A knight made of an unnatural mass of flesh and meat known as Bellriver spoke next, "Still, it should be impossible, we don't know the level needed to clear that dungeon, and even a lower level dungeon would still have traps and enemies we're unaware of."
"Aren't we all max level? Besides, I think it'll be fun. Worse comes to worst, we all get wiped, and we take it as our reconnaissance," the monstrous nephilim, Warrior Takemikazuchi, stated.
Soon a wave of agreement came from some of the top members of the guild. Although many were still in doubt, the general consensus became; "It's a game, who cares? Let's have fun."
With that, the decision was settled. Ainz Ooal Gown would conquer the Great Tomb of Nazarick – In one glorious shot… Or die trying.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
After some time, the new guild had finally made their way into Nazarick, having fully geared up and distributed items. Descending the stairs, the guild had intended to stay as a unit, however soon a roadblock presented itself.
"Ah, it seems this is a multi-attack dungeon, and one of the hardest ones too. It needs five parties to progress. At least it's not one of the ones that need 36 people…" Tabula muttered, causing Momonga some frustration.
Discussions began on how to split up the parties. Although Momonga was the guild leader, he knew when to listen to the advice of his peers, in particular in fields he lacked any significant experience in. Although he was confident he could at least make some half-decent team comps, he ultimately decided to leave it to Tabula, Punitto, and WhiteSilver to decide on the teams, who were the best at strategizing.
Teams followed a standard team comp; One tank, two attackers (preferably one magical and one physical), one healer, one seeker, and possibly a wildcard, usually a "rogue" or some sort.
In the end, his party was decided:
Tank: Victoria
Magic Attacker: Ulbert Alain Odle
Physical Attacker: Warrior Takemikazuchi
Healer: Yamaiko
Seeker: ✠WhiteSilver✠
The team was, practically speaking, either going to be abhorrent or absolutely terrifying.
There was of course the initial concern with the NPC member of the party, Victoria. However, if WhiteSilver and Tabula were to be believed; she could be arguably far more valuable than any tank if used well. The more pressing concern was the presence of not one, but two World Disasters in the party. Although WhiteSilver technically could fit into the role of a seeker, she was as much a seeker as Nishiki Enrai was an attacker. Both could do their secondary job well, but it was ultimately just a secondary job.
Momonga didn't mind, however. Neither did anyone in the party. Ulbert and WhiteSilver would normally never be in the same party together due to their World Disaster classes being more optimally split up among multiple parties, however at Ulbert's insistence, he had been placed with his sister. Furthermore, Victoria was always going to end up with WhiteSilver, so that was decided. All that was left was for a support, a wildcard, and either a seeker or an attacker depending on what they deemed best.
With the sheer lack of physical firepower the party had, it was decided to bring along Warrior Takemikazuchi, who was more than eager to see the defensive capabilities of WhiteSilver's NPC.
Lastly was the support, ultimately with Yamaiko being decided as the best candidate. Should Victoria go down, she was tanky enough to serve as an off-tank until she could be revived by either her or WhiteSilver. Furthermore, her high healing output would allow for her to out-heal whatever reduced damage Victoria took. Also, with her low damage output in favor of defense, said lack of damage output was made up for by the two largest cannons Ainz Ooal Gown had: WhiteSilver and Ulbert.
As for Momonga himself, he volunteered to join them. His reasons were threefold: One, nobody else would want to join this trainwreck of a team willingly. Two, he was curious to see how such a team would fare in battle, especially with two World Disasters and the immortal object known as Victoria. And three, he thought – no, he knew – that this party would be incredibly fun, and that was the most important part.
Soon they began plunging into the dungeon, the five parties each passing through one of the five doors. Apparently these were the 'Five Rulers of Nazarick' that they would soon be facing. According to the monologue that was spoken before they began, it implied that this dungeon would be a conquerable guild base, which had caused some initial excitement. A potential added bonus if they decided to keep it. Who knew how much the upkeep cost of such a massive dungeon and its pop monsters would be, however.
"I'm detecting undead signatures up ahead. Four of them," Momonga announced as they appeared to have entered into a graveyard of sorts.
"Right, we should start casting buff spells then. Realistically only Victoria should need defensive spells, and only defensive spells. Focus on giving the rest of us bonuses to attack power, and Yamaiko to healing," WhiteSilver ordered, Momonga quickly complying and beginning to cast the extended buff spells.
"Frankly it's surprising how many spells he knows…" Ulbert mumbled in amazement.
Soon Momonga finished his casting as WhiteSilver began her own. Various glowing golden dots littered the air around her as she began casting buffs from her Fae Queen class.
Much like Momonga's own Eclipse class, it was only available to high-tier fae-based races who had reached level 95. It focused primarily on summoning, and was overall a very powerful support class. Since WhiteSilver was usually in the backline anyways, it was a good utilitarian class, especially when there weren't too many classes left in the game that could've made a significant impact on her firepower or agility.
In particular, however, were strong bonuses applicable to increase the healing one gave out. In short, Yamaiko's healing spells were now even stronger. The next bonus was to Victoria, applying constant passive healing even while taking damage. Although many races or classes provided passive healing, it usually required a few seconds of not taking damage before it applied. In the case of the buff cast onto Victoria, it was continuous, and didn't even consume any more mana than the base casting cost to WhiteSilver, a boon she wouldn't pass up on. That being said, the healing was negligible to most, however ideally Victoria wouldn't be taking much damage to begin with, the healing was just to cover nicks and scratches.
WhiteSilver then approached the door that blocked the way into the next room, opening it before leaping back with incredible speed. Rushing out came four undead, their hands warped into balls of protruding blades as they dashed towards the party.
Without a word, Victoria's wings spread out and glowed slightly, drawing in the agro of the zombies as she raised her shield. Thanks to her angelic race and high karma value, she had a number of skills that allowed her to easily attract the agro of low-karma enemies like undead in particular.
Momonga quickly cast [Discern Enemy] on the zombies, announcing to the party, "Level 83!"
Warrior Takemikazuchi scoffed, "Hmph, if that's it, I'll handle them easily." Without another complaint he slashed away at the zombies, getting them down to critical before their agro finally swapped from Victoria to himself. By that time, it was too late for them to respond, with Takemikazuchi killing them shortly after.
"What's Victoria's status?" Momonga asked, turning to WhiteSilver as she looked at her NPC's status on the UI.
"Jeez, she's critical already!" WhiteSilver proclaimed.
"Huh?! How?!"
"She lost three HP!" WhiteSilver cried, flailing around.
"Oh shut up," Ulbert groaned, a rolling eyes emoticon appearing next to his head.
"In all seriousness, we should get going though. [Extend Magic - Blessing of Titania]." WhiteSilver extended her hand as a small pixie was summoned, giving out a radiant golden glow. Part of her spells learned as a Fae Queen – although Momonga knew the spell as well – the fairy would lead them through the least dangerous path through the dungeon, although not necessarily the shortest, determined by the total cumulative levels of approachable enemies.
To find the shortest path as well, Momonga cast "[Extend Magic - Lead of Yatagarasu]" as a three-legged crow appeared and began to lead the party alongside the glowing ball that was the fairy.
WhiteSilver began to lead the party forward. Although she was easily the weakest of the party in terms of defensive prowess, she was still their only seeker. To fill this role, countless glowing dots could be seen orbiting her as she hovered a few feet off the ground. Each of these dots was another summon like [Lead of Yatagarasu], more fairies from her Fae Queen class that granted her an immense amount of utility even without specialized classes in it. This came at the cost of a good amount of MP, however WhiteSilver had that in droves, arguably the most in the guild, contested by only a few others like Momonga and her brother. The fairies also had 1 HP each and would disappear at the first bit of damage. Interestingly however, Victoria's [Holy Martyr] actually included the fairies as well, meaning their effective HP was as high as hers.
"Seems like a basic tomb-type dungeon so far. Keep your guard up though, I wouldn't be shocked if the devs pulled something stupid out of their asses for no reason," WhiteSilver commented as she continued hovering forward.
Combat frequently ensued from then on, however none of the monsters brought about any significant challenge. Those that did, quickly found themselves unable to damage anyone besides Victoria as her [Holy Martyr] came into effect. Although Victoria ended up taking quite a beating, with only one person to heal, it was fairly easy to just use wands to heal up Victoria to save MP. With how much MP Ulbert and WhiteSilver could use up, it was best for Yamaiko to save her MP for more vital situations.
As the party progressed, they were stopped as WhiteSilver raised her hand, one of her fairies having started glowing red. "Teleport trap, difficulty red. Momonga," she turned towards the Overlord as he gave a subtle nod.
A skeleton burst from the ground as he summoned a low-tier undead. Without a second thought he pointed at the undead, "[Undeath Slave Sight]." As the spell went through a screen appeared at the bottom left of Momonga's UI as he led the undead into the trap.
"Seems to be teleported to a Level 95 undead creature, a Greater Graveyard I believe. Ah, it's dead," Momonga explained, watching through the screen until the feed was cut out.
"The teleportation circle stops operating after use, but give it a moment and – There, it's back up."
Momonga summoned another undead and cast the same spell, leading it through as it was once again brought to the same place. Explaining this to the party, they nodded in response.
"Alright then, well it seems we can just bypass the teleport trap if we move quickly, so once you send another undead through, we'll rush past."
Once more repeating the process, the trap deactivated as the party rushed through.
"We really need a trap disarmer in the guild…" Warrior Takemikazuchi groaned as they finally made it past the trap.
"Yeah… Frankly we should've just brought an actual seeker. My summons can do quite a bit, but I can't do much with them active. I'm basically locked out of the fight until we're in a comfortable enough position for me to drop 'em," WhiteSilver complained before the party found themselves in front of a massive statue, a glowing magic circle right before it; clearly a teleportation pad.
"Seems we found the boss," Yamaiko commented, gazing down at the circle in front of the statue.
WhiteSilver nodded and turned to look at Victoria, commanding, "Victoria, activate [True Form]."
Two more pairs of wings sprouted out of Victoria's back, one pair was about half the size of her normal ones, whereas the third was about a fourth. Around her appeared two golden rings as she lifted off the ground, eyes opening all along the sides of the rings as they gazed around, piercing into the soul and casting divine judgement on anyone they looked at. (At least according to the in-game lore descriptions.)
Victoria was an Ophanim, and much like a few high level angel races, had what was a 'true form' that could be activated for a period of time between longer cooldowns. Being an Ophanim, her true form granted her the skill [Omniscience], which had three main effects.
Firstly, it allowed the user to see past most, if not all illusion and invisibility spells in the game, with the exception of World Items, which as a World Item herself, Victoria could probably see past anyways.
Secondly, it granted the user full info on other players, often capable of seeing past false data protections that weren't of the highest level. In short, unless you deliberately casted and maintained a [False Data] spell, [Omniscience] would see past it, meaning most players who relied on their gear to maintain [False Data] would have their info for WhiteSilver to see and disseminate to her allies.
And lastly, the skill came with 'attack prediction.' Due to it being basically impossible to predict the attacks of players, this was far more effective against AI enemies or NPCs where their movements could be shown a few frames ahead of where they were. Against players, this simply showed the current planned trajectory of the spells they were casting.
Although Victoria was an AI and couldn't convey what she learned with these traits verbally, she could share the data of enemies to party members as well as point out the location of hidden or invisible enemies. While there was no good way to share attack prediction with teammates, as it turned out, Yggdrasil's AI went – to quote Punitto Moe – "absolutely apeshit" with the skill, with the only naturally spawning NPCs with the skill being high level angel bosses and some player-made NPCs - including WhiteSilver's. While against unpredictable players they weren't anything absurdly difficult, against predictable NPCs, they were absolutely devastating. In the case of a defensive Victoria, it meant that no attack would ever go unblocked so long as she had the speed to reach it. And with buffs to her agility stats and fly speed, there was no way she didn't barring the fastest of enemies.
As Victoria transformed, Momonga raised a hand to his ear as he spoke to the other parties' leaders. "I've spoken with everyone. All of the parties are at the dungeon's heart. They're a bit spent, but they're all in optimal condition it seems. Though there seems to be two problems."
"Alright Momonga, lay out how the shitty devs have fucked us this time," Ulbert replied.
"Firstly, two parties have already begun fighting, however both of them are fighting completely different bosses," Momonga explained.
"Seems we won't be able to use info gained from the first group then," WhiteSilver acknowledged. "What's the second problem?"
"Announcements when they enter the boss rooms seem to imply that they get stronger in the order they're fought. Meaning the first team is facing the easiest enemy, while the last team will face the hardest."
"I see where this is going," Warrior Takemikazuchi commented.
"I'd like for our team to take the short straw here and go last. Overall we've not expended many resources and Victoria has held up very well. Most notably however, we have two World Disasters in our party that are still at very high MP. WhiteSilver you haven't even used your [Frenzy Form] yet, have you?"
WhiteSilver shook her head in response to Momonga's question.
Momonga nodded, "Great, then if there's no objections…" The party all remained silent as Momonga acknowledged their determination. "Alright, I'll inform the other teams. Thank you for taking on this burden."
"It's no problem, besides, I've been itching for a good target to blast away with [Grand Catastrophe]," Ulbert exclaimed with pride, a grin clearly on his face even if his avatar didn't show it.
"Wait, if we have two World Disasters, then couldn't we cast two [Grand Catastrophe]s?" Yamaiko inquired, prompting the two disasters to look at each other.
"No." WhiteSilver flatly replied.
"Aw c'mon! It's the perfect opportunity!" Ulbert cried, trying to convince his sister to do… something.
WhiteSilver folded her arms, looking up at her taller brother unfazed by his begging. "I'm not doing that."
"C'mon! Please! I'll do the dishes for a week!" Ulbert pleaded to the pixie who simply looked away, arms crossed.
After a heavy sigh she glanced back up at her brother. "One month."
"Deal!"
Momonga could've sworn he could hear WhiteSilver chuckling under her breath.
As the party finally readied themselves, Momonga finally got the message that the fourth party had made their way into the boss. The first three had begun their fights and were already making decent progress, there was no point waiting any longer.
"Alright, it's time."
WhiteSilver nodded and tapped on her UI. A second later her wings began to glow slightly as her eyes turned a pure glowing white, her pupils seemingly vanishing behind the glow as her eyes stretched wide into eyes reminiscent of an insect intent on hunting its prey. Her lips twisted into a crooked grin of a pixie gone mad. This was her [Frenzy Form], much like Victoria's [True Form], however it lacked any special ability. Gained from a combination of her [Unseelie] race and her other racial and class levels, the form greatly increased her attack and agility at the cost of gutting her defense; the statement of floating like a butterfly, stinging like a bee was her best descriptor. However, due to her glass cannon build, she now basically had the defense of a level 50 player, but the attack of someone who was level 130, absurdly powerful against most.
With the party fully ready, they all nodded to each other as they stepped onto the teleportation circle, buffs and barriers already deployed.
Soon they found themselves in a massive room standing before a beast fifteen feet tall with six arms and vaguely resembling an Asura. With elaborate details on its armor, it was clear it boasted a mighty defense stat.
Four arms held melee weapons, each one unique and providing a plethora of physical damage types – a sword, an axe, a club, and a spear, each surrounded in an aura of fire, cold, acid, and electricity respectively. The last two hands held a bow and arrow. With multiple types of physical attacks and with various elements on each weapon, it was clear that even with good defenses against a specific type of damage, it could still find SOMETHING that was effective.
"Oh foolish ones who challenged us last, know the might of those who become stronger with every layer of binding removed from us!" The boss shouted out, Victoria jumping into action as soon as the enemy's agro began.
Attracting the first blow, Victoria blocked it and retaliated with [Shield Stun], granting her a few seconds to cast various spells to increase the 'hate' the boss had on her, causing it to solely agro her until someone else did enough damage to warrant more 'hate.'
"Ready?" Ulbert asked his sister.
Although the avatar didn't show it, especially with its eyes locked in a glowing white gaze, Momonga could tell WhiteSilver was rolling her eyes. Still, though, she nodded in response.
Together, they shouted as one, "Roar, the twisted power of ragnarok! Bring about the flames to burn down the World Tree! Let two sparks of disaster light into a fiery inferno of complete annihilation! [Grand Catastrophe]!"
A blinding light of destructive power sweeped over the boss' room. As the light subsided, the boss stood unmoving, cracks forming all over its body as light began to erupt from said cracks. Moments later, it exploded, a glowing orb descending slowly onto the floor.
"You're kidding me… One shot?" Takemikazuchi muttered, sounding slightly disappointed.
"Technically two shots but… damn," Yamaiko acknowledged, gazing now at where the boss once stood.
"You guys can say that all you'd like, but we're basically out of the fight if there's anything after this," Ulbert shrugged, looking over at WhiteSilver, "Still, totally cool right?!"
WhiteSilver scoffed and walked forward, gazing at the orb and shrugging. "Doesn't seem like a proper item, probably something to do with the dungeon. Momonga, you take it."
Momonga nodded, picking up the item in his hand before the world blacked out. As his senses returned he appeared in another room, a wide open space seemingly in a sprawling expanse of wilderness, although dim enough to prevent them from seeing far into the distance.
Looking around they quickly saw the other parties, seemingly mid-combat although with no enemies present any longer.
"Ah, I was right. All of us defeating the bosses seemed to have stopped the mob spawning. I was about to [Message] you about that, but damn you beat that boss quick," Punitto Moe commented, walking over to the group.
"Yeah cause these two took all the fun and one-shotted the boss with two [Grand Catastrophe]s." Takemikazuchi explained, more joking than serious about his complaints.
Punitto shrugged, "Sounds about right."
"Yo Momonga!" Touch me shouted from afar. "Put that orb in here!" Touch Me pointed to a plaque where four similar orbs had already been placed. Walking over, he placed the fifth orb as the others began to gently glow.
Soon a scroll descended from the sky, Momonga catching it as the plaque vanished, replaced by a throne made from a single gigantic crystal.
The scroll was the ownership deed, and the throne some kind of artifact. Usually a dungeon reward would be either one or the other, but in this case it was both. With how difficult the dungeon was (supposed to be), the artifact would no doubt be worth quite a lot even if they didn't have any use for it personally.
Looking over the scroll in his hands, a calm male voice sang out from the heavens, "Congratulations! For conquering the Great Tomb of Nazarick, you have earned the ownership rights to the Guild Homebase: Great Tomb of Nazarick."
Reading over the scroll, he skimmed over the information before stopping dead in his tracks. He reread what he saw a few times in shock, gazing at the paper in silence before muttering "This… This dungeon has 2750 levels of NPCs!"
"Huh?"
"What?!" Buku leaned over to look at the parchment. "It's true!"
"Why is it so high?"
"The base amount is 2250. Somehow we got a bonus of 500… I've never heard of such a thing…" Momonga muttered, confused.
"It might be possible that by beating the base in one shot you get an increase to your max NPC levels," Tabula speculated to the collective "oohs" and "Ahs" of the guild, handing out high-fives.
"As if anyone was ever gonna pull that off! Shitty devs!" Someone shouted.
The guild erupted into a brief joking rant about the shitty developers of Yggdrasil as Punitto Moe turned his focus towards the throne. "So, is this an artifact, then?"
"Seems so. Let's get a group photo with Momonga in the center on the throne!" Buku suggested, sliding up beside the throne.
Touch Me nodded in agreement, "Indeed. Come, take your seat, Guildmaster."
"Only one can rest upon the mighty throne of the Heteromorph Zoo!" Ulbert declared jokingly.
Soon the entire guild gathered around, photos being taken as Momonga himself remained frozen. As the clan began to erupt into discussions, WhiteSilver noticed Momonga's silence. Turning to him she asked, "Are you alright, Momonga?"
"This…" he began, scrambling for the words, "This is a World Item."
The entire guild froze and turned in shock, "EH-?!"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Tana sat in the break room, poking at her gelatinous cube of meat as she occasionally took a bite of its bland disgusting texture. Although she was unfazed by the poor taste of the "meat," every time she ate it, it made her unironically miss rations more and more. Even war rations had been better tasting than this, at least they had salt.
Sitting across from her at the table was Suzuki Satoru who had taken to chatting with her about Yggdrasil quite a lot lately. It was clear he lacked any genuine friends in the real world, at least aside from the 'professional' friends he had for the sake of his employment.
To an extent, Tana was exactly the same. Although she'd be lying if she said she was as desperate for a genuine real life friend as Satoru seemed to be, she didn't necessarily mind either. With how increasingly dull her life had begun feeling, especially with the lack of upwards momentum in her job, Yggdrasil had become her main source of entertainment and, strangely enough, joy. Perhaps she missed the adrenaline of fighting on the front lines, even if she definitely didn't miss the danger, but when you're stuck at the bottom of the corporate ladder and the world outside is full of acids and cancers, a digital fantasy world that allowed her some proper creative and strategic thought didn't seem half bad. Not that she would allow herself to be consumed by it, either.
Still, her and Satoru's discussions about the game had been a worthwhile break to the repetitive tasks of her low ranking corporate job. Often they spoke about spells, dungeons, enemies they fought, whathaveyou, although neither of the two knew each other in-game. It was generally taboo to know others' info, especially since such a thing could be used as blackmail against them. That being said, it wasn't a strict taboo, nor was it something either of them seemed to be all that worried about, but Satoru in particular didn't wish to push it either.
Still, with the eventful day she had in Yggdrasil yesterday, she certainly had a lot she could talk about herself, but for now she allowed Suzuki to continue his ranting about his own adventures.
Suzuki smiled as he continued to explain his adventures, "So eventually we reach the end of this dungeon and face off against the final boss. Since we went last it was the strongest of the five raiding parties'..."
"Wait…"
"However my party consisted of two World Disasters. You've mentioned the class before I think, so you're familiar with its [Grand Catastrophe] spell. However both of them cast it at the same time, killing the boss in one shot!"
"Hold on…"
"But apparently beating the dungeon in one shot causes the max levels of the guild base to go up dramatically. Furthermore, we even got a World Item from the raid! I don't know if completing a second level 80 plus dungeon without info would give another world item, but frankly I'd be interested in experimenting."
"Wait a second…"
"Hm? Oh sorry, Tana, I was rambling. What were you trying to say?"
"Momonga?" Tana asked.
"Yeah? Wait… EH?!"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Next Chapter
Chapter V: Festung Nazarick
Here is your comically long chapter of Overlord. Idk if it's necessarily my best work, but frankly the dungeon raid on Nazarick was a bit of a slog since I had to keep it (mostly) in line with canon, not to mention the chapter was already absurdly long as is. The upcoming Yggdrasil chapters are going to be almost entirely OC (albeit based either vaguely or directly on events that are mentioned by Ainz in canon).
Anyways, Beta Reader comments time:
Fish Tank - At long last, the two meet up.
LuckCrusader - Alright chums, (I'm back)! Let's do this… LEEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOY JEEEEEENKIIIIIIIIIIINS!
Sneezless - Now that I've remembered to do this… what a cliff hanger! It is good to see this finally happen though.
Dr. Rx - Time to install a horde of guns and bunkers in Shalltear's tunnels just to make defense extra terrifying.
Stepping forward from far behind the chaos was a monstrosity of plants and vegetation, dressed in pearl white and blinding gold robes, one of the top strategists of Nine's Own Goal—Punitto Moe. Raising their staff, they summoned large vines and tree-like roots that erupted from the ground, entrapping the massive boss—a giant, three-horned demon with six glowing red eyes.
"WhiteSilver! Now! It won't hold for long!" Punitto Moe shouted, glancing up at the Pixie of Disaster hovering above the battlefield, glowing with buffs.
Various magical circles around the pixie converged onto a single point as she raised her rifle and took aim. With a pull of the trigger, she fired the spell [Calamity Bombardment] high into the air. One by one, the vines holding the boss in place began to unravel, their duration and durability spent. However, before the boss could fully break free, the glowing ball of destructive power struck its target, engulfing its pulsating red skin in a fiery inferno. What few mob enemies around the boss that hadn't already been annihilated by Touch Me were immediately hit with splash damage, turning them into ashes. All but a few were eliminated instantly, and those that survived were left at critically low health, easy pickings for her allies.
The boss wasn't without its response, however. Now finally freeing itself from its vegetative entanglement, it unhinged its jaw as a glowing ball of energy manifested within its mouth. A second later, an undodgeable beam of energy erupted towards the skies; aiming for the seemingly defenseless Pixie.
As the beam made impact, it failed to reach its target. Instead, it was cut short by a massive tower shield held by an angel clad in full plate armor, who had teleported in at the last second. The beam, although capable of causing massive damage to most Level 100 players it hit, failed to pierce through the sheer defensive stats of the pixie's personal guardian angel, only chipping at the latter's hitpoints.
With the beam failing to do any damage, the boss fell right into a trap the players had planned. The boss' beam was set to stop firing after it either dealt a certain amount of damage or after a set amount of time, and the boss wouldn't stop its laser until one of those two requirements were met. Although the time until it went off automatically wasn't long, it was more than enough time for Touch Me to make his move, especially after many players had applied defensive buffs to WhiteSilver's NPC to extend its duration.
Now unopposed by summoned mobs, Touch Me dashed towards the boss, slashing across it as its HP finally dropped to zero, ending with a stab through the head. Beams of light began to shine out of the demonic abomination, its form slowly fading away as its drops lowered to the ground for all to enjoy.
WhiteSilver hovered gently to the ground, their personal guardian, the angel NPC Victoria, following a few feet behind her, tower shield in one hand and shovel in the other. The NPC was donned in high level armor, colored a clean stainless white with red accents all over the equipment. WhiteSilver had worked with many of the clanmates such as Tabula and Momonga to level the NPC up rapidly. Already it was level 100, and all that was supposedly left was to get its equipment 'up to par.' Despite the lack of satisfaction in the NPC's current armor, it was still fairly high-tier equipment, as shown clearly by how the angel had tanked the beam attack of the boss without any problem. The only individuals it would suffer greatly against were raid-scale bosses, World Enemies, and large parties of max-level players.
The three actual players began to look over the loot, quickly storing them before other players could interfere. All in all, the drops were nothing too impressive, but they were at least good enough to be made useful to some extent most likely. Overall, a job well done.
Touch Me glanced at the clock on his UI, nodding as he helped distribute the items to his party members based on who would make the best use out of each one. "We should probably head back to base, it's about that time of day when people are getting off of work, so we should probably have the usual meeting here soon."
It had become customary for the clan to have a weekly meeting to ensure that everyone was on board with most plans and to coordinate greater operations if need be. Although the clan wasn't the most frequent with group activities, it was a good time for the clan members to meet up and discuss any topics that needed to come up, plus scheduling and trading. With all members of Nine's Own Goal having real-life jobs, the meetings were usually held fairly late to allow people time to get home from work and log on. The three of them already there had been spared from work today and as such had gotten on earlier to do a bit of early grinding, which they didn't mind.
With the collective nods of Punitto Moe and WhiteSilver, the latter raised their hand and casted [Gate], a teleportation spell that permitted several people to walk through at once to arrive at a location near-instantly. As they walked through the dark passageway they found themselves back at the same familiar Clan base as more people began to trickle in by the minute.
It wasn't long before Touch Me went off to handle his own affairs, busy as ever as the clan leader, even if WhiteSilver had noticed he had come under some controversy as of late. Apparently one of the first original nine members of the guild had left after an argument with Touch Me, and although none had said it, the illusion of Touch Me's ability to hold the guild together had effectively shattered among the clan members. A silent few had had their issues with Touch Me's leadership before, but now there was a quiet mutual understanding from said people about Touch Me. None seemingly outright hated the guy, but most agreed that he wasn't the best suited for clan leadership. They just weren't sure who else would be best.
With nothing else to do until the meeting began, WhiteSilver and Punitto Moe decided to gather some chairs around and take a seat, the NPC Victoria silently taking post behind her as usual.
"That NPC of yours sure is quite the effective tank when she needs to be," Punitto commented, gazing up at the angel that stood unmoving behind WhiteSilver's chair. "I didn't think an NPC could properly fill in the gap of a player in combat. I always assumed they would fall completely short. I'd be lying if I said that Victoria was a perfect 1:1, but since they only need to worry about teleporting in and blocking attacks, they certainly get their use more than any mercenary on the market."
The words meant quite a lot considering who they came from, being a huge compliment. Punitto Moe was one of Nine's Own Goal's top strategists, their mind rivaled only by the likes of WhiteSilver herself and a sparse handful of others who could be counted on one hand. Whereas WhiteSilver was far better at devising a 'grand' strategy involving several teams in a massive long-term operation, Punitto Moe was far better at devising the smaller scale strategies of individual parties, not that neither also fared well in the other's specialty. While WhiteSilver could easily coordinate the entire clan into an operation spanning multiple battles and phases, particularly in battles involving mountainous or forest terrain, Punitto Moe was far better at coordinating a single battle to an assured victory.
Together the two were Nine's Own Goal's best 'think tank,' the top strategists that made the most out of every ounce of value the clan had to offer. It was in part thanks to their collective efforts that the clan could punch far beyond its weight class and even hold its own against stronger guilds if it absolutely needed to. Nine's Own Goal wasn't well known on the global scale, but it was still a force to be reckoned with in the local region.
WhiteSilver meanwhile opened the code for her NPC, Victoria, scrolling through it and running through all of her programming. Data in NPCs came in two forms; being the largely irrelevant flavor text, and the far more essential AI programming. The former was more for lore purposes that was largely for RPers to add more flavor to their NPCs. Since it took far less data than the AI programming did, most often just used whatever extra data storage their NPCs had to flesh out the 'lore' and 'personality' of their NPCs. Meanwhile the programming determined everything the NPC did, from the ground up. It was for that reason she had spent quite a lot of data invested into making sure Victoria had paragraphs upon paragraphs explaining how she fights, with even different modes for combat, covering every scenario she could think of.
According to Tabula, Victoria seemingly had three times the base data storage of a normal NPC, a result of both the specifics of their dev request upon first making her as well as an added bonus from the [Clay of Creation] World Item. A secondary bonus of that World Item was that Victoria was effectively considered a World Item, or at least was treated with the protections of one, meaning she came with a multitude of benefits. While that didn't unfortunately give WhiteSilver the protections of a World Item holder, it did treat Victoria herself as if she was one, with this being the biggest benefit. In short, if someone tried to kill or attack Victoria with a World Item, she would be completely immune. Meaning so long as WhiteSilver was careful, no holder of World Items would ever be able to harm her.
For now, WhiteSilver opened up a keyboard and began typing away at her data, having achieved a few more data crystals to utilize in increasing both her stats and her programming. In addition, she changed around some of the data already present, refining her battle strategies and the way she fought and defended based on how the battle had gone. If she was to hold her own in PvP combat, she needed to fight with the skill of a player, even if it meant spending an absurd amount of data defining every possible situation, capable of countering almost every playstyle and meta on the battlefield.
Despite her additions, WhiteSilver considered Victoria's data to be almost perfectly refined; at least as perfect as an NPC could get. Better yet that she was running out of data space to add much more anyhow. She could probably fit in some 'lore' to Victoria eventually, but it wasn't something she felt like wasting data on, not yet anyways. The more vital part of refining the NPC now was their armor. She had been saving up resources to make the perfect set of armor for a while now, however, with so many people contributing to what was the clan's first NPC, there was quite a lot of debate on what the armor should actually look like.
WhiteSilver, for her part, didn't really care. It was this apathy towards the look of the avatar's armor that caused the clan to get into a debate on what the design should be; if she had been set on an appearance nobody would have disagreed. With quite a few skilled designers and artists within the clan, there was a surprising amount of back and forth over what they thought it should look like. It seemed that there were many people itching to finally have a Guild base so that they could finally make NPCs of their own, and WhiteSilver's NPC would be recorded as one of the first NPCs the clan ever had. .
In the end, she knew the final decision on Victoria's attire would – either fortunately or unfortunately – come down to her. But between the various proposals of things ranging from an armored maid dress to making her look like a literal walking tank of armor, she decided it would be best for them to settle on some concrete ideas before letting them hopefully decide for themselves, then taking a look at their suggestions. She still needed to grind for more materials anyways.
Momonga strangely enough had suggested dressing her up in "an old world war uniform," but it had been shot down for now. She would just have to wait and see. Not that the suggested appearance was accurate anyways, or that she particularly cared to dress Visha up this way. It felt wrong enough to use Visha's likeness as an NPC, giving her a military uniform would push it too far. She doubted Viktoriya would've wanted to be remembered solely as a soldier.
As she finished up her touches on Victoria's code, she noticed Tabula approaching and sitting down with Punitto and herself. A smile was sent from the two of them as Tabula sent one in response, the common greeting of Yggdrasil players for friendly intentions. "Greetings," he began, taking a seat and gazing down at where WhiteSilver's hands were typing away at. "Still refining Victoria, I see. I will say, I admire your thoroughness with her settings, though I would wish you would add some lore to her."
"Is there a particular reason why the lore is so important?" WhiteSilver asked, briefly looking up from her last few lines of programming.
Tabula shook his head and shrugged. "I suppose it's just superstition, but I like to believe an NPC with lore will fight harder for you. Who knows, perhaps one day the devs will do something to make that lore relevant. They wouldn't add a feature for no reason."
"Tabula, we both know that last part isn't true," Punitto Moe grumbled, suppressing a rant about the shitty devs of Yggdrasil that most players seemed to have in their back pocket, if not multiple.
Tabula nodded and sent an apologetic emoticon with a slight bow. "Yeah, you're right, sorry. Though my point stands."
"If it reassures you, I'll add some lore to her once I'm confident with her programming. I don't want to use up too much of her data with lore that I have to use a Cash Shop item to add more," WhiteSilver muttered, returning to her typing and refining.
"You added all of that programming without expanding her data limit with cash items? I'm impressed," Punitto stated, folding their arms and leaning back in their chair.
WhiteSilver raised her hand to stop him as she shook her head, disagreeing, "No, I've used three. Quite a few of our clanmates got NPC data increasers from gacha pulls and since I'm the only one with an NPC, they just usually let me have it in exchange for a favor or something."
"I will personally pay for a Cash Shop item to increase Victoria's data so long as you use it to add some backstory to her," Tabula offered, pulling open the Cash shop interface and already making the motions to use the search bar.
WhiteSilver waved her hand dismissively, "Alright, alright. I'll do it later. We got a meeting today anyways, I don't have time to be typing that up yet. If we do anything big today I want to use it as an opportunity to test out Victoria's party programming."
"Party programming? What's that mean?" Punitto inquired, Tabula showing some intrigue as well.
"Normally Victoria is solely focused on protecting me, however in cases where party size is capped, Victoria may end up replacing the tank slot in the party. To compensate, I have created an alternate combat mode for her where she focuses on defending everyone rather than just me."
"Makes sense, but part of being a Tank is to make space and force enemies to focus on you. Victoria doesn't really have the offensive power to be more than a mild nuisance to an enemy. It's possible for Victoria to block hits of one person, but I feel like it could be difficult to do on a whole group," Punitto Moe reasoned, leaning forward.
"I have a feeling I think I just realized where this is going…" Tabula mumbled, remembering an ability a friend of his tended to use.
"High level angels which meet the right requirements can obtain the 'Guardian Angel' job class, much like the Eclipse class for Overlords or the Fae Queen class for Pixies. Through it, they can unlock a skill called [Holy Martyr]," WhiteSilver began.
Tabula placed his hand on his face as his suspicions were confirmed, mumbling, "Here it comes…"
"When it's used, all allies within a radius of the user are effectively protected by said user. In short, any attacks on someone under the effects of [Holy Martyr] will instead damage the caster of [Holy Martyr]. However, the damage calculation utilizes the caster's equipment and stats to calculate damage, meaning that if the user of [Holy Martyr] is capable of completely nullifying an attack due to high defense, then said attack would do nothing at all to the targeted player and Victoria."
"Shit, I didn't think of that. I always considered that spell as more of a self-sacrificing kind of ability, hence the name. Most of the time when someone uses it they end up taking so much damage that they straight up just die in seconds, dropping out of the fight as a last resort. The best use I've seen of it is when someone uses it on an AOE attack that would normally wipe out or at least cripple an entire party. By using that spell, the caster instantly dies but the party gets out with minimal damage. It's broken in that sense of the word, but with a build that doesn't give two shits about offense…" Punitto muttered, terror in their voice as they began to consider the implications.
"The entire team would be effectively immortal against anything Victoria has high resistances or nullifications against so long as they stayed within the casting range…" Tabula finished Punitto's sentence, the two both understanding the implications of such a combo, nodding. "It's frankly genius, not to mention a massive oversight by the devs."
"I mean can you blame them? Who the hell is playing a character with no offensive abilities or classes? If a player had a build exactly like Victoria's they'd be bored out of their mind!" Punitto Moe exclaimed in amazement at the monstrosity WhiteSilver had prepared to introduce to Yggdrasil.
WhiteSilver nodded along and continued, "There's more to it than just standing in the middle of the team and absorbing damage. Victoria has arguably one of, if not the best defensive capabilities in all of Yggdrasil, but even she would slowly have her health trickle down with [Holy Martyr]. So part of her party defense programming is her blocking major attacks with her shield. Attacks successfully blocked with a shield don't count towards damage at all, so she can avoid taking at least a bit of damage with it, furthering her effective defense. It may not be a lot but it adds up."
"Wait," Punitto muttered, "I just realized… If Victoria is basically absorbing all of the team's damage anyways, is there much need for defensive spells to be applied at all? If not that would not only save a whole bunch of MP but would open the door for more offensive focused buff spells."
There was a set amount of buff spells one could have running at any given time. Interestingly however, there was no limit to how many could be applied onto a single player, though the modifiers wouldn't stack and some were mutually exclusive with one another, so in practice there technically was a limit, and more powerful ones had duration caps. Nevertheless, for most max level spellcasters, the number of buff spells they could maintain was often fairly high, however since these spellcasters were often expected to run buffs on not only themselves but their teammates who could only cast a few, in a full squad they tended to stack up. However in Victoria's case, only she needed to have defensive buffs for the entire team to benefit. Therefore, so long as you kept her alive, you could get away with casting a copious amount of offensive buffs on the rest of the team, using the magic power and items that should've been used for defense elsewhere. It wasn't a strategy that would win a war of attrition, but with WhiteSilver's and a few others' sheer firepower, they wouldn't get into one in the first place. And with only one person on the team taking all the damage, there was realistically only one target for the team's healer to focus.
Punitto was now slouched over, head in their hands as they grumbled in defeat, "This hurts my head… Thank god you're on our side."
"Oi guys, the meeting's about to start!" Touch Me's voice echoed through the clan hall, causing everyone's attention to turn towards him and shuffle over to the round table. Each of them took a seat, some having to move seats back to the table before sitting down.
Looking around, WhiteSilver noticed that all twenty-eight members of the clan were present, a rare occurrence even for clan meetings. WhiteSilver sat between Ulbert and Momonga, the latter she had only just noticed was there, Tabula and Punitto Moe having taken seats further along the table. Standing on guard behind her was her NPC Victoria. Having her behind her made her feel like she was some kind of monarch with her aid by her side, but it wasn't entirely inaccurate. She was her adjutant in a way.
With everyone seated aside from Touch Me who stood where he spoke, "There are some things I need to discuss with everyone, but that can come last. To start, does anyone have anything of interest to share? Any discoveries?"
WhiteSilver raised her hand with Touch Me nodding in her direction.
"Victoria is finally at level 100 and I believe she is ready for her first proper test drive. I'd like to take her with a full party for a proper dungeon raid. So far I've only taken her on smaller excursions against more exposed bosses in open areas, and has thus far been extremely successful. There she was only an aid for me, I want to see how she'll fare in a proper dungeon."
Punitto Moe raised his hand as well, "I can confirm, if our theories are correct, she should be absolutely fucking broken."
"Fuck yeah! Lemme see that! I call dibs on joining for her test drive," Ulbert eagerly insisted. His posture had given WhiteSilver the impression that he was frustrated with something, but his tone now appeared to be his usual self. Or perhaps he was simply distracted by this news and was still upset. About what, she couldn't tell.
"Well I may have some good news for you then."
Who spoke was what could only be described as a stereotypical ninja, one of the clan's top stealth players, Nishiki Enrai. Continuing he elaborated, "I've found an unexplored dungeon."
The clan was met with a wave of surprise and curiosity. Instantly everyone began murmuring to themselves and amongst each other, a plethora of questions about this dungeon flurrying about. Ulbert however managed to pierce through the quiet murmuring and asked, "Where did you find it?"
"Are you aware of the huge poison swamp in the marshes of Helheim?" Nishiki asked.
"The one filled with all those Tuvegs? That poison swamp?"
Nishiki nodded, "That's the one, I found it in the swamps there."
Tabula, intrigued, spoke up, "Fascinating, but how? A lot of people have done reconnaissance, even some within our own clan, but nobody's reported finding a dungeon. I've even seen recordings of it."
Who spoke next was the monstrosity of Death Vines, Punitto Moe. "We're not doubting you, but Tuvegs make a loud cry whenever they spot enemies. Going undetected through the swamps would be a pain."
"You see my friend, you're making a simple mistake," Nishiki laughed. "In order to deal with a Tuveg, you must simply sneak up behind one and quickly revoke his head privileges. That way you won't alert either its friends or any nearby players."
Punitto Moe was left flabbergasted by his response, resigning himself with a sigh and a grin.
Soon however the conversation began to derail, Nishiki and Punitto Moe beginning discussions about some other game that WhiteSilver had never played. Instinctively she folded her arms and leaned back in her chair, somewhat bored, as these meetings tended to fare.
It's not that she minded, however she'd be lying if she said she didn't wish for them to get on with it already.
To her right Momonga let out an awkward chuckle, muttering, "You have no idea what they're talking about either, huh?"
WhiteSilver raised an eyebrow, although her avatar didn't show it, "Hm? Oh, no. Never played whatever game they're talking about. Aside from a few shooters and strategy games I used to play, I've only really played Yggdrasil."
Momonga laughed again, "Glad I'm not the only one."
Soon a clapping brought the clan back to attention. "Enough, we're getting off topic. Nishiki, tell us about the dungeon."
"Ah right, Touch Me, apologies. Anyways, there's an island in the deepest parts of the poison swamp – or rather there's a base there, with the dungeon right in the middle. It's called the Great Tomb of Nazarick."
"I've personally done some aerial recon over there before, how come nobody including myself found it?" WhiteSilver asked with genuine curiosity.
"I think it's a dungeon that can only be discovered under special circumstances," Punitto replied.
"Perhaps it's only accessible to those who traveled the poison swamp on foot?" Tabula speculated. "Or maybe it's only visible under a certain altitude. You tend to fly especially high, WhiteSilver."
WhiteSilver nodded, "I see… Well then, I need to test Victoria, so why don't we all go there after this meeting? It's possible this dungeon was recently and silently added by the devs, if that's the case it could be only a few days before someone else finds it. If nothing else, even if we fail, we'd gain invaluable information on how to beat it. Not to mention the loot bonuses for us being the first ones running it. Even if we die, that additional loot could very well make up for it, and the multitude of debuffs would be a good test for Victoria."
WhiteSilver's suggestion was met with a more mixed response, but nevertheless the majority seemed more in agreement. Their reason for hesitancy made sense however. Beating a dungeon in one try was basically unheard of, or at least was incredibly rare. Dungeons were often meant to be faced by trial and error, through hook or by crook. It could sometimes take countless failed attempts of gathering information before a complete and successful raid could be launched.
That being said, they wouldn't learn anything if they never went in. And the fact remained that they were the first to find this dungeon. If they could complete it first, the reward could easily be worth it. Doubly so if they somehow beat it on the first try, which would increase their rewards even more.
Various statements of agreement came from the other members of the clan. In the end, Touch Me raised his hand to silence the clan. "Well then, it seems as if the majority of the clan is in agreement of this. It's rare that we have everyone together, so what better opportunity than this? Now then, anything else to share?"
Touch Me waited for a few minutes as silence filled the clan hall as nobody responded. "Good, then I shall move onto the subject I wish to bring up." Touch me looked around for a few seconds before placing his hand on the circular table, "Firstly, I want to disband the clan."
The silence that followed was deafening, only to soon be squashed by the erupting of mass confusion and panic. After a few seconds of this Touch Me raised his hands, trying to say something before another voice cut through the shouting.
"He left because you're so damn selfish!"
WhiteSilver looked up to her left as her brother stared daggers into Touch Me. His regular tone had dropped completely, fury overtaking his usual polite voice. She had sensed something was nagging at him earlier, but she hadn't expected it to erupt like this.
If she recalled correctly, the one who Touch Me had driven to leave the game was a friend of her brothers, although she had rarely played with him herself. Due to both Ulbert and herself having the World Disaster class, it was usually more of a liability to party together for the higher difficulty missions that required full parties. As such, it was often that he partied with this friend of his, although due to this WhiteSilver herself had rarely interacted with him.
That being said, she knew how close the two of them were in-game, him leaving seemingly having really pissed off her brother, even if she was somehow only learning of it now.
Ulbert's fists clenched, as if preparing for a fight despite the nature of Yggdrasil, "You son of a bitch!"
WhiteSilver sat stunned. Her brother, although occasionally prone to anger, often kept it under control. At most he would rant about work, but never had she seen her brother seem so… confrontational.
It wasn't a side she knew how to deal with, at least not as a sister. In the military she would've been able to calm the situation down easily, but this was a different situation.
Fortunately Momonga the Mediator™ quickly stepped in. "Ulbert, you've said too much."
Ulbert slowly calmed down after a few more seconds. "You're right, I went too far. But still, don't you think he's being selfish? First he chased them away, and now this. If it's like that, shouldn't he have disbanded us earlier?"
"You're not wrong, but I feel like there's more to it than that…" WhiteSilver commented. "I've played a bit with Touch Me recently, he's had something on his mind for a bit before that player left."
"Huh? How can you tell?" Ulbert asked, confused.
WhiteSilver shrugged. "He's usually very straight to the point, but lately he's been stopping to think to himself a lot more. Either something's going on that we shouldn't pry into, or he's planning something."
Touch Me nodded, "Right, sorry for scaring everyone… I phrased that poorly. I've been thinking that with our numbers, being a clan no longer suits us. I was going to transform the clan into a proper guild, but as you can't just change a clan's designation to a guild, the clan must be disbanded for the guild to form."
A wave of "Oh"s filled the room.
The clan had possessed more than enough people to become a guild for probably months now, however, with the name and leader of the guild being effectively unchangeable, it was essential that these two points were agreed upon before making one. As such, Nine's Own Goal had never become a guild.
Now, it seemed, Touch Me was finally ready to force through a decision.
Ulbert sighed and leaned back in his chair. "He should've just said so."
Continuing, Touch Me asked, "Are there any objections to disbanding the clan and refounding us as a guild?"
As expected, the clan remained silent. People had been itching to be a guild for weeks if not months now. It was getting to the point where people may have started to consider leaving if they weren't able to start customizing a proper guild base. WhiteSilver could tell a good number of people in the clan were jealous of her NPC, and not just because it was a living World Item.
The clan name would definitely have to change, however. Not only because it was the beginning of a 'new era' as some of the more RP-heavy in the clan would say, but also because the name 'Nine's Own Goal' came from a time when the clan consisted of nine members. Now it had nearly thirty, and was only growing. Furthermore, one of the original nine in question had just left the game entirely for specific reasons unknown. Even if she wasn't one to care about the clan name, she understood how it could be rude to go by that name after one had left the game on such poor terms.
Next was the question of guildmaster. Naturally WhiteSilver assumed it would probably just be the clan leader, Touch Me, however his next statement shut down that possibility. "This time around, I'd like to beg off the position of clan – no, guildmaster. I feel bad about saying this before being picked, but I hope everyone will take it into consideration."
WhiteSilver was both and not surprised simultaneously. Touch Me's reputation within the clan had been debatable, and while nobody hated him, except maybe her brother considering their interaction, he definitely lacked the skills to lead a group of this size. The question now was who did?
Unfortunately, she realized a valid answer was sitting in her very seat.
However, there was an equally valid answer to her right.
"Then who would like to be the next leader, or guildmaster rather. Or would anyone like to recommend someone for the role?" Touch Me asked, looking around at the clan.
"I think my sister should do it," Ulbert eagerly suggested, his thumb pointing at her.
'As expected,' WhiteSilver thought, looking around the table to gauge the clan's response.
She wasn't opposed to the proposition, but she wasn't going to force it either. This clan was fragile enough as it was. Even with less than thirty members, there were several people itching to tear each other apart at the seams. She wasn't sure she could keep them all in line without their full support.
"I, for one, am not opposed to that proposition." The approval came from Tabula, who raised his hand from across the table. "I believe WhiteSilver could be a very impartial leader, not to mention her strategic skill."
"I forward that," Punitto Moe added, "If she's in charge, I don't doubt we'll eventually be able to conquer one of the realms if we really set out to do so."
It was flattering to have Nine's Own Goal's intellectual elite on her side, however, the rest of the clan didn't seem universally convinced.
"Personally, I recommend Momonga," Touch Me offered.
Momonga nearly leaped out of his seat. "Guehhh?!"
Logically, he was arguably a better choice than her. She would keep the guild together, sure, but it likely would come at the cost of the same spirit the clan had now. Momonga was a mediator for a reason. He was a friend of all and cared for keeping the peace more than anybody. There was hardly a person more passionate for the clan and Yggdrasil than him, nobody spent more time logged into the game and exploring its relations more than him. Logically, even if he didn't necessarily have the skills for leadership, he definitely had the passion. Which was a lot more than WhiteSilver had, and she knew it. They all knew it.
'Though, then again, how far can passion truly take someone?' She mentally questioned, but suppressed it as murmurings of approval circulated around the table.
Before this could devolve into a longer discussion, WhiteSivler felt the need to pin the responsibility on Momonga. "Frankly, I agree with Touch Me. If some of you all really want me in charge of something, there's no reason that Momonga couldn't make a proper structure and elect people to certain roles within the guild. I wouldn't mind being our War Marshal to give battle advice, it'd still do the same job."
If the clan was indecisive about her, then managing the clan would be ten times harder. If the clan didn't fully want her to lead it, then best to leave it to someone she could at least trust to hold the clan together.
"Oi oi oi, come on, give me a break. Really, Touch Me, this is all too sudden. You can't decide things so quickly, give me a little more time!" Momonga protested.
The one who responded was Ulbert, "Personally, I think you're an excellent candidate. Even if it would be way cooler if my sister was the leader. You log in regularly, you're meticulous, you don't got any strange habits. Also you're the clan's go-to mediator. You earned that trademark for a reason."
"That's not how trademarks work…" WhiteSilver grumbled, mostly to herself.
"C-C-C'mon guys! I'm not confident that I can lead everyone as outstandingly as Touch Me. Wouldn't someone else be better? L-Like WhiteSilver! You're right Ulbert, it would really be cool if she was leader!"
<✠WhiteSilver✠ Has Logged Off>
"Fuck."
Momonga looked down at his UI as he got three emails from different members of the clan. They were sent not via in-game magic, but via an email through a cash shop item, so they were clearly very important.
The emails, although from three different players that made up a good portion of the intellectual elite of the clan, each contained roughly the same explanation.
In short, there were only two valid candidates for leader of the guild.
The first was WhiteSilver, which was somewhat surprising, but at the same time not so much. She was an unconventional player, not to mention siblings with the occasionally chaotic Ulbert. That being said, she was a very competent leader, and knew how to get things done when push came to shove. She was charismatic when she needed to be and logical at pretty much all times. She had made obvious no enemies in the guild and due to her surprisingly effective leadership and management skills she could probably hold the Guild together by sheer skill alone.
That being said, while she would not tear the guild apart, there would definitely be some members lost over the months or years. She would keep it together, sure, and would arguably raise it to unseen heights, but said metamorphosis would not come without its damage as her personality would certainly come into conflict with some of the more whimsical players.
The second option was unfortunately himself. So much so that if neither he nor WhiteSilver become clan leader, these players were interested in leaving the guild and joining another one with Momonga and possibly WhiteSilver if they could get her on board, likely dragging Ulbert along with them. And doing this would collapse any hope of their barely budding to-be guild whatsoever.
With WhiteSilver seemingly disinterested in the role, he had no choice. If he wanted the clan to stay together, if he wanted the guild that they would create to stand… He needed to be guildmaster.
Although he hesitated, he resigned to his fate. "I understand. If there is nobody else, then I will take the role."
<✠WhiteSilver✠ Has Logged In>
WhiteSilver appeared back in her chair, looking around. "Sorry, I ran out of nanomachines and it kicked me out. Had to inject some back in to keep playing, anyways what did I miss?"
"Oh only the very minor point of deciding our clan leader," Ulbert wryly explained, although WhiteSilver didn't seem too fazed.
"Ah so Momonga finally accepted?" WhiteSilver continued, to which Momonga nervously nodded in acknowledgement.
"Now then, as future Guildmaster I suppose I should ask, what should be the name of the guild? Should I come up with one?"
Momonga looked around with growing anxiety, the weight of being Guildmaster becoming ever present by each passing second in silence.
"Nah, don't worry about it. I think…" Buku muttered, shuffling in her seat as she seemingly tried to think of a proper name.
Discussions immediately began on what the guild name should be, the room quickly devolving into organized chaos. WhiteSilver, for her sake, didn't really care nor did she have any in mind. She was more than content to leave such matters for the rest of the guild to decide, somewhat tuning out the conversation as suggestions like 'Heteromorphic Zoo' and strangely enough 'Knights Templar' were tossed around.
In the end it was decided to not completely abandon the guild name, but rather to simply change some of the sounds. The end result was changing Nine's Own Goal to Ainz Ooal Gown. How they got there WhiteSilver wasn't exactly sure, but those three words of gibberish had been what the clan, now newly founded guild, decided on. It didn't sound too cringey, so she gave her thumbs up.
"Then we shall combine the suggestions from Takemikazuchi and Punitto Moe to make the new guild's name. Does anyone disagree?"
"Nope!" Buku exclaimed, the rest of the guild following suit.
"Very well, then our guild's new name is Heteromorphic Zoo!" The clan laughed for a few seconds before Momonga raised his hand and clarified, "That was a joke, we're all in agreement on Ainz Ooal Gown, yes?"
The clan agreed unanimously, spamming thumbs up, laughing, and smiling emoticons.
"Great, now then, who would like to partake in the quest we need to set up the guild? I don't mind chipping away at it in my own free time," Momonga offered, only to be shut down by Touch Me pulling out a scroll from his inventory.
"Don't bother Momonga, I already did it," He explained, passing the scroll to him.
Guilds in Yggdrasil needed certain items to be created and registered, requiring the completion of one of a few types of quests to obtain it. Now with it in his possession, Momonga could instantly create the guild Ainz Ooal Gown.
Momonga unraveled the scroll as Touch Me nodded, "Alright, I'll disband the clan."
Mournful music came from Touch Me to the surprise of very few as he stalled the disbandment of the clan for well over a minute. Finally, the anticipated notification appeared on everyone's UI.
<Clan 'Nine's Own Goal' Has Been Disbanded>
"Everyone! I have made the guild. I'll begin sending out invites, look out for them." Momonga began to send out invites to the guild clockwise around the table, starting with him. As such, WhiteSilver was the first to receive and accept an invite, with the entire table having been invited within just a few moments. After about a minute of everyone tapping away at their UI, all the former members of Nine's Own Goal were now part of the new Ainz Ooal Gown, grinning.
"As the first action of Ainz Ooal Gown, I say we should complete the dungeon Nishiki found. Any objections?" Momonga declared, followed by a general silence of agreement amongst the clan.
Before he could continue, someone asked, "I have a question. Since this dungeon is unknown, shouldn't we only be making a reconnaissance mission first? When are we planning to seriously try and clear the dungeon?"
Momonga shook his head. "No, I actually have an idea… I was hoping to clear the unexplored swamp dungeon in one go."
There was an uproar, although it was only to be expected. The proposition could only be seen as incredibly ballsy. The chance of success was near-zero, but if they could pull it off, it would be a legendary start to the new guild; that was Momonga's goal.
A knight made of an unnatural mass of flesh and meat known as Bellriver spoke next, "Still, it should be impossible, we don't know the level needed to clear that dungeon, and even a lower level dungeon would still have traps and enemies we're unaware of."
"Aren't we all max level? Besides, I think it'll be fun. Worse comes to worst, we all get wiped, and we take it as our reconnaissance," the monstrous nephilim, Warrior Takemikazuchi, stated.
Soon a wave of agreement came from some of the top members of the guild. Although many were still in doubt, the general consensus became; "It's a game, who cares? Let's have fun."
With that, the decision was settled. Ainz Ooal Gown would conquer the Great Tomb of Nazarick – In one glorious shot… Or die trying.
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After some time, the new guild had finally made their way into Nazarick, having fully geared up and distributed items. Descending the stairs, the guild had intended to stay as a unit, however soon a roadblock presented itself.
"Ah, it seems this is a multi-attack dungeon, and one of the hardest ones too. It needs five parties to progress. At least it's not one of the ones that need 36 people…" Tabula muttered, causing Momonga some frustration.
Discussions began on how to split up the parties. Although Momonga was the guild leader, he knew when to listen to the advice of his peers, in particular in fields he lacked any significant experience in. Although he was confident he could at least make some half-decent team comps, he ultimately decided to leave it to Tabula, Punitto, and WhiteSilver to decide on the teams, who were the best at strategizing.
Teams followed a standard team comp; One tank, two attackers (preferably one magical and one physical), one healer, one seeker, and possibly a wildcard, usually a "rogue" or some sort.
In the end, his party was decided:
Tank: Victoria
Magic Attacker: Ulbert Alain Odle
Physical Attacker: Warrior Takemikazuchi
Healer: Yamaiko
Seeker: ✠WhiteSilver✠
The team was, practically speaking, either going to be abhorrent or absolutely terrifying.
There was of course the initial concern with the NPC member of the party, Victoria. However, if WhiteSilver and Tabula were to be believed; she could be arguably far more valuable than any tank if used well. The more pressing concern was the presence of not one, but two World Disasters in the party. Although WhiteSilver technically could fit into the role of a seeker, she was as much a seeker as Nishiki Enrai was an attacker. Both could do their secondary job well, but it was ultimately just a secondary job.
Momonga didn't mind, however. Neither did anyone in the party. Ulbert and WhiteSilver would normally never be in the same party together due to their World Disaster classes being more optimally split up among multiple parties, however at Ulbert's insistence, he had been placed with his sister. Furthermore, Victoria was always going to end up with WhiteSilver, so that was decided. All that was left was for a support, a wildcard, and either a seeker or an attacker depending on what they deemed best.
With the sheer lack of physical firepower the party had, it was decided to bring along Warrior Takemikazuchi, who was more than eager to see the defensive capabilities of WhiteSilver's NPC.
Lastly was the support, ultimately with Yamaiko being decided as the best candidate. Should Victoria go down, she was tanky enough to serve as an off-tank until she could be revived by either her or WhiteSilver. Furthermore, her high healing output would allow for her to out-heal whatever reduced damage Victoria took. Also, with her low damage output in favor of defense, said lack of damage output was made up for by the two largest cannons Ainz Ooal Gown had: WhiteSilver and Ulbert.
As for Momonga himself, he volunteered to join them. His reasons were threefold: One, nobody else would want to join this trainwreck of a team willingly. Two, he was curious to see how such a team would fare in battle, especially with two World Disasters and the immortal object known as Victoria. And three, he thought – no, he knew – that this party would be incredibly fun, and that was the most important part.
Soon they began plunging into the dungeon, the five parties each passing through one of the five doors. Apparently these were the 'Five Rulers of Nazarick' that they would soon be facing. According to the monologue that was spoken before they began, it implied that this dungeon would be a conquerable guild base, which had caused some initial excitement. A potential added bonus if they decided to keep it. Who knew how much the upkeep cost of such a massive dungeon and its pop monsters would be, however.
"I'm detecting undead signatures up ahead. Four of them," Momonga announced as they appeared to have entered into a graveyard of sorts.
"Right, we should start casting buff spells then. Realistically only Victoria should need defensive spells, and only defensive spells. Focus on giving the rest of us bonuses to attack power, and Yamaiko to healing," WhiteSilver ordered, Momonga quickly complying and beginning to cast the extended buff spells.
"Frankly it's surprising how many spells he knows…" Ulbert mumbled in amazement.
Soon Momonga finished his casting as WhiteSilver began her own. Various glowing golden dots littered the air around her as she began casting buffs from her Fae Queen class.
Much like Momonga's own Eclipse class, it was only available to high-tier fae-based races who had reached level 95. It focused primarily on summoning, and was overall a very powerful support class. Since WhiteSilver was usually in the backline anyways, it was a good utilitarian class, especially when there weren't too many classes left in the game that could've made a significant impact on her firepower or agility.
In particular, however, were strong bonuses applicable to increase the healing one gave out. In short, Yamaiko's healing spells were now even stronger. The next bonus was to Victoria, applying constant passive healing even while taking damage. Although many races or classes provided passive healing, it usually required a few seconds of not taking damage before it applied. In the case of the buff cast onto Victoria, it was continuous, and didn't even consume any more mana than the base casting cost to WhiteSilver, a boon she wouldn't pass up on. That being said, the healing was negligible to most, however ideally Victoria wouldn't be taking much damage to begin with, the healing was just to cover nicks and scratches.
WhiteSilver then approached the door that blocked the way into the next room, opening it before leaping back with incredible speed. Rushing out came four undead, their hands warped into balls of protruding blades as they dashed towards the party.
Without a word, Victoria's wings spread out and glowed slightly, drawing in the agro of the zombies as she raised her shield. Thanks to her angelic race and high karma value, she had a number of skills that allowed her to easily attract the agro of low-karma enemies like undead in particular.
Momonga quickly cast [Discern Enemy] on the zombies, announcing to the party, "Level 83!"
Warrior Takemikazuchi scoffed, "Hmph, if that's it, I'll handle them easily." Without another complaint he slashed away at the zombies, getting them down to critical before their agro finally swapped from Victoria to himself. By that time, it was too late for them to respond, with Takemikazuchi killing them shortly after.
"What's Victoria's status?" Momonga asked, turning to WhiteSilver as she looked at her NPC's status on the UI.
"Jeez, she's critical already!" WhiteSilver proclaimed.
"Huh?! How?!"
"She lost three HP!" WhiteSilver cried, flailing around.
"Oh shut up," Ulbert groaned, a rolling eyes emoticon appearing next to his head.
"In all seriousness, we should get going though. [Extend Magic - Blessing of Titania]." WhiteSilver extended her hand as a small pixie was summoned, giving out a radiant golden glow. Part of her spells learned as a Fae Queen – although Momonga knew the spell as well – the fairy would lead them through the least dangerous path through the dungeon, although not necessarily the shortest, determined by the total cumulative levels of approachable enemies.
To find the shortest path as well, Momonga cast "[Extend Magic - Lead of Yatagarasu]" as a three-legged crow appeared and began to lead the party alongside the glowing ball that was the fairy.
WhiteSilver began to lead the party forward. Although she was easily the weakest of the party in terms of defensive prowess, she was still their only seeker. To fill this role, countless glowing dots could be seen orbiting her as she hovered a few feet off the ground. Each of these dots was another summon like [Lead of Yatagarasu], more fairies from her Fae Queen class that granted her an immense amount of utility even without specialized classes in it. This came at the cost of a good amount of MP, however WhiteSilver had that in droves, arguably the most in the guild, contested by only a few others like Momonga and her brother. The fairies also had 1 HP each and would disappear at the first bit of damage. Interestingly however, Victoria's [Holy Martyr] actually included the fairies as well, meaning their effective HP was as high as hers.
"Seems like a basic tomb-type dungeon so far. Keep your guard up though, I wouldn't be shocked if the devs pulled something stupid out of their asses for no reason," WhiteSilver commented as she continued hovering forward.
Combat frequently ensued from then on, however none of the monsters brought about any significant challenge. Those that did, quickly found themselves unable to damage anyone besides Victoria as her [Holy Martyr] came into effect. Although Victoria ended up taking quite a beating, with only one person to heal, it was fairly easy to just use wands to heal up Victoria to save MP. With how much MP Ulbert and WhiteSilver could use up, it was best for Yamaiko to save her MP for more vital situations.
As the party progressed, they were stopped as WhiteSilver raised her hand, one of her fairies having started glowing red. "Teleport trap, difficulty red. Momonga," she turned towards the Overlord as he gave a subtle nod.
A skeleton burst from the ground as he summoned a low-tier undead. Without a second thought he pointed at the undead, "[Undeath Slave Sight]." As the spell went through a screen appeared at the bottom left of Momonga's UI as he led the undead into the trap.
"Seems to be teleported to a Level 95 undead creature, a Greater Graveyard I believe. Ah, it's dead," Momonga explained, watching through the screen until the feed was cut out.
"The teleportation circle stops operating after use, but give it a moment and – There, it's back up."
Momonga summoned another undead and cast the same spell, leading it through as it was once again brought to the same place. Explaining this to the party, they nodded in response.
"Alright then, well it seems we can just bypass the teleport trap if we move quickly, so once you send another undead through, we'll rush past."
Once more repeating the process, the trap deactivated as the party rushed through.
"We really need a trap disarmer in the guild…" Warrior Takemikazuchi groaned as they finally made it past the trap.
"Yeah… Frankly we should've just brought an actual seeker. My summons can do quite a bit, but I can't do much with them active. I'm basically locked out of the fight until we're in a comfortable enough position for me to drop 'em," WhiteSilver complained before the party found themselves in front of a massive statue, a glowing magic circle right before it; clearly a teleportation pad.
"Seems we found the boss," Yamaiko commented, gazing down at the circle in front of the statue.
WhiteSilver nodded and turned to look at Victoria, commanding, "Victoria, activate [True Form]."
Two more pairs of wings sprouted out of Victoria's back, one pair was about half the size of her normal ones, whereas the third was about a fourth. Around her appeared two golden rings as she lifted off the ground, eyes opening all along the sides of the rings as they gazed around, piercing into the soul and casting divine judgement on anyone they looked at. (At least according to the in-game lore descriptions.)
Victoria was an Ophanim, and much like a few high level angel races, had what was a 'true form' that could be activated for a period of time between longer cooldowns. Being an Ophanim, her true form granted her the skill [Omniscience], which had three main effects.
Firstly, it allowed the user to see past most, if not all illusion and invisibility spells in the game, with the exception of World Items, which as a World Item herself, Victoria could probably see past anyways.
Secondly, it granted the user full info on other players, often capable of seeing past false data protections that weren't of the highest level. In short, unless you deliberately casted and maintained a [False Data] spell, [Omniscience] would see past it, meaning most players who relied on their gear to maintain [False Data] would have their info for WhiteSilver to see and disseminate to her allies.
And lastly, the skill came with 'attack prediction.' Due to it being basically impossible to predict the attacks of players, this was far more effective against AI enemies or NPCs where their movements could be shown a few frames ahead of where they were. Against players, this simply showed the current planned trajectory of the spells they were casting.
Although Victoria was an AI and couldn't convey what she learned with these traits verbally, she could share the data of enemies to party members as well as point out the location of hidden or invisible enemies. While there was no good way to share attack prediction with teammates, as it turned out, Yggdrasil's AI went – to quote Punitto Moe – "absolutely apeshit" with the skill, with the only naturally spawning NPCs with the skill being high level angel bosses and some player-made NPCs - including WhiteSilver's. While against unpredictable players they weren't anything absurdly difficult, against predictable NPCs, they were absolutely devastating. In the case of a defensive Victoria, it meant that no attack would ever go unblocked so long as she had the speed to reach it. And with buffs to her agility stats and fly speed, there was no way she didn't barring the fastest of enemies.
As Victoria transformed, Momonga raised a hand to his ear as he spoke to the other parties' leaders. "I've spoken with everyone. All of the parties are at the dungeon's heart. They're a bit spent, but they're all in optimal condition it seems. Though there seems to be two problems."
"Alright Momonga, lay out how the shitty devs have fucked us this time," Ulbert replied.
"Firstly, two parties have already begun fighting, however both of them are fighting completely different bosses," Momonga explained.
"Seems we won't be able to use info gained from the first group then," WhiteSilver acknowledged. "What's the second problem?"
"Announcements when they enter the boss rooms seem to imply that they get stronger in the order they're fought. Meaning the first team is facing the easiest enemy, while the last team will face the hardest."
"I see where this is going," Warrior Takemikazuchi commented.
"I'd like for our team to take the short straw here and go last. Overall we've not expended many resources and Victoria has held up very well. Most notably however, we have two World Disasters in our party that are still at very high MP. WhiteSilver you haven't even used your [Frenzy Form] yet, have you?"
WhiteSilver shook her head in response to Momonga's question.
Momonga nodded, "Great, then if there's no objections…" The party all remained silent as Momonga acknowledged their determination. "Alright, I'll inform the other teams. Thank you for taking on this burden."
"It's no problem, besides, I've been itching for a good target to blast away with [Grand Catastrophe]," Ulbert exclaimed with pride, a grin clearly on his face even if his avatar didn't show it.
"Wait, if we have two World Disasters, then couldn't we cast two [Grand Catastrophe]s?" Yamaiko inquired, prompting the two disasters to look at each other.
"No." WhiteSilver flatly replied.
"Aw c'mon! It's the perfect opportunity!" Ulbert cried, trying to convince his sister to do… something.
WhiteSilver folded her arms, looking up at her taller brother unfazed by his begging. "I'm not doing that."
"C'mon! Please! I'll do the dishes for a week!" Ulbert pleaded to the pixie who simply looked away, arms crossed.
After a heavy sigh she glanced back up at her brother. "One month."
"Deal!"
Momonga could've sworn he could hear WhiteSilver chuckling under her breath.
As the party finally readied themselves, Momonga finally got the message that the fourth party had made their way into the boss. The first three had begun their fights and were already making decent progress, there was no point waiting any longer.
"Alright, it's time."
WhiteSilver nodded and tapped on her UI. A second later her wings began to glow slightly as her eyes turned a pure glowing white, her pupils seemingly vanishing behind the glow as her eyes stretched wide into eyes reminiscent of an insect intent on hunting its prey. Her lips twisted into a crooked grin of a pixie gone mad. This was her [Frenzy Form], much like Victoria's [True Form], however it lacked any special ability. Gained from a combination of her [Unseelie] race and her other racial and class levels, the form greatly increased her attack and agility at the cost of gutting her defense; the statement of floating like a butterfly, stinging like a bee was her best descriptor. However, due to her glass cannon build, she now basically had the defense of a level 50 player, but the attack of someone who was level 130, absurdly powerful against most.
With the party fully ready, they all nodded to each other as they stepped onto the teleportation circle, buffs and barriers already deployed.
Soon they found themselves in a massive room standing before a beast fifteen feet tall with six arms and vaguely resembling an Asura. With elaborate details on its armor, it was clear it boasted a mighty defense stat.
Four arms held melee weapons, each one unique and providing a plethora of physical damage types – a sword, an axe, a club, and a spear, each surrounded in an aura of fire, cold, acid, and electricity respectively. The last two hands held a bow and arrow. With multiple types of physical attacks and with various elements on each weapon, it was clear that even with good defenses against a specific type of damage, it could still find SOMETHING that was effective.
"Oh foolish ones who challenged us last, know the might of those who become stronger with every layer of binding removed from us!" The boss shouted out, Victoria jumping into action as soon as the enemy's agro began.
Attracting the first blow, Victoria blocked it and retaliated with [Shield Stun], granting her a few seconds to cast various spells to increase the 'hate' the boss had on her, causing it to solely agro her until someone else did enough damage to warrant more 'hate.'
"Ready?" Ulbert asked his sister.
Although the avatar didn't show it, especially with its eyes locked in a glowing white gaze, Momonga could tell WhiteSilver was rolling her eyes. Still, though, she nodded in response.
Together, they shouted as one, "Roar, the twisted power of ragnarok! Bring about the flames to burn down the World Tree! Let two sparks of disaster light into a fiery inferno of complete annihilation! [Grand Catastrophe]!"
A blinding light of destructive power sweeped over the boss' room. As the light subsided, the boss stood unmoving, cracks forming all over its body as light began to erupt from said cracks. Moments later, it exploded, a glowing orb descending slowly onto the floor.
"You're kidding me… One shot?" Takemikazuchi muttered, sounding slightly disappointed.
"Technically two shots but… damn," Yamaiko acknowledged, gazing now at where the boss once stood.
"You guys can say that all you'd like, but we're basically out of the fight if there's anything after this," Ulbert shrugged, looking over at WhiteSilver, "Still, totally cool right?!"
WhiteSilver scoffed and walked forward, gazing at the orb and shrugging. "Doesn't seem like a proper item, probably something to do with the dungeon. Momonga, you take it."
Momonga nodded, picking up the item in his hand before the world blacked out. As his senses returned he appeared in another room, a wide open space seemingly in a sprawling expanse of wilderness, although dim enough to prevent them from seeing far into the distance.
Looking around they quickly saw the other parties, seemingly mid-combat although with no enemies present any longer.
"Ah, I was right. All of us defeating the bosses seemed to have stopped the mob spawning. I was about to [Message] you about that, but damn you beat that boss quick," Punitto Moe commented, walking over to the group.
"Yeah cause these two took all the fun and one-shotted the boss with two [Grand Catastrophe]s." Takemikazuchi explained, more joking than serious about his complaints.
Punitto shrugged, "Sounds about right."
"Yo Momonga!" Touch me shouted from afar. "Put that orb in here!" Touch Me pointed to a plaque where four similar orbs had already been placed. Walking over, he placed the fifth orb as the others began to gently glow.
Soon a scroll descended from the sky, Momonga catching it as the plaque vanished, replaced by a throne made from a single gigantic crystal.
The scroll was the ownership deed, and the throne some kind of artifact. Usually a dungeon reward would be either one or the other, but in this case it was both. With how difficult the dungeon was (supposed to be), the artifact would no doubt be worth quite a lot even if they didn't have any use for it personally.
Looking over the scroll in his hands, a calm male voice sang out from the heavens, "Congratulations! For conquering the Great Tomb of Nazarick, you have earned the ownership rights to the Guild Homebase: Great Tomb of Nazarick."
Reading over the scroll, he skimmed over the information before stopping dead in his tracks. He reread what he saw a few times in shock, gazing at the paper in silence before muttering "This… This dungeon has 2750 levels of NPCs!"
"Huh?"
"What?!" Buku leaned over to look at the parchment. "It's true!"
"Why is it so high?"
"The base amount is 2250. Somehow we got a bonus of 500… I've never heard of such a thing…" Momonga muttered, confused.
"It might be possible that by beating the base in one shot you get an increase to your max NPC levels," Tabula speculated to the collective "oohs" and "Ahs" of the guild, handing out high-fives.
"As if anyone was ever gonna pull that off! Shitty devs!" Someone shouted.
The guild erupted into a brief joking rant about the shitty developers of Yggdrasil as Punitto Moe turned his focus towards the throne. "So, is this an artifact, then?"
"Seems so. Let's get a group photo with Momonga in the center on the throne!" Buku suggested, sliding up beside the throne.
Touch Me nodded in agreement, "Indeed. Come, take your seat, Guildmaster."
"Only one can rest upon the mighty throne of the Heteromorph Zoo!" Ulbert declared jokingly.
Soon the entire guild gathered around, photos being taken as Momonga himself remained frozen. As the clan began to erupt into discussions, WhiteSilver noticed Momonga's silence. Turning to him she asked, "Are you alright, Momonga?"
"This…" he began, scrambling for the words, "This is a World Item."
The entire guild froze and turned in shock, "EH-?!"
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Tana sat in the break room, poking at her gelatinous cube of meat as she occasionally took a bite of its bland disgusting texture. Although she was unfazed by the poor taste of the "meat," every time she ate it, it made her unironically miss rations more and more. Even war rations had been better tasting than this, at least they had salt.
Sitting across from her at the table was Suzuki Satoru who had taken to chatting with her about Yggdrasil quite a lot lately. It was clear he lacked any genuine friends in the real world, at least aside from the 'professional' friends he had for the sake of his employment.
To an extent, Tana was exactly the same. Although she'd be lying if she said she was as desperate for a genuine real life friend as Satoru seemed to be, she didn't necessarily mind either. With how increasingly dull her life had begun feeling, especially with the lack of upwards momentum in her job, Yggdrasil had become her main source of entertainment and, strangely enough, joy. Perhaps she missed the adrenaline of fighting on the front lines, even if she definitely didn't miss the danger, but when you're stuck at the bottom of the corporate ladder and the world outside is full of acids and cancers, a digital fantasy world that allowed her some proper creative and strategic thought didn't seem half bad. Not that she would allow herself to be consumed by it, either.
Still, her and Satoru's discussions about the game had been a worthwhile break to the repetitive tasks of her low ranking corporate job. Often they spoke about spells, dungeons, enemies they fought, whathaveyou, although neither of the two knew each other in-game. It was generally taboo to know others' info, especially since such a thing could be used as blackmail against them. That being said, it wasn't a strict taboo, nor was it something either of them seemed to be all that worried about, but Satoru in particular didn't wish to push it either.
Still, with the eventful day she had in Yggdrasil yesterday, she certainly had a lot she could talk about herself, but for now she allowed Suzuki to continue his ranting about his own adventures.
Suzuki smiled as he continued to explain his adventures, "So eventually we reach the end of this dungeon and face off against the final boss. Since we went last it was the strongest of the five raiding parties'..."
"Wait…"
"However my party consisted of two World Disasters. You've mentioned the class before I think, so you're familiar with its [Grand Catastrophe] spell. However both of them cast it at the same time, killing the boss in one shot!"
"Hold on…"
"But apparently beating the dungeon in one shot causes the max levels of the guild base to go up dramatically. Furthermore, we even got a World Item from the raid! I don't know if completing a second level 80 plus dungeon without info would give another world item, but frankly I'd be interested in experimenting."
"Wait a second…"
"Hm? Oh sorry, Tana, I was rambling. What were you trying to say?"
"Momonga?" Tana asked.
"Yeah? Wait… EH?!"
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Next Chapter
Chapter V: Festung Nazarick
Here is your comically long chapter of Overlord. Idk if it's necessarily my best work, but frankly the dungeon raid on Nazarick was a bit of a slog since I had to keep it (mostly) in line with canon, not to mention the chapter was already absurdly long as is. The upcoming Yggdrasil chapters are going to be almost entirely OC (albeit based either vaguely or directly on events that are mentioned by Ainz in canon).
Anyways, Beta Reader comments time:
Fish Tank - At long last, the two meet up.
LuckCrusader - Alright chums, (I'm back)! Let's do this… LEEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOY JEEEEEENKIIIIIIIIIIINS!
Sneezless - Now that I've remembered to do this… what a cliff hanger! It is good to see this finally happen though.
Dr. Rx - Time to install a horde of guns and bunkers in Shalltear's tunnels just to make defense extra terrifying.
Chapter V - Festung Nazarick
SwissChocolatess
Shalltear is all and all is Shalltear
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2023
- Messages
- 16
"To think this whole time the scary coworker in the office was my guildmate," Satoru mumbled to himself, slouching back in his chair.
Tana's eyes narrowed, prompting him to sit up quickly. "Scary?"
"I-I meant uuh… Sorry, I got nothing," Satoru sighed, resigning to his fate.
Tana shook her head, "It explains a lot, you spend way too much time daydreaming. Now that I recall, a lot of our more exciting times as a clan correlate pretty well to when you were slacking off."
"How do you even remember when I'm slacking off?!" Satoru asked in surprise.
"I know all, I see all. Don't test me," Tana declared.
Satoru felt a shiver down his spine. "Jeez, I'm starting to think that Victoria's [Omniscience] was just you projecting. Still, I'm shocked I never recognized your voice…"
"It's a psychological thing, I suppose. If you don't expect to hear a coworker, you don't listen out for one. Besides, we barely talked much before. Before we started talking I had completely separated my work life from my game life. I didn't think about work in Yggdrasil and vice versa. I presume you're much the same, except when you get distracted."
"Yeah that… sounds about right…" Satoru muttered, looking down at his lunch that he had yet to touch. "Wait, you live with Ulbert right?"
"Yeah, his name's Albert by the way."
Satoru's excitement was suddenly replaced by a blank stare. "Albert… Ulbert's IRL name… Is Albert…" Satoru planted his face in his hands and sighed, "You'd think a chuunibyou like him would think of a more distinct username…"
Tana swallowed a piece of processed food, suppressing her hatred of its taste, pointing her fork Satoru's way. "Chuunibyou? You're one to talk."
"Don't you dare start this. I just became guild leader, I can't afford to have my reputation sullied by slander."
"Is it slander if it's true? You don't really act the part, but aren't you the one who suggested we put Victoria in a military uniform?" Tana retorted with a grin.
Satoru grumbled, "Aren't you the one who plays strategy map games from a hundred years ago? I was simply trying to suggest something you might've liked."
Tana seemed unconvinced, "Mhm… Sure. Anyways, if you want to meet Albert I can take you to our house after work. He could use some IRL friends. Even if his IRL friend is just his in-game friend… The point is he needs to go outside every once in a while. Well… Maybe not outside, given the state of the world, but he needs to have real life socialization. Take his mind off of work. I feel like if he ever lost access to Yggdrasil he'd completely lose it. Besides myself, Yggdrasil's all he's got."
Satoru was left completely startled upon hearing Tana suggest he come to her home, but quickly died down as he listened to her reasoning. He could understand it as well. To an extent, he was much the same. Without Yggdrasil, he really didn't have anything. If he was for some reason banned tomorrow, although he would probably find some other game to play, he would be distraught. Perhaps having some real-life connections to his friends would be for the best. For both of them.
"If that's how it is, then sure. Though it may not be the best idea to spend too long, I should probably get on at some point today so we can all discuss how to go about building the clan base," Satoru agreed with a nod.
Soon after their break ended and they returned to work, Satoru now clearly distracted by the revelation that had been dropped on him earlier. Still, the occasional glance from Tana scared him back into productivity, even with his distracted mind.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Tana unlocked the door to her house as Satoru watched from behind. Somewhat impressed he commented, "Wow, you take much better care of your lock than I do. Seems far nicer than mine, even."
"You were born with the pleasure of being male. If someone breaks into your house, they aren't going to bother you unless you try to stop them. If someone breaks into my house when I sleep, even with Albert here, it's a lot more potentially problematic. That said, I'm fairly confident in my ability to defend myself even without such safety measures," Tana explained, finally unlocking her door and opening it.
Realistically, a determined burglar would have no issue bypassing the lock in some other way, but someone looking for a quick buck would give up and move on to the next house instead of wasting such effort. In such a lower-income community, whatever was inside likely wasn't worth it.
Walking inside, she took off her protective gear and placed it on a rack by the door. Satoru quickly followed suit, making sure to keep all of his items neat in another's home.
Walking over to the kitchen, Tana noticed Albert already sitting down and eating his over-processed meal. Raising her hand up she called to him, "Hey, I'm home. Brought home a friend from work."
Albert was stunned for a second before spitting out his food as Satoru walked in behind her. He suddenly slammed his hands on the table in shock. "PFFT– YOU BROUGHT HOME A MAN?! YOU??? OF ALL PEOPLE??? HOW?!"
"Shut up. You know him better than I do, anyways," Tana groaned, walking over to begin making herself a cup of coffee.
"What? I don't know this guy. The only people I know are from–"
"You are Ulbert Alain Odle, correct?" Satoru asked, interrupting Albert.
Albert turned quickly to Satoru, squinting his eyes as he stared in silence for a few moments. "Wait, shit! Momonga?! Yeah, that voice is definitely Momonga's. Holy shit you're coworkers with my sister?!"
Satoru nodded, again reaching behind himself to scratch his neck, "Yeah I was shocked about it too. We learned that we both play Yggdrasil a while ago, but we never spoke about who we were. After I started rambling about how we conquered Nazarick, she put two and two together before I did."
Albert's face shifted, a devious grin appearing on his face. Tana looked back and noticed, immediately rolling her eyes and wanting to leave the room before he did something stupid. She knew that face – it was 'I have a really good idea that totally won't backfire in the slightest' face. To his credit, some of his ideas weren't all that bad, but there was a certain feeling in the air when one of his 'grand ideas' would almost certainly fall flat.
Albert wrapped an arm around Satoru's shoulder, quickly dragging him into the living room further into the apartment. There a wall divided them from Tana as he smugly whispered to Satoru, "Alright bro, I'm your wingman now. Well, honestly Pero is way better as a wingman, but I'm the goatman. It doesn't make sense but roll with it."
"What are you getting at Ulbert? Or Albert, sorry," Satoru asked, looking confused at Albert's intent.
"Dude you just got invited to a girl's home."
"Yeah, to meet you," Satoru retorted.
Albert thought for a moment and finally let go of Satoru's shoulder, "Fair point. Still, if you ever want my sister you have my full support!"
Satoru jumped back in shock and slight terror, "E-Eh?! What?! N-No way… She's a member of the Guild, it would be incredibly awkward, especially since the guild was just created. Besides, even if we knew each other in Yggdrasil, I basically just met the two of you. Well I've been acquainted with Tana as my coworker for probably a few years now, but I never really spoke with her until recently."
Albert shrugged, "Your loss, man."
"I don't even think she'd be into me to begin with," Satoru muttered.
Albert nodded in acknowledgement. "You're probably right, no offense. I don't think my sister's the type to date anyone anyways. The only reason I see her marrying is if it's to some rich guy to get his money or some higher position in her job. That being said… She doesn't have any real life friends, from what I've heard she doesn't care for anyone at work either. So as her coworker, look after her for me, will you? She could probably use some friends."
Satoru nodded, not making much of a response. It seemed the two had similar opinions on the other. They were all the same in that aspect; none of them really had friends outside of Yggdrasil. Well, with all of them now knowing who each other was, perhaps that could change. But then again, considering the state of the world, it was far easier to just meet in Yggdrasil anyways.
"I understand, I'll make sure she'll never stop thinking about Yggdrasil as that's all I talk about!"
Albert laughed and patted Satoru on the back, "Aha! You do that! And if she ever warms up to you, let me know and I'll make sure the house is unoccupied for ya.'"
"I'm not banging your sister, Albert."
"Yeah, yeah, of course you aren't." Albert began walking back to the kitchen, waving his arm back at Satoru. "Anyways, if you want something to eat we probably have a few things. Nothing really better than what you probably have, but still. It's somewhat edible."
Satoru shook his head, "No, I wouldn't want to burden you. Besides, the guild is probably itching to begin work on the clan base soon. It's best I get home and log on so we can organize a proper plan. My home is surprisingly close to here, so I should be online in about thirty minutes."
"Alright, see you on Yggdrasil then," Albert said, nodding towards Satoru as he walked towards the door.
"Don't forget to finish that report you started today. It should've been done already but you got distracted," Tana added as Satoru began to put on his protective gear.
"R-Right… Anyways, thank you for your hospitality, see you online soon." Satoru made a respectful bow as he made his leave, exiting into the apartment complex before making his way into the harsh outside.
Sitting back at the table across from Albert, the smug grin on his face remained as he asked, "So, when's the wedding?"
He was promptly knocked off his chair by a water bottle flying from across the room.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X–X-X-X
When WhiteSilver hopped online she looked around to see the once basic and empty throne room now fully renovated, transformed into a long hallway with towering pillars stretching far into the distance. Or rather, it was beginning to look that way. After about ten sets of pillars the hallway began to quickly lose detail until it turned into little more than a box with stone-like surfaces.
Already she could see a few players working away at expanding it, using data crystals and a few materials to make it look elegant and royal. No doubt it would take some time before the finer details were refined, but the vision was clearly already there.
Her brother appeared alongside her, joining her in the throne room. Beside the throne stood Victoria, who was ordered to stand next to the throne when not protecting WhiteSilver herself. She considered bringing Victoria to her side, but that could wait until it was decided what they were doing. If they went out on a quest today, she would come along, but if they were simply building up the clan base, best to leave her there for now.
A few minutes later she received a notification informing her of Momonga logging in. She had waited to log on knowing that a meeting would certainly be coming and thus making starting any quests pointless until then. Shortly afterwards receiving a message from Momonga of the impending meeting, she made her way with her brother to the de facto meeting room of the guild.
Just yesterday this room had been made as a temporary placement, however already it was being transformed into a proper meeting hall, even if it was still simplistic in nature. For now, a large circular table was surrounded by thirty chairs. More than they needed, but there was still room for even more chairs should the guild find itself with the members.
Soon enough everyone online had gathered around the table. Although some were unfortunately offline, the vast majority had managed to log on, and the rest would likely hear about what was discussed today in no time.
Starting off the meeting, Momonga stood up. "Thank you, everyone. I'm still unfamiliar with the habits of being Guildmaster, but I thank you for attending this meeting even after the clan meeting we had yesterday. I don't want to waste anyone's time with daily meetings or anything like that, but I feel like today's topic warranted one. Before I get to that, as per tradition, does anyone have anything they'd like to bring up? I would like to request that all topics revolving around the guild base Nazarick not be brought up until later."
As the guild remained silent, Momonga pressed on. "Alright, then I suppose I'll get onto the topic at hand; our guildbase. I think the guildbase should be a place where anyone in the guild can make anything they want. That said, we should still have a vision and plan in mind. The shitty devs have given us a base with a very high level cap, and it's best that we don't waste it. No doubt other guilds will likely want to seize the guild base for themselves if they can. Given that possibility, even if we allow this base to be our canvas, its defense should still be a top priority. Does anyone have any ideas?"
Although a few people murmured amongst each other and to themselves, WhiteSilver was the first to raise her hand. "If we want to make a guild base that is impenetrable we need to assume that any invader is fully stocked with all sorts of potions, consumables, or Cash Shop items that would make even a single minute of calm enough for them to fully recover from any fight. As such, in order for us to realistically beat such a foe our base needs to have at least one area where such calm never occurs. We must create an encounter so long, hectic, and difficult, that even the strongest force can't beat it. If we spread our forces out evenly across all of the floors then a properly prepared team will be able to fully recover before advancing to the next."
Much to the surprise of no one, Whitesilver's suggestion was far more utilitarian than creative, however considering Momonga's request to prioritize on its defense, it ultimately made sense.
Continuing she explained, "As such, floors of Nazarick should be focused on wasting their resources, time, and energy. They should not be faced with this insurmountable task immediately, doing so would allow them to quickly get back into the fight and devise a plan. Each attempt against the hell that should be the final floor should require hours of grinding through the upper floors. While I suggest about half of the guild base's levels be put into the final floor alone, I believe all of our traps and similar devices should be invested into the upper floors. The upper floors should be a slog: slow and tedious with an increasing difficulty, while the lower floor is a true gauntlet of chaos that will determine whether Nazarick stands or falls to its invaders."
"You want to invest half of our NPCs into one floor? Doesn't that seem excessive? I get the basic idea of it, but that severely limits how much we can put into the other floors…" Pero muttered, making a motion similar to scratching his beak.
Tabula was quick to retort, "I for one believe it is a wise decision. There's no reason to evenly stretch out our resources. It's impossible to tell how well supplied an invading force might be. They could be stocked up with more than enough to fully recover from any fight. Hell, even killing them might not have a permanent impact on their fighting force in the right circumstances. We need to create an encounter that is basically guaranteed to teamwipe anyone."
Punitto nodded in agreement. "We're unable to make the dungeon completely impassable, that would get the guild base forcibly edited at best, deleted at worst. So while it would be easy to put an unbreakable wall at the exit, the guild base must be conquerable. That being said, although terrain can be considered completely impassable, NPC encounters are always considered 'passable,' you just need to get the right amount of people. Even if that amount of people is way more than a group could realistically hope to organize in a raid, it still counts as technically beatable."
"Is half of our guild base's levels even enough to accomplish that? Honestly it sounds like something that would consume most if not all of our levels," Touch Me pondered, folding his arms as he looked across the table at WhiteSilver.
"If we invest the levels right, it should be more than enough. Simply putting random strong enemies together would be pointless. Each and every NPC we put there needs to play off of the strengths, weaknesses, and gimmicks of those around it. It must be a perfectly coordinated network of NPCs with powerful buffs and game-breaking gimmicks. Me and Tabula have shown just how far we can stretch NPCs with Victoria. She's just the start. Although we won't have an NPC with the benefits of being made by a World Item, we can still push Yggdrasil's capabilities to its limits. However, to accomplish this, it means unfortunately this final floor must be far more restrictive when it comes to creativity. However, given the more stalling nature of the upper floors, I believe that would be a perfect place for everyone's creativity to run wild. That is, if my idea is accepted."
The guild began to murmur amongst themselves about the idea. Although some were skeptical, and others somewhat upset at the prospect of losing out on being able to freely use all of the levels, most seemed to come to the understanding that in Yggdrasil to survive meant making sacrifices.
After about a minute of internal discussions, Momonga raised his hand. "Very well, we shall put it to a vote as I would like to make standard procedure. All in favor of investing half of Nazarick's level cap into a coordinated effort of making the final floor a living hell, raise your hands."
As the seconds passed, more and more of the guild raised their hands. Soon enough, about two-thirds of the guild was publicly on board with the idea. Momonga nodded, exclaiming, "Very well, then I shall create the "Nazarick Defense Committee" to manage the coordination and creation of the final defensive floor of Nazarick. This committee will have the final say in all affairs of the floor, only to be overridden by a majority vote. If you wish to create an NPC on the final floor, please seek out the Committee to see how it can be integrated into it. That being said, I would like to kindly ask WhiteSilver to head this committee."
"Hm? Me?" WhiteSilver asked, shrugging. "I suppose it was my idea. But if you want to entrust all of the final floor to me, be my guest."
"All in favor of WhiteSilver heading this committee, raise your hands," Momonga ordered. Again various hands raised around the table, this time being an effective unanimous decision.
Although the unified agreement of the guild was somewhat flattering, their unanimous vote was more because most didn't really have a preference on who led the committee. If Momonga thought I was best then they would roll with it. That being said, the fact they didn't have enough of a problem with it to care did speak for how they respected her capabilities, at least to some extent.
As the hands lowered, Momonga looked around and nodded, "Very well, then any appointments to the committee will be approved by WhiteSilver, though if anyone wishes to volunteer, I see no reason as to why you couldn't join now."
Immediately three hands short up, a few others joining in shortly afterwards. The main three were the obvious candidates; Tabula, Punitto, two people who WhiteSilver had become particularly close to in recent weeks. The last was Bellriver, a four-armed monstrosity made of red flesh and numerous mouths where his head would have otherwise been.
He was a fellow strategist of the guild, though their paths crossed only occasionally, so up until this point she wasn't too familiar with him. That said, she was aware of his skills, and was glad to have him on the team.
The remaining volunteers were various members of the guild who had one reason or another to join. Touch Me in particular, with his optimized build would no doubt help in creating strong NPCs.
"Now then, with the committee decided," Momonga continued, "Does anyone else have something they would like to bring up?"
A few seconds of murmuring later and Peroronocino raised his feathered hand, "If we're talking about having several floors they get through to reach the final chaos floor, I think it should be reasonable to have bosses that serve as the guardians of each of the floors. Full level 100 enemies which are masters of their own environment and abilities. It would take a lot of data to get their programming right, not to mention partially drain our level cap, but it would definitely stop the average party from simply walking through the tomb."
Pero's sister, Bukubukuchagama sent a rolling eyes emoticon, "No dip sherlock! I don't think we need a vote to determine whether or not a dungeon should have bosses."
Warrior Takemikazuchi then interjected, "Yes, but I think Pero brings up something worth discussing; the bosses themselves. Naturally everyone's going to want to make a major boss NPC, but we don't have the floors nor resources for that. There needs to be some system to decide who gets to make these boss enemies."
"Perhaps whoever has enough resources to fully deck out a level 100 NPC and has a good idea of what they want to make with said resources should get it. First come first serve after all. We can't afford to have a bunch of half-baked NPCs unless they're meant to be lesser bosses or support enemies," Touch Me explained to the agreement of everyone else.
Momonga listened along and nodded, "Yes, although it would mean some of the newer players or those with far less stockpiles of resources are likely to be left out somewhat, there's no saying we couldn't make more boss-level NPCs or simply have lower level ones elsewhere. There's plenty of Cash Shop items capable of increasing the guild base's level cap anyways, even if I personally won't be using them. All in favor?"
With a near-unanimous vote from the guild, the decision was settled. Though with that out of the way, the meeting had still only just begun as the guild erupted into countless conversations spewing dozens of ideas.
Once the dust settled and the meeting ended; construction truly began.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
It had been several months since the formation of Ainz Ooal Gown, and in that time the guild base had come along very nicely, now being a fully functional guild base. Frankly Momonga was just glad he had managed to lead the guild through it. He started out as guild leader effectively pretending he was Touch Me, but now it felt a lot more natural. Sure he was in charge, but these were still all the same people and friends, little had changed besides titles. The democratic system he had worked into the guild had worked wonders in both keeping unity and helping him avoid the tough decisions.
The guild was now up to 41 members, and although there were talks of expanding it further, for now that was deemed enough. It was hard to find members that could be trusted. It was a lot easier when they were still a clan and had little to lose, but now they were a guild; one with World Items. With each passing month more and more people were learning of our existence; making sure someone wasn't trying to infiltrate the guild and steal their items was proving to be difficult.
In the end leaving every entry into the guild as a vote was the best decision. If there was even a little bit of doubt amongst the clan, there would not be a majority in favor of letting them in.
Now with the Guild having come into the possession of several World Items, the number of attempted infiltrators had expectantly increased. In fact some of his guild mates had met people who were not nearly as subtle about their intentions. With this growing skepticism, Momonga doubted that there would be many more guild members anytime soon.
For now the focus was on building the tomb, and in that regard things were coming along nicely. Most considered the tomb effectively 'complete,' as in it could hold up easily to most invasions. Most notable in that regard was the eighth floor, the brainchild of the 'Nazarick Defense Committee' which oversaw its organization. He personally wasn't exactly sure the specifics of how it functioned, but Tabula had insisted that there were very few who could get past it. It would take a raid of well over 100 players to get past it, and that was a bare minimum guess. No raids on the tomb had yet to pass even the sixth floor, so it had never gotten a proper test drive.
It was his growing curiosity with progress on the 8th floor that led him there today. The guild had long since gotten back into the habit of going out onto missions, so finding people still in the guild base wasn't the most common thing. With both Tabula and WhiteSilver located on the 8th floor, it was as good of a time as any to check in.
On his skeletal hand Momonga had the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown; an item given to all guild members that allowed them free travel and teleportation through Nazarick. With how large the guild base had become with over nine floors now, the ring was essential if you didn't wish to spend all day walking.
As he teleported into the eighth floor, he was stunned to watch as a shell of magical energy rushed past his avatar, exploding against a target dummy behind his left shoulder.
Jumping back he turned to look at where the dummy once stood, now completely destroyed, leaving only its base left. Since it was reusable, only a bit of mana would be needed to completely recover it, but knowing the base HP those dummies had, it was no easy feat to one-shot it like that.
Looking back at where the shot had been fired from, Momonga could feel his jaw drop even if his avatar didn't show it.
Rolling up the top of the hill was a monstrosity of steel and iron, or more accurately high-tier magical alternatives to those. While he expected to see some kind of summon or NPC, what he instead saw was a perfect recreation of the Panzer IV tank, modified to be slightly more magical. His appraisal told him that it wasn't a vehicle of any kind – not that Yggdrasil had too many of those – but was instead a golem. Its tank-like appearance was mostly visual, although its large treads did arguably increase its movement speed dramatically, if limiting it in other capacities.
"Oh Momonga! You're here just in time for the test run!" Tabula called out, standing atop the tank golem as it turned to face him, canon aimed straight forward just above his head.
"How the hell did you guys make a tank?!" Momonga called out in shock.
"Pretty cool right?" Ulbert asked, walking up from behind the tank and leaning against it. It seems Momonga had missed the fact that he was on the eighth floor too. Whatever the case, it didn't surprise him that Ulbert was involved.
That said, Momonga would be lying if he said it wasn't kind of cool, he had the German Early-World Wars military aesthetic on his mind for a while, after all. The only thing stopping him from making an NPC based on it was his concern for what his friends would think of such a thing. Besides, he had more important projects to focus on.
"So is the tank stuff purely visual or does it serve some sort of purpose?" Momonga asked, approaching the duo and the tank they stood by.
Tabula shook his head, "No it does have some use. Though I will admit, there's little reason it couldn't have been a regular golem or something similar. Yggdrasil's physics engine isn't sophisticated enough for spells to be ricocheted off of its armor. We thought a tank would be more jarring, confusing, and potentially terrifying to any would-be invaders."
"Not to mention way cooler than any ol' boring golem," Ulbert added.
It was then that WhiteSilver descended from the skies, hovering a few feet to the side of the tank near Momonga himself. "What the tank sacrifices in flexibility of movement it makes up for in speed. Furthermore, instead of speccing into a versatile moveset like most standard builds, these tanks put most of their resources into a single well-rounded powerful attack. Although there are a few variations of said attack along with weaker machine gun fire, it's meant to be a mobile cannon of sheer firepower. Naturally on their own they aren't too useful, but scattered amidst enemies that are hard to ignore, and they can be a rather effective force. Just wait till you see the artillery."
"Artillery?!" Momonga asked in shock.
WhiteSilver nodded and pointed behind her. Walking up to the top of the hill, Momonga could see them in the far distance. About a dozen early world war era artillery pieces were lined up, aimed at the wasteland that was the eighth floor.
"By sacrificing most of their mobility and defensive stats, we get a golem with enough firepower to rival level 100 spellcasters even without being one. So while any invading force is invading the eighth floor, these artillery guns will rain hell upon them from a safe distance, protected by hills that hide them from sight or a clear shot. The only thing that could realistically shoot them down before the rest of the floor has been cleared is an aerial build much like my own. But we've been working on anti-air as well to help apply some pressure to them," WhiteSilver casually explained, as if the addition of semi-modern weaponry into a predominantly fantasy game wasn't a startling feat.
"There is something else I would like to show you, Momonga," Tabula mentioned, gesturing for him to follow as he led him to an open stretch of wilderness within the eighth floor. Standing there was an NPC with a resemblance to the other NPCs Tabula had made since Nazarick was conquered. Her hair was long and black and her skin looked metallic and mechanical at places, likely an automaton or golem of some kind.
"This is Rubedo. My latest NPC. I made it with the Clay of Creation," Tabula explained.
Momonga practically jumped at the mention of that World Item, "Wait, you got another clay of creation?! How?!"
"I happened to find a spot where it spawns. I've been looking for it ever since Tanya had first used hers to make Victoria. The NPC the clay creates has less restrictions, more data, and overall more capabilities than a regular guild base NPC. Of course, that's not the only thing I did…"
"So it's just another Victoria then?" Momonga asked, then adding, "Of course I assume it's not nearly as focused on defense."
Tabula nodded, "Though I will say, while Victoria is super optimized, she was made through far more… legitimate means. Rubedo here was made with a World Item and optimized via… less intentional means as far as the devs are concerned."
"It was an exploit, wasn't it?" Momonga muttered without even looking at Tabula. The question was rhetorical – he already knew the answer.
"Indeed! However, for that reason this NPC, once I'm done with it, would be incredibly overpowered – Easily the strongest NPC in Nazarick. We can't just use her openly and freely. We should only use her in extreme emergencies. For that reason I wanted to set it so that only the guild leader has permission to activate her."
"I see… So long as this doesn't get us banned by the devs…" Momonga muttered nervously.
"Trust me, I've seen people get away with far worse things exploit-wise. At worst they'll just delete Rubedo," Tabula shrugged.
"I see, well we should probably put her inside somewhere. It feels anti-climatic for the strongest being in Nazarick to just be standing in the middle of an open desert," Momonga commented, looking down at the small platform Rubedo stood on.
"Of course, I already had designs in mind. I just wanted to showcase her to you first," Tabula acknowledged with a nod.
"Oh right, Momonga!" Ulbert shouted his way, approaching from behind. Momonga turned, facing him as he continued, "Have you heard of the recent discovery made about the World Disaster class?"
"The discovery? Don't tell me there's more than twelve," Momonga groaned, fearful of Yggdrasil if they allowed for even more World Disasters.
Ulbert shook his head, "Not quite. It's unclear whether or not this was a recent update or a feature that was always in the game, but apparently there is a special ritual that can be cast if all twelve World Disasters come together."
"What kind of ritual would need twelve World Disasters?"
Tabula chimed in, "One that nukes an entire realm."
"Exactly that!" Ulbert explained, "The only problem is that the ritual takes a good while to actually cast, and while its casting it isn't exactly subtle. For the entire duration of its casting, the ritual is basically a glowing beacon in the sky giving the warning to everyone in the realm of the impending apocalypse. All it takes is to kill one of the casters and the ritual is interrupted."
"I mean, casting it at the bottom of Nazarick would probably work for defense, though I'm not sure why we'd want to nuke our own realm," Momonga stated, though the two simply shook their heads.
"From what people have been saying, it seems the immediate radius of the ritual will destroy basically any structure – friendly guild base or not. Of course it's hard to tell what's rumors, leaks, or just flat out lies and speculation, but we won't know till we cast it."
"Are you planning to cast it?" Momonga asked, a squinting emoticon appearing above his head.
Ulbert shrugged, "Not just yet. A ritual like that is bound to have one hell of a cooldown time. If we're gonna cast it, it needs to be worth it. That said, with the ritual requiring all twelve World Disasters, I was considering trying to get them all into some kind of pact or council or something. After WhiteSilver assassinated that red wizard girl, all of the World Disasters have been Heteromorphs, so getting them to come to a mutual understanding might not be too difficult. Together we'll create a secret society plotting Yggdrasil's downfall!"
"I knew that World Disaster was a class that favored Heteromorphs, but I didn't realize that they were all Heteromorphs," Momonga exclaimed in surprise.
"There's an unspoken agreement among us Heteromorphic World Disasters that any non-Heteromorph World Disaster is not deserving of the same honor we give each other. Hence why I targeted the human girl specifically when giving WhiteSilver the class."
WhiteSilver herself descended fully onto the floor next to them, adding on, "It's not an awful idea. I just don't think it's practical to get everyone to agree on a target."
"There are plenty of realms where Heteromorphs are basically hunted to extinction; we simply need to target one of them and conquer it for heteromorphs. Simple!" Ulbert explained with a smiling emoticon.
"You can't just say 'simple' like it makes it easy!" WhiteSilver spat, "We can't just cast this ritual out in the open, we'd need the protection of a guild base. And since the ritual destroys the guild base it's casted on, we need to conquer one or willingly sacrifice one to pull it off."
Ulbert raised his hands in defeat. "Fine, fine, I admit it's not the best plan. But that being said, I still think we should get all of the World Disasters together just in case. Better to have them all ready at a short notice should a prime opportunity arise."
Tabula nodded, "Indeed, he's right on that aspect. For all we know one day a guild might tear itself apart, giving up a prime opportunity to raid their base and use it to protect the ritual. If we had to go through the tedious process of getting each person on board then we wouldn't have time to seize upon such an opportunity."
"It sounds like an interesting idea, though I fear the repercussions of it. All twelve World Disasters suddenly coming together not long after it was revealed what all twelve of them could do… It's bound to cause some chaos," Momonga noted, much to Ulbert's dismissal.
Shrugging he proclaimed, "Where's the fun if there's not a little chaos? That's part of the class description!"
Momonga chuckled, shaking his head, "If you say so…"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
A few weeks had passed since the initial plan was put in motion. What was once a mere thought experiment for creating a coalition of disasters was now slowly coming into fruition. Eleven of the twelve had been brought on board, yet one remained.
Part of arguably one of the larger guilds in the game, SuperNava was part of the Octagon. Formerly a coalition of ten independent clans, the introduction of an Eleventh and the chaos that followed it many months ago had led to the coalition's reduction to just eight. After which they promptly united under a single – albeit decentralized – guild. Even now, the eight clans still functioned semi-autonomously from the greater guild.
This made speaking to this last World Disaster, one of the eight leaders of the Octagon, a tricky thing. It was for that reason that she wanted to bring all the other World Disasters on board first, even if SuperNava was said to be whimsical on her own already and may have just outright joined from the start. The issue was partially getting to her which meant entering into the guild base of the Octagon; fittingly an octagon-shaped city clan base divided into eight triangles.
Despite having her own side of the Octagon, she preferred to reside in a different section entirely, the one held and managed by the eighth seat, Rimarious. To get to SuperNava, there was a good chance WhiteSilver would have to go through them.
Arriving at the edge of the protective barrier surrounding the Octagon, WhiteSilver sent a message, "I am WhiteSilver, member of the guild Ainz Ooal Gown and one of the Twelve World Disasters of Yggdrasil. I have come alone and wish to speak with SuperNava in private."
It wasn't long before a [Gate] spell appeared before her, out bouncing a small blue predator slime character. The slime looked up and sent a smiling emoji, "Hello! I'm Rimarious, leader of this section of the Octagon, though I assume you already inferred that. You're informed enough to know this is where SuperNava actually spends her time nowadays. I take it you're here to recruit her into that council of yours?"
"You're aware of it?" WhiteSilver asked, suspicion in her voice.
"Oh don't be so tense about it? Word gets around. Not by malicious intent, mind you, but all it takes is for someone to tell their friends and then those friends to tell their friends, and eventually it spreads like wildfire. A unification of all Twelve World Disasters not long after it was discovered what they could all do together has already roused suspicion and concern among the playerbase – particularly the humanoid and demihuman players."
WhiteSilver nodded, mentally grumbling, "I had assumed this would happen eventually, but I was hoping we could get the council in place first at least. I imagined the humanoid players wouldn't take too kindly to Heteromorphs basically having a literal nuclear bomb in their back pocket."
"Indeed, I'd watch your back if I were you. With you and that Ulbert Alain Odle character being the ones to organize it, you've put a huge target on not only yourselves but your entire guild even. That said, SuperNava's never strayed from a challenge, so I imagine she'll take you up on your offer regardless. Speaking of which…" Rimarious trailed off as a pink-haired dragonoid teleported in besides them.
"Heya! So you're the one Seraphim has gotten so anxious over!" SuperNava commented as she approached the two.
WhiteSilver squinted, though her avatar failed to show it. "Seraphim? The angel guild? What the hell do they want with me?"
Rimarious made a shrug with his slime, "Remember what I said about people being anxious of the council you're making and the target you've put on your back? Seraphim is at the center of that fear. If anyone's bound to make a move, it'll be Seraphim, and I doubt they'd be working alone."
"Anyways, I'd love to join the council of World Disasters! It's not often you get to destroy an entire realm, it sounds like fun!" SuperNava exclaimed, much to WhiteSilver's relief.
"Glad to have you on our side then. I-" WhiteSilver stopped, having received a sudden [Message] from Momonga.
"All members of the Guild need to return to Nazarick immediately, we are under attack," Momonga declared urgently, the sound of stress clearly in his voice.
"Nazarick is under attack at least once a week, what makes this one so urgent? You know I'm working on that personal project of mine and Ulbert."
"This isn't just the same random raiding party, it's an invasion force… 1500 strong."
WhiteSilver froze, not in terror – this was only a game, after all – but in sheer shock. How? Why? 1500?!
She didn't have time to contemplate, she – no, all of Ainz Ooal Gown – only had one goal; Survive.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Next Chapter
Chapter VI: 36 to 1
I AM ALIVE. Here chapter. No beta readers this time because I wanted to get this out before work. Also I reread it before finishing off the last third of this chapter, so it's probably fine. Maybe… Possibly… Whatever. Have fun, folks.
Tana's eyes narrowed, prompting him to sit up quickly. "Scary?"
"I-I meant uuh… Sorry, I got nothing," Satoru sighed, resigning to his fate.
Tana shook her head, "It explains a lot, you spend way too much time daydreaming. Now that I recall, a lot of our more exciting times as a clan correlate pretty well to when you were slacking off."
"How do you even remember when I'm slacking off?!" Satoru asked in surprise.
"I know all, I see all. Don't test me," Tana declared.
Satoru felt a shiver down his spine. "Jeez, I'm starting to think that Victoria's [Omniscience] was just you projecting. Still, I'm shocked I never recognized your voice…"
"It's a psychological thing, I suppose. If you don't expect to hear a coworker, you don't listen out for one. Besides, we barely talked much before. Before we started talking I had completely separated my work life from my game life. I didn't think about work in Yggdrasil and vice versa. I presume you're much the same, except when you get distracted."
"Yeah that… sounds about right…" Satoru muttered, looking down at his lunch that he had yet to touch. "Wait, you live with Ulbert right?"
"Yeah, his name's Albert by the way."
Satoru's excitement was suddenly replaced by a blank stare. "Albert… Ulbert's IRL name… Is Albert…" Satoru planted his face in his hands and sighed, "You'd think a chuunibyou like him would think of a more distinct username…"
Tana swallowed a piece of processed food, suppressing her hatred of its taste, pointing her fork Satoru's way. "Chuunibyou? You're one to talk."
"Don't you dare start this. I just became guild leader, I can't afford to have my reputation sullied by slander."
"Is it slander if it's true? You don't really act the part, but aren't you the one who suggested we put Victoria in a military uniform?" Tana retorted with a grin.
Satoru grumbled, "Aren't you the one who plays strategy map games from a hundred years ago? I was simply trying to suggest something you might've liked."
Tana seemed unconvinced, "Mhm… Sure. Anyways, if you want to meet Albert I can take you to our house after work. He could use some IRL friends. Even if his IRL friend is just his in-game friend… The point is he needs to go outside every once in a while. Well… Maybe not outside, given the state of the world, but he needs to have real life socialization. Take his mind off of work. I feel like if he ever lost access to Yggdrasil he'd completely lose it. Besides myself, Yggdrasil's all he's got."
Satoru was left completely startled upon hearing Tana suggest he come to her home, but quickly died down as he listened to her reasoning. He could understand it as well. To an extent, he was much the same. Without Yggdrasil, he really didn't have anything. If he was for some reason banned tomorrow, although he would probably find some other game to play, he would be distraught. Perhaps having some real-life connections to his friends would be for the best. For both of them.
"If that's how it is, then sure. Though it may not be the best idea to spend too long, I should probably get on at some point today so we can all discuss how to go about building the clan base," Satoru agreed with a nod.
Soon after their break ended and they returned to work, Satoru now clearly distracted by the revelation that had been dropped on him earlier. Still, the occasional glance from Tana scared him back into productivity, even with his distracted mind.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Tana unlocked the door to her house as Satoru watched from behind. Somewhat impressed he commented, "Wow, you take much better care of your lock than I do. Seems far nicer than mine, even."
"You were born with the pleasure of being male. If someone breaks into your house, they aren't going to bother you unless you try to stop them. If someone breaks into my house when I sleep, even with Albert here, it's a lot more potentially problematic. That said, I'm fairly confident in my ability to defend myself even without such safety measures," Tana explained, finally unlocking her door and opening it.
Realistically, a determined burglar would have no issue bypassing the lock in some other way, but someone looking for a quick buck would give up and move on to the next house instead of wasting such effort. In such a lower-income community, whatever was inside likely wasn't worth it.
Walking inside, she took off her protective gear and placed it on a rack by the door. Satoru quickly followed suit, making sure to keep all of his items neat in another's home.
Walking over to the kitchen, Tana noticed Albert already sitting down and eating his over-processed meal. Raising her hand up she called to him, "Hey, I'm home. Brought home a friend from work."
Albert was stunned for a second before spitting out his food as Satoru walked in behind her. He suddenly slammed his hands on the table in shock. "PFFT– YOU BROUGHT HOME A MAN?! YOU??? OF ALL PEOPLE??? HOW?!"
"Shut up. You know him better than I do, anyways," Tana groaned, walking over to begin making herself a cup of coffee.
"What? I don't know this guy. The only people I know are from–"
"You are Ulbert Alain Odle, correct?" Satoru asked, interrupting Albert.
Albert turned quickly to Satoru, squinting his eyes as he stared in silence for a few moments. "Wait, shit! Momonga?! Yeah, that voice is definitely Momonga's. Holy shit you're coworkers with my sister?!"
Satoru nodded, again reaching behind himself to scratch his neck, "Yeah I was shocked about it too. We learned that we both play Yggdrasil a while ago, but we never spoke about who we were. After I started rambling about how we conquered Nazarick, she put two and two together before I did."
Albert's face shifted, a devious grin appearing on his face. Tana looked back and noticed, immediately rolling her eyes and wanting to leave the room before he did something stupid. She knew that face – it was 'I have a really good idea that totally won't backfire in the slightest' face. To his credit, some of his ideas weren't all that bad, but there was a certain feeling in the air when one of his 'grand ideas' would almost certainly fall flat.
Albert wrapped an arm around Satoru's shoulder, quickly dragging him into the living room further into the apartment. There a wall divided them from Tana as he smugly whispered to Satoru, "Alright bro, I'm your wingman now. Well, honestly Pero is way better as a wingman, but I'm the goatman. It doesn't make sense but roll with it."
"What are you getting at Ulbert? Or Albert, sorry," Satoru asked, looking confused at Albert's intent.
"Dude you just got invited to a girl's home."
"Yeah, to meet you," Satoru retorted.
Albert thought for a moment and finally let go of Satoru's shoulder, "Fair point. Still, if you ever want my sister you have my full support!"
Satoru jumped back in shock and slight terror, "E-Eh?! What?! N-No way… She's a member of the Guild, it would be incredibly awkward, especially since the guild was just created. Besides, even if we knew each other in Yggdrasil, I basically just met the two of you. Well I've been acquainted with Tana as my coworker for probably a few years now, but I never really spoke with her until recently."
Albert shrugged, "Your loss, man."
"I don't even think she'd be into me to begin with," Satoru muttered.
Albert nodded in acknowledgement. "You're probably right, no offense. I don't think my sister's the type to date anyone anyways. The only reason I see her marrying is if it's to some rich guy to get his money or some higher position in her job. That being said… She doesn't have any real life friends, from what I've heard she doesn't care for anyone at work either. So as her coworker, look after her for me, will you? She could probably use some friends."
Satoru nodded, not making much of a response. It seemed the two had similar opinions on the other. They were all the same in that aspect; none of them really had friends outside of Yggdrasil. Well, with all of them now knowing who each other was, perhaps that could change. But then again, considering the state of the world, it was far easier to just meet in Yggdrasil anyways.
"I understand, I'll make sure she'll never stop thinking about Yggdrasil as that's all I talk about!"
Albert laughed and patted Satoru on the back, "Aha! You do that! And if she ever warms up to you, let me know and I'll make sure the house is unoccupied for ya.'"
"I'm not banging your sister, Albert."
"Yeah, yeah, of course you aren't." Albert began walking back to the kitchen, waving his arm back at Satoru. "Anyways, if you want something to eat we probably have a few things. Nothing really better than what you probably have, but still. It's somewhat edible."
Satoru shook his head, "No, I wouldn't want to burden you. Besides, the guild is probably itching to begin work on the clan base soon. It's best I get home and log on so we can organize a proper plan. My home is surprisingly close to here, so I should be online in about thirty minutes."
"Alright, see you on Yggdrasil then," Albert said, nodding towards Satoru as he walked towards the door.
"Don't forget to finish that report you started today. It should've been done already but you got distracted," Tana added as Satoru began to put on his protective gear.
"R-Right… Anyways, thank you for your hospitality, see you online soon." Satoru made a respectful bow as he made his leave, exiting into the apartment complex before making his way into the harsh outside.
Sitting back at the table across from Albert, the smug grin on his face remained as he asked, "So, when's the wedding?"
He was promptly knocked off his chair by a water bottle flying from across the room.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X–X-X-X
When WhiteSilver hopped online she looked around to see the once basic and empty throne room now fully renovated, transformed into a long hallway with towering pillars stretching far into the distance. Or rather, it was beginning to look that way. After about ten sets of pillars the hallway began to quickly lose detail until it turned into little more than a box with stone-like surfaces.
Already she could see a few players working away at expanding it, using data crystals and a few materials to make it look elegant and royal. No doubt it would take some time before the finer details were refined, but the vision was clearly already there.
Her brother appeared alongside her, joining her in the throne room. Beside the throne stood Victoria, who was ordered to stand next to the throne when not protecting WhiteSilver herself. She considered bringing Victoria to her side, but that could wait until it was decided what they were doing. If they went out on a quest today, she would come along, but if they were simply building up the clan base, best to leave her there for now.
A few minutes later she received a notification informing her of Momonga logging in. She had waited to log on knowing that a meeting would certainly be coming and thus making starting any quests pointless until then. Shortly afterwards receiving a message from Momonga of the impending meeting, she made her way with her brother to the de facto meeting room of the guild.
Just yesterday this room had been made as a temporary placement, however already it was being transformed into a proper meeting hall, even if it was still simplistic in nature. For now, a large circular table was surrounded by thirty chairs. More than they needed, but there was still room for even more chairs should the guild find itself with the members.
Soon enough everyone online had gathered around the table. Although some were unfortunately offline, the vast majority had managed to log on, and the rest would likely hear about what was discussed today in no time.
Starting off the meeting, Momonga stood up. "Thank you, everyone. I'm still unfamiliar with the habits of being Guildmaster, but I thank you for attending this meeting even after the clan meeting we had yesterday. I don't want to waste anyone's time with daily meetings or anything like that, but I feel like today's topic warranted one. Before I get to that, as per tradition, does anyone have anything they'd like to bring up? I would like to request that all topics revolving around the guild base Nazarick not be brought up until later."
As the guild remained silent, Momonga pressed on. "Alright, then I suppose I'll get onto the topic at hand; our guildbase. I think the guildbase should be a place where anyone in the guild can make anything they want. That said, we should still have a vision and plan in mind. The shitty devs have given us a base with a very high level cap, and it's best that we don't waste it. No doubt other guilds will likely want to seize the guild base for themselves if they can. Given that possibility, even if we allow this base to be our canvas, its defense should still be a top priority. Does anyone have any ideas?"
Although a few people murmured amongst each other and to themselves, WhiteSilver was the first to raise her hand. "If we want to make a guild base that is impenetrable we need to assume that any invader is fully stocked with all sorts of potions, consumables, or Cash Shop items that would make even a single minute of calm enough for them to fully recover from any fight. As such, in order for us to realistically beat such a foe our base needs to have at least one area where such calm never occurs. We must create an encounter so long, hectic, and difficult, that even the strongest force can't beat it. If we spread our forces out evenly across all of the floors then a properly prepared team will be able to fully recover before advancing to the next."
Much to the surprise of no one, Whitesilver's suggestion was far more utilitarian than creative, however considering Momonga's request to prioritize on its defense, it ultimately made sense.
Continuing she explained, "As such, floors of Nazarick should be focused on wasting their resources, time, and energy. They should not be faced with this insurmountable task immediately, doing so would allow them to quickly get back into the fight and devise a plan. Each attempt against the hell that should be the final floor should require hours of grinding through the upper floors. While I suggest about half of the guild base's levels be put into the final floor alone, I believe all of our traps and similar devices should be invested into the upper floors. The upper floors should be a slog: slow and tedious with an increasing difficulty, while the lower floor is a true gauntlet of chaos that will determine whether Nazarick stands or falls to its invaders."
"You want to invest half of our NPCs into one floor? Doesn't that seem excessive? I get the basic idea of it, but that severely limits how much we can put into the other floors…" Pero muttered, making a motion similar to scratching his beak.
Tabula was quick to retort, "I for one believe it is a wise decision. There's no reason to evenly stretch out our resources. It's impossible to tell how well supplied an invading force might be. They could be stocked up with more than enough to fully recover from any fight. Hell, even killing them might not have a permanent impact on their fighting force in the right circumstances. We need to create an encounter that is basically guaranteed to teamwipe anyone."
Punitto nodded in agreement. "We're unable to make the dungeon completely impassable, that would get the guild base forcibly edited at best, deleted at worst. So while it would be easy to put an unbreakable wall at the exit, the guild base must be conquerable. That being said, although terrain can be considered completely impassable, NPC encounters are always considered 'passable,' you just need to get the right amount of people. Even if that amount of people is way more than a group could realistically hope to organize in a raid, it still counts as technically beatable."
"Is half of our guild base's levels even enough to accomplish that? Honestly it sounds like something that would consume most if not all of our levels," Touch Me pondered, folding his arms as he looked across the table at WhiteSilver.
"If we invest the levels right, it should be more than enough. Simply putting random strong enemies together would be pointless. Each and every NPC we put there needs to play off of the strengths, weaknesses, and gimmicks of those around it. It must be a perfectly coordinated network of NPCs with powerful buffs and game-breaking gimmicks. Me and Tabula have shown just how far we can stretch NPCs with Victoria. She's just the start. Although we won't have an NPC with the benefits of being made by a World Item, we can still push Yggdrasil's capabilities to its limits. However, to accomplish this, it means unfortunately this final floor must be far more restrictive when it comes to creativity. However, given the more stalling nature of the upper floors, I believe that would be a perfect place for everyone's creativity to run wild. That is, if my idea is accepted."
The guild began to murmur amongst themselves about the idea. Although some were skeptical, and others somewhat upset at the prospect of losing out on being able to freely use all of the levels, most seemed to come to the understanding that in Yggdrasil to survive meant making sacrifices.
After about a minute of internal discussions, Momonga raised his hand. "Very well, we shall put it to a vote as I would like to make standard procedure. All in favor of investing half of Nazarick's level cap into a coordinated effort of making the final floor a living hell, raise your hands."
As the seconds passed, more and more of the guild raised their hands. Soon enough, about two-thirds of the guild was publicly on board with the idea. Momonga nodded, exclaiming, "Very well, then I shall create the "Nazarick Defense Committee" to manage the coordination and creation of the final defensive floor of Nazarick. This committee will have the final say in all affairs of the floor, only to be overridden by a majority vote. If you wish to create an NPC on the final floor, please seek out the Committee to see how it can be integrated into it. That being said, I would like to kindly ask WhiteSilver to head this committee."
"Hm? Me?" WhiteSilver asked, shrugging. "I suppose it was my idea. But if you want to entrust all of the final floor to me, be my guest."
"All in favor of WhiteSilver heading this committee, raise your hands," Momonga ordered. Again various hands raised around the table, this time being an effective unanimous decision.
Although the unified agreement of the guild was somewhat flattering, their unanimous vote was more because most didn't really have a preference on who led the committee. If Momonga thought I was best then they would roll with it. That being said, the fact they didn't have enough of a problem with it to care did speak for how they respected her capabilities, at least to some extent.
As the hands lowered, Momonga looked around and nodded, "Very well, then any appointments to the committee will be approved by WhiteSilver, though if anyone wishes to volunteer, I see no reason as to why you couldn't join now."
Immediately three hands short up, a few others joining in shortly afterwards. The main three were the obvious candidates; Tabula, Punitto, two people who WhiteSilver had become particularly close to in recent weeks. The last was Bellriver, a four-armed monstrosity made of red flesh and numerous mouths where his head would have otherwise been.
He was a fellow strategist of the guild, though their paths crossed only occasionally, so up until this point she wasn't too familiar with him. That said, she was aware of his skills, and was glad to have him on the team.
The remaining volunteers were various members of the guild who had one reason or another to join. Touch Me in particular, with his optimized build would no doubt help in creating strong NPCs.
"Now then, with the committee decided," Momonga continued, "Does anyone else have something they would like to bring up?"
A few seconds of murmuring later and Peroronocino raised his feathered hand, "If we're talking about having several floors they get through to reach the final chaos floor, I think it should be reasonable to have bosses that serve as the guardians of each of the floors. Full level 100 enemies which are masters of their own environment and abilities. It would take a lot of data to get their programming right, not to mention partially drain our level cap, but it would definitely stop the average party from simply walking through the tomb."
Pero's sister, Bukubukuchagama sent a rolling eyes emoticon, "No dip sherlock! I don't think we need a vote to determine whether or not a dungeon should have bosses."
Warrior Takemikazuchi then interjected, "Yes, but I think Pero brings up something worth discussing; the bosses themselves. Naturally everyone's going to want to make a major boss NPC, but we don't have the floors nor resources for that. There needs to be some system to decide who gets to make these boss enemies."
"Perhaps whoever has enough resources to fully deck out a level 100 NPC and has a good idea of what they want to make with said resources should get it. First come first serve after all. We can't afford to have a bunch of half-baked NPCs unless they're meant to be lesser bosses or support enemies," Touch Me explained to the agreement of everyone else.
Momonga listened along and nodded, "Yes, although it would mean some of the newer players or those with far less stockpiles of resources are likely to be left out somewhat, there's no saying we couldn't make more boss-level NPCs or simply have lower level ones elsewhere. There's plenty of Cash Shop items capable of increasing the guild base's level cap anyways, even if I personally won't be using them. All in favor?"
With a near-unanimous vote from the guild, the decision was settled. Though with that out of the way, the meeting had still only just begun as the guild erupted into countless conversations spewing dozens of ideas.
Once the dust settled and the meeting ended; construction truly began.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
It had been several months since the formation of Ainz Ooal Gown, and in that time the guild base had come along very nicely, now being a fully functional guild base. Frankly Momonga was just glad he had managed to lead the guild through it. He started out as guild leader effectively pretending he was Touch Me, but now it felt a lot more natural. Sure he was in charge, but these were still all the same people and friends, little had changed besides titles. The democratic system he had worked into the guild had worked wonders in both keeping unity and helping him avoid the tough decisions.
The guild was now up to 41 members, and although there were talks of expanding it further, for now that was deemed enough. It was hard to find members that could be trusted. It was a lot easier when they were still a clan and had little to lose, but now they were a guild; one with World Items. With each passing month more and more people were learning of our existence; making sure someone wasn't trying to infiltrate the guild and steal their items was proving to be difficult.
In the end leaving every entry into the guild as a vote was the best decision. If there was even a little bit of doubt amongst the clan, there would not be a majority in favor of letting them in.
Now with the Guild having come into the possession of several World Items, the number of attempted infiltrators had expectantly increased. In fact some of his guild mates had met people who were not nearly as subtle about their intentions. With this growing skepticism, Momonga doubted that there would be many more guild members anytime soon.
For now the focus was on building the tomb, and in that regard things were coming along nicely. Most considered the tomb effectively 'complete,' as in it could hold up easily to most invasions. Most notable in that regard was the eighth floor, the brainchild of the 'Nazarick Defense Committee' which oversaw its organization. He personally wasn't exactly sure the specifics of how it functioned, but Tabula had insisted that there were very few who could get past it. It would take a raid of well over 100 players to get past it, and that was a bare minimum guess. No raids on the tomb had yet to pass even the sixth floor, so it had never gotten a proper test drive.
It was his growing curiosity with progress on the 8th floor that led him there today. The guild had long since gotten back into the habit of going out onto missions, so finding people still in the guild base wasn't the most common thing. With both Tabula and WhiteSilver located on the 8th floor, it was as good of a time as any to check in.
On his skeletal hand Momonga had the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown; an item given to all guild members that allowed them free travel and teleportation through Nazarick. With how large the guild base had become with over nine floors now, the ring was essential if you didn't wish to spend all day walking.
As he teleported into the eighth floor, he was stunned to watch as a shell of magical energy rushed past his avatar, exploding against a target dummy behind his left shoulder.
Jumping back he turned to look at where the dummy once stood, now completely destroyed, leaving only its base left. Since it was reusable, only a bit of mana would be needed to completely recover it, but knowing the base HP those dummies had, it was no easy feat to one-shot it like that.
Looking back at where the shot had been fired from, Momonga could feel his jaw drop even if his avatar didn't show it.
Rolling up the top of the hill was a monstrosity of steel and iron, or more accurately high-tier magical alternatives to those. While he expected to see some kind of summon or NPC, what he instead saw was a perfect recreation of the Panzer IV tank, modified to be slightly more magical. His appraisal told him that it wasn't a vehicle of any kind – not that Yggdrasil had too many of those – but was instead a golem. Its tank-like appearance was mostly visual, although its large treads did arguably increase its movement speed dramatically, if limiting it in other capacities.
"Oh Momonga! You're here just in time for the test run!" Tabula called out, standing atop the tank golem as it turned to face him, canon aimed straight forward just above his head.
"How the hell did you guys make a tank?!" Momonga called out in shock.
"Pretty cool right?" Ulbert asked, walking up from behind the tank and leaning against it. It seems Momonga had missed the fact that he was on the eighth floor too. Whatever the case, it didn't surprise him that Ulbert was involved.
That said, Momonga would be lying if he said it wasn't kind of cool, he had the German Early-World Wars military aesthetic on his mind for a while, after all. The only thing stopping him from making an NPC based on it was his concern for what his friends would think of such a thing. Besides, he had more important projects to focus on.
"So is the tank stuff purely visual or does it serve some sort of purpose?" Momonga asked, approaching the duo and the tank they stood by.
Tabula shook his head, "No it does have some use. Though I will admit, there's little reason it couldn't have been a regular golem or something similar. Yggdrasil's physics engine isn't sophisticated enough for spells to be ricocheted off of its armor. We thought a tank would be more jarring, confusing, and potentially terrifying to any would-be invaders."
"Not to mention way cooler than any ol' boring golem," Ulbert added.
It was then that WhiteSilver descended from the skies, hovering a few feet to the side of the tank near Momonga himself. "What the tank sacrifices in flexibility of movement it makes up for in speed. Furthermore, instead of speccing into a versatile moveset like most standard builds, these tanks put most of their resources into a single well-rounded powerful attack. Although there are a few variations of said attack along with weaker machine gun fire, it's meant to be a mobile cannon of sheer firepower. Naturally on their own they aren't too useful, but scattered amidst enemies that are hard to ignore, and they can be a rather effective force. Just wait till you see the artillery."
"Artillery?!" Momonga asked in shock.
WhiteSilver nodded and pointed behind her. Walking up to the top of the hill, Momonga could see them in the far distance. About a dozen early world war era artillery pieces were lined up, aimed at the wasteland that was the eighth floor.
"By sacrificing most of their mobility and defensive stats, we get a golem with enough firepower to rival level 100 spellcasters even without being one. So while any invading force is invading the eighth floor, these artillery guns will rain hell upon them from a safe distance, protected by hills that hide them from sight or a clear shot. The only thing that could realistically shoot them down before the rest of the floor has been cleared is an aerial build much like my own. But we've been working on anti-air as well to help apply some pressure to them," WhiteSilver casually explained, as if the addition of semi-modern weaponry into a predominantly fantasy game wasn't a startling feat.
"There is something else I would like to show you, Momonga," Tabula mentioned, gesturing for him to follow as he led him to an open stretch of wilderness within the eighth floor. Standing there was an NPC with a resemblance to the other NPCs Tabula had made since Nazarick was conquered. Her hair was long and black and her skin looked metallic and mechanical at places, likely an automaton or golem of some kind.
"This is Rubedo. My latest NPC. I made it with the Clay of Creation," Tabula explained.
Momonga practically jumped at the mention of that World Item, "Wait, you got another clay of creation?! How?!"
"I happened to find a spot where it spawns. I've been looking for it ever since Tanya had first used hers to make Victoria. The NPC the clay creates has less restrictions, more data, and overall more capabilities than a regular guild base NPC. Of course, that's not the only thing I did…"
"So it's just another Victoria then?" Momonga asked, then adding, "Of course I assume it's not nearly as focused on defense."
Tabula nodded, "Though I will say, while Victoria is super optimized, she was made through far more… legitimate means. Rubedo here was made with a World Item and optimized via… less intentional means as far as the devs are concerned."
"It was an exploit, wasn't it?" Momonga muttered without even looking at Tabula. The question was rhetorical – he already knew the answer.
"Indeed! However, for that reason this NPC, once I'm done with it, would be incredibly overpowered – Easily the strongest NPC in Nazarick. We can't just use her openly and freely. We should only use her in extreme emergencies. For that reason I wanted to set it so that only the guild leader has permission to activate her."
"I see… So long as this doesn't get us banned by the devs…" Momonga muttered nervously.
"Trust me, I've seen people get away with far worse things exploit-wise. At worst they'll just delete Rubedo," Tabula shrugged.
"I see, well we should probably put her inside somewhere. It feels anti-climatic for the strongest being in Nazarick to just be standing in the middle of an open desert," Momonga commented, looking down at the small platform Rubedo stood on.
"Of course, I already had designs in mind. I just wanted to showcase her to you first," Tabula acknowledged with a nod.
"Oh right, Momonga!" Ulbert shouted his way, approaching from behind. Momonga turned, facing him as he continued, "Have you heard of the recent discovery made about the World Disaster class?"
"The discovery? Don't tell me there's more than twelve," Momonga groaned, fearful of Yggdrasil if they allowed for even more World Disasters.
Ulbert shook his head, "Not quite. It's unclear whether or not this was a recent update or a feature that was always in the game, but apparently there is a special ritual that can be cast if all twelve World Disasters come together."
"What kind of ritual would need twelve World Disasters?"
Tabula chimed in, "One that nukes an entire realm."
"Exactly that!" Ulbert explained, "The only problem is that the ritual takes a good while to actually cast, and while its casting it isn't exactly subtle. For the entire duration of its casting, the ritual is basically a glowing beacon in the sky giving the warning to everyone in the realm of the impending apocalypse. All it takes is to kill one of the casters and the ritual is interrupted."
"I mean, casting it at the bottom of Nazarick would probably work for defense, though I'm not sure why we'd want to nuke our own realm," Momonga stated, though the two simply shook their heads.
"From what people have been saying, it seems the immediate radius of the ritual will destroy basically any structure – friendly guild base or not. Of course it's hard to tell what's rumors, leaks, or just flat out lies and speculation, but we won't know till we cast it."
"Are you planning to cast it?" Momonga asked, a squinting emoticon appearing above his head.
Ulbert shrugged, "Not just yet. A ritual like that is bound to have one hell of a cooldown time. If we're gonna cast it, it needs to be worth it. That said, with the ritual requiring all twelve World Disasters, I was considering trying to get them all into some kind of pact or council or something. After WhiteSilver assassinated that red wizard girl, all of the World Disasters have been Heteromorphs, so getting them to come to a mutual understanding might not be too difficult. Together we'll create a secret society plotting Yggdrasil's downfall!"
"I knew that World Disaster was a class that favored Heteromorphs, but I didn't realize that they were all Heteromorphs," Momonga exclaimed in surprise.
"There's an unspoken agreement among us Heteromorphic World Disasters that any non-Heteromorph World Disaster is not deserving of the same honor we give each other. Hence why I targeted the human girl specifically when giving WhiteSilver the class."
WhiteSilver herself descended fully onto the floor next to them, adding on, "It's not an awful idea. I just don't think it's practical to get everyone to agree on a target."
"There are plenty of realms where Heteromorphs are basically hunted to extinction; we simply need to target one of them and conquer it for heteromorphs. Simple!" Ulbert explained with a smiling emoticon.
"You can't just say 'simple' like it makes it easy!" WhiteSilver spat, "We can't just cast this ritual out in the open, we'd need the protection of a guild base. And since the ritual destroys the guild base it's casted on, we need to conquer one or willingly sacrifice one to pull it off."
Ulbert raised his hands in defeat. "Fine, fine, I admit it's not the best plan. But that being said, I still think we should get all of the World Disasters together just in case. Better to have them all ready at a short notice should a prime opportunity arise."
Tabula nodded, "Indeed, he's right on that aspect. For all we know one day a guild might tear itself apart, giving up a prime opportunity to raid their base and use it to protect the ritual. If we had to go through the tedious process of getting each person on board then we wouldn't have time to seize upon such an opportunity."
"It sounds like an interesting idea, though I fear the repercussions of it. All twelve World Disasters suddenly coming together not long after it was revealed what all twelve of them could do… It's bound to cause some chaos," Momonga noted, much to Ulbert's dismissal.
Shrugging he proclaimed, "Where's the fun if there's not a little chaos? That's part of the class description!"
Momonga chuckled, shaking his head, "If you say so…"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
A few weeks had passed since the initial plan was put in motion. What was once a mere thought experiment for creating a coalition of disasters was now slowly coming into fruition. Eleven of the twelve had been brought on board, yet one remained.
Part of arguably one of the larger guilds in the game, SuperNava was part of the Octagon. Formerly a coalition of ten independent clans, the introduction of an Eleventh and the chaos that followed it many months ago had led to the coalition's reduction to just eight. After which they promptly united under a single – albeit decentralized – guild. Even now, the eight clans still functioned semi-autonomously from the greater guild.
This made speaking to this last World Disaster, one of the eight leaders of the Octagon, a tricky thing. It was for that reason that she wanted to bring all the other World Disasters on board first, even if SuperNava was said to be whimsical on her own already and may have just outright joined from the start. The issue was partially getting to her which meant entering into the guild base of the Octagon; fittingly an octagon-shaped city clan base divided into eight triangles.
Despite having her own side of the Octagon, she preferred to reside in a different section entirely, the one held and managed by the eighth seat, Rimarious. To get to SuperNava, there was a good chance WhiteSilver would have to go through them.
Arriving at the edge of the protective barrier surrounding the Octagon, WhiteSilver sent a message, "I am WhiteSilver, member of the guild Ainz Ooal Gown and one of the Twelve World Disasters of Yggdrasil. I have come alone and wish to speak with SuperNava in private."
It wasn't long before a [Gate] spell appeared before her, out bouncing a small blue predator slime character. The slime looked up and sent a smiling emoji, "Hello! I'm Rimarious, leader of this section of the Octagon, though I assume you already inferred that. You're informed enough to know this is where SuperNava actually spends her time nowadays. I take it you're here to recruit her into that council of yours?"
"You're aware of it?" WhiteSilver asked, suspicion in her voice.
"Oh don't be so tense about it? Word gets around. Not by malicious intent, mind you, but all it takes is for someone to tell their friends and then those friends to tell their friends, and eventually it spreads like wildfire. A unification of all Twelve World Disasters not long after it was discovered what they could all do together has already roused suspicion and concern among the playerbase – particularly the humanoid and demihuman players."
WhiteSilver nodded, mentally grumbling, "I had assumed this would happen eventually, but I was hoping we could get the council in place first at least. I imagined the humanoid players wouldn't take too kindly to Heteromorphs basically having a literal nuclear bomb in their back pocket."
"Indeed, I'd watch your back if I were you. With you and that Ulbert Alain Odle character being the ones to organize it, you've put a huge target on not only yourselves but your entire guild even. That said, SuperNava's never strayed from a challenge, so I imagine she'll take you up on your offer regardless. Speaking of which…" Rimarious trailed off as a pink-haired dragonoid teleported in besides them.
"Heya! So you're the one Seraphim has gotten so anxious over!" SuperNava commented as she approached the two.
WhiteSilver squinted, though her avatar failed to show it. "Seraphim? The angel guild? What the hell do they want with me?"
Rimarious made a shrug with his slime, "Remember what I said about people being anxious of the council you're making and the target you've put on your back? Seraphim is at the center of that fear. If anyone's bound to make a move, it'll be Seraphim, and I doubt they'd be working alone."
"Anyways, I'd love to join the council of World Disasters! It's not often you get to destroy an entire realm, it sounds like fun!" SuperNava exclaimed, much to WhiteSilver's relief.
"Glad to have you on our side then. I-" WhiteSilver stopped, having received a sudden [Message] from Momonga.
"All members of the Guild need to return to Nazarick immediately, we are under attack," Momonga declared urgently, the sound of stress clearly in his voice.
"Nazarick is under attack at least once a week, what makes this one so urgent? You know I'm working on that personal project of mine and Ulbert."
"This isn't just the same random raiding party, it's an invasion force… 1500 strong."
WhiteSilver froze, not in terror – this was only a game, after all – but in sheer shock. How? Why? 1500?!
She didn't have time to contemplate, she – no, all of Ainz Ooal Gown – only had one goal; Survive.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Next Chapter
Chapter VI: 36 to 1
I AM ALIVE. Here chapter. No beta readers this time because I wanted to get this out before work. Also I reread it before finishing off the last third of this chapter, so it's probably fine. Maybe… Possibly… Whatever. Have fun, folks.
Chapter VI - 40:1
SwissChocolatess
Shalltear is all and all is Shalltear
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2023
- Messages
- 16
The Battle of Nazarick was a player-orchestrated raid on the Great Tomb of Nazarick, the guildbase of Ainz Ooal Gown, a heavily influential guild at the time. Spearheaded by the guild Seraphim, the raid was launched in response to the formation of the Congress of Disaster in an attempt to prevent all 12 World Disasters from coming together to cast the Ragnarok Ritual. The raid consisted of over 1500 invaders, confirmed by Yggdrasil developers to have been the then-largest raiding force in the game's history. The raid kickstarted the Ragnarok War, later referred to as the "First Worlds War" due to the Hellheim vs Asgard nature of the conflict.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Momonga rested quietly on the Throne of Kings, which rested at the end of the decorated throne room. There he sat, safe on the ninth floor as the invaders of the Great Tomb crossed their way into the second floor. Various screens floated around him, monitoring the horde as it moved from room to room. At times the guild was lucky to pick off one or two of them from traps, ambushes, and basic attacks, but most who perished were quickly restored with revives and buffs. While the first floors were by far the easiest to pass, the sheer size of the raiding party didn't fill the overlord player with much confidence.
Around him stood the various players of Ainz Ooal Gown, at least whoever was online. A few others would be joining them shortly, but even with that in mind, his mind raced with thoughts of what he could do. Even if all 41 of them were to make a stand against the raid personally, they would be outnumbered nearly 40:1; the odds weren't in their favor. But not all hope was lost yet.
The raiding party, although massive, consisted largely of mercenary NPCs hired by the attackers, meaning they would hardly be considered on-par with actual players, their AI inferior to genuine human planning. Despite that, with actual players still dispersed throughout, the shortcomings of their AI mattered little when all they needed to do was add additional firepower and support while the players did all the complicated tasks, a standard format for guild raids.
As he sat pondering, he noticed Ulbert loudly speak up, "What the hell are we doing standing around here for? If Seraphim's the ones spearheading this raid, then their guild base must be undefended! I'm sure the other World Disasters would love to knock them down a peg, let's hit 'em while they're hitting us!"
"I fear that might not be a good idea. Not so spontaneously at least," Momonga muttered, inspecting the monitors around him closely as he analyzed the races and basic specs of every player. Continuing, he explained, "Seraphim is a guild consisting of only players using the angel race. That said, there are actually only a handful of high-level angel players in the raiding party, most are humans or similar. While I've identified some as Seraphim members, it seems Seraphim themselves are barely involved, at least directly."
"I see…" WhiteSilver grumbled, her arms folding as a hand was placed on her chin. "They must be bankrolling this entire operation then."
"Bankrolling it? Are we sure our intel isn't just wrong?" Ulbert asked, crossing his arms as well as a question mark appeared above his head.
Tabula stepped forward, shaking his head. "Impossible. The person I got this information from is within Seraphim itself; he wouldn't have even known about the raid if Seraphim wasn't at least involved."
"Couldn't he warn us a little faster then damnit!" Ulbert shouted in frustration.
"Agreed, I do wish his warning could've come in a more… timely manner. But it seems this operation was planned and started before most members of the guild even knew about it; the details of the attack including the target had been given mere hours before and all members were under heavy scrutiny until recently. Still, given Seraphim's strength, I'm surprised they didn't show up in much greater force."
"Because it would be stupid. Or at the very least risky," WhiteSilver explained, floating around the room. "They clearly know about the twelve World Disasters coming together, and with many of the World Disasters having guilds of their own, they likely don't want to risk having their own base raided by them while they're attacking us - they aren't stupid. As such, they funded a raiding party so massive that it would surely conquer any base it attacked while they sat back and made sure they weren't hit from behind, there's no practical use waging a war if the homeland is destroyed in the process after all."
Tabula lifted his hand, commenting, "I actually believe this raid has been planned since before you two started gathering the World Disasters. Ainz Ooal Gown has the most World Items of any guild by a significant margin. According to my source, they've had their eyes on us for a while, rumors had been floating around for months about their discontent with the status quo. Our sudden moves to gather the World Disasters together has likely forced them to act now rather than later."
"It's like finding out that the country you plan to invade in a few years is beginning work on nuclear weapons…" WhiteSilver muttered.
Amidst the discussion, Pero stepped out and added, "Who cares who's involved and who's funding who, what are we going to do?!"
Stepping forward, a large mass of red and pink flesh approached WhiteSilver from the side, with a nod Bellriver muttered, "I believe if there was ever such a time for that, it would be now…"
WhiteSilver nodded, "Agreed. Tabula, what do you think?"
Tabula nodded as well, "Naturally. I was about to suggest the same thing."
WhiteSilver turned her gaze towards the Overlord sitting on the throne, "Momonga, we propose to initiate Contingency Omega."
'Contingency Omega?' Momonga thought, opening up the Throne of King's UI and scrolling through various NPC operations that had been put within it. Among them were various 'contingencies,' each titled after a letter of the Greek alphabet, with Omega at the very bottom.
'I almost forgot they made these things…' Momonga muttered within his own mind, reading through the mountains of neatly-structured code that made up the entire operation, 'Plans to optimize the 8th floor based on the nature of the invading force. In short, depending on who or what made it there, the floor could be shifted to adapt to any kind of party or invasion. But what was Omega again? I can't even understand a single word they put here…'
"Just what exactly does this do?" Momonga asked, not wanting to push a self-destruct button if they had somehow managed to program that into the tomb.
"Ever since the various NPCs of Nazarick were created, we started working with the creators of the strongest of these NPCs to create plans for them to retreat to the 8th floor in the event of an insurmountable force entering the tomb. With a force this large invading Nazarick, the Floor Guardians won't make a significant dent in it before they get to the 8th floor even if they tried. As such, they would be far more useful helping with the coordinated defense of the 8th floor than they are as free-use punching bags of 1500 people," WhiteSilver explained to the noddings of Bellriver, Tabula, and even Punitto Moe, who had just logged in response to the calls for help.
"Aren't the NPCs programmed with their boss rooms in mind though? Could they even fight optimally on the 8th floor?" Momonga asked, still scrolling through the text of Operation Omega, failing to find where the code ended.
"Normally yes, but with some collaboration with each of their creators, all of the Floor Guardians and their immediate support NPCs have received added data to allow them to fight in unison with the 8th Floor Hierarchy, and the floor design had also been developed with this in mind," Punitto Moe eagerly explained.
Momonga sighed, "Well, I suppose if you already got their permission to add the operation, there's no harm in initiating it…"
Tapping the button to initiate Contingency Omega, he watched on the monitors as all of the Floor Guardians immediately booked it from their patrol routes and began fleeing to the 8th floor, each taking only a few NPCs with them, if any at all. The rest had been left behind to act as fodder, explained WhiteSilver, to stall for time; only the strongest NPCs had been taken to save on data.
"Now for the second proposal, I would like for us to join in the defense as well," WhiteSilver proposed, much to the immediate disruption of various other players in the room.
"Hold on, I thought the plan was for us to make a final stand in the throne room!" Pero shouted in mild dismay.
"Indeed, but if that invasion force can pass the 8th floor, then that fight is as good as lost given our lack of utilities here. Our defense here would be futile. But if we ourselves go to the 8th floor, we can add several more level 100 players to the already powerful defense of the 8th floor, increasing our chance of success significantly."
Ulbert groaned, "I get what you're saying but like… C'mon man, that's boring! Where's the spectacle? The grand final stand! The villainous monologue of Ainz Ooal Gown as we stand waiting for the invaders to make their way here!"
"And what happens if they don't beat the 8th floor…? Are you happy just standing here, barely able to see or know what's happening during the largest battle in Yggdrasil's history?"
Ulbert grumbled, but ultimately conceded with a sigh, nodding. Despite that, some others were unconvinced. Even Momonga himself disagreed with the idea, at least on an emotional standpoint. Logically he understood why it was a bad idea for them to do a last stand here, but it was what his friends originally wanted.
That said, if it meant risking the Great Tomb that he and his friends built together… Then he would gladly give up that spectacle. Regardless, he was still indecisive.
"As usual, let's put it to a vote. By now everyone who is going to log in probably has, so let's decide here and now. All in favor of joining the fight to defend Nazarick on the 8th floor, raise your hand."
Of the 41 members of Ainz Ooal Gown, 21 were now online, all of them currently standing before him. After a few seconds, ten of them had raised their hands as Momonga waited to make his own decision. As the tenth one raised their hand and none others did, he realized the final decision came down to him.
'Of course I have to decide anyway… Do I preserve our vision, or our home? Do I risk Nazarick falling if it means it falls in the way we hoped, or do I help Nazarick survive if it means potentially losing it without the grand last stand…? Oh what the hell, a final stand on the 8th floor would be just as fun as here on the 9th, if anything we've got more space to toss spells around.'
Slowly, Momonga raised his own skeletal hand as he announced, "Eleven to ten. The decision has been made…" Momonga stood up from the throne and nodded to WhiteSilver, "We shall stand with our creations, and repel these invaders from our home! Glory to Ainz Ooal Gown!"
"Glory to Ainz Ooal Gown!"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
ArchangelSchmidt felt underwhelmed by what he had seen so far. It had been just over a year now since his friend had dragged him into Yggdrasil to form what would become the strongest guild in the game, and in such time he had become one of the top players in the guild – no, in all of Yggdrasil itself.
His friend being the guild leader, he had earned the title of one of the seven archdukes of Seraphim, a play on the seven archangels of yore. Of course, with archangels being a race in the game, having his title be that of a race most players in the angel-only guild had, they naturally had to come up with another title.
This wasn't his first MMO, and as such he was skilled at combat and quick to become one of the strongest players, a fact of which he took great pride in. Although he still wasn't as strong as his friend, he was still the sword of Seraphim, the blade that would execute their enemies and bring the guild to dominance over the nine realms.
As such, it was only natural that he would lead this expedition.
But Jesus Christ above was this shit boring.
They had gone through six floors now, and were almost done with the seventh, his allies blasting apart something in the distance. While some of the NPCs were strong, and there were plenty of them, compared to an army of 1500 people, they might as well have been throwing level ones against him. While he could respect the craftsmanship that went into the design of the base, as well as the sophistication of the traps scattered throughout, they would not be enough to phase his army.
Consisting of eight guilds including Seraphim, this coalition was effectively bound to Seraphim in more ways than one, though even with the disingenuous cooperation of some of these guilds, all of them knew the importance of their mission. Together the Union of Eight Guilds ruled over Asgard, spreading out across it and dominating every corner of it. No major guild or player could operate without their permission within the realm, and all major and most minor resource hubs were firmly in their control. However, if something like [Ragnarok] were to be cast, that could be wiped out in an instant, and thus the union had arisen as one to put a permanent end to its possibility.
That said, there was a good chance this raid wouldn't actually result in the killing of either of the two World Disasters part of Ainz Ooal Gown, but it would at least allow them to get their hands on some of Ainz Ooal Gown's many World Items that would enable them to better suppress the guild later on. Better to do this now than wait for them to be strong enough to nuke Asgard, after all.
'Still… Could they at least put up a fight?!'
Schmidt, as his allies often called him to abbreviate his name, felt annoyed. Of course, he was smart enough to recognize that a guild base this large almost certainly had a higher level count than he had witnessed so far, Seraphim had done similar with its own. But honestly, with seven floors already conquered without much trouble and with plenty of NPCs killed already, could they really muster enough NPCs in whatever was left to challenge 1500 people? He doubted it.
It wasn't much longer until they found the exit from the seventh floor and made their way to the eighth. Upon checking for traps and sending in some mercenary NPCs ahead of them, he personally stepped through, touching down on the hard sandy surface of the new level.
Glancing around, it appeared to be a desert-like wasteland, clouds of sand blowing through the air, making sight without magic somewhat difficult beyond a few dozen feet. The further away one got from the entrance, the more hilly the terrain got, likely hiding countless NPCs behind them. That was, unless, this floor was just another dud they had to slog through.
As casters of wind magic began clearing out the sandy fog, several figures became clear from atop a large hill in the distance, a wasteland of jagged rocks and various enemies stretching out before them.
Above he witnessed floating masses of faces hover towards his armies, carrying the voice of what was most likely the guild leader of Ainz Ooal Gown, "Greetings, invaders. Welcome to the Great Tomb of Nazarick. You are the first to make it this far; congratulations. As respect for your accomplishment, we will allow you to turn back now and boast how you made it to the eighth floor of Nazarick and survived. If you decide to continue with this folly of yours, you will face the full might of Ainz Ooal Gown!"
Schmidt raised his sword, pointing it at the mass of heads and destroying it with a beam of light. A few seconds later another head descended to replace it. "It's war then."
The head disappeared as explosions rocked the wasteland, spells launched in quick succession, both sides erupting into a firefight so massive that it was nearly impossible to keep track of anything. Fortunately, that was precisely his job.
Taking a stance towards the backline, he hovered slightly in the air, calling out instructions and orders through [Message] down the chain of command. As the enemies bombarded them with spells, they remained behind the cover of a thick field of rocks and stones, relying on thin sniper spotlines and large parabolic arcs to do their deeds. That would be their first target.
Calling out to all of his allies, he shouted, "Aim for that central field of stones, it will provide cover for our advance! Don't let them hold it!"
The battle continued raging on for minutes, and despite their numbers, the enemy had impressively made a decent chip off of their own forces. About 150 had died on this floor alone. Accounting for those lost on the other floors, the 1500-strong force was now down to around 1300. Fortunately, very few actual players had died, with mercenary NPCs making up a majority of the casualties, and the few players that had died were smaller fry.
'Such shitty AI…'
Still, despite their losses, the enemy had taken quite a bit themselves. Despite their advantageous positioning, they were disadvantaged in numbers, and soon began a massive retreat away from the rocks, firing all the meanwhile. As they did so, their forces rushed in to take their place.
Before their advance could continue, a massive bombardment of explosions and spells covered the path of the retreating NPCs, even blasting into the rocky area where his armies now stood, forced to take cover behind the remaining larger rocks.
'This area was certainly a very strong defensive zone for the defenders, but now that they've left, it's just as strong for us, too. I bet they didn't even think we'd make it past them, their defensive line is broken, it's only a matter of time now…'
As the bombardment continued with no sign of stopping, various players began prepping means to stop or otherwise defend themselves from the bombardment in anticipation of the inevitable offensive. The question was, how would they advance? Schmidt ran through multiple possibilities, weighing his options as he always did to find the optimal course of action.
That's when he noticed a mercenary NPC idiotically rush forward, detonating an explosive trap below him, dying instantly.
'Shit! Traps! Of course, I shouldn't have overlooked them. All the other floors were heavy with traps; this floor is likely no different. That's probably why they retreated; any advance is bound to be met with countless traps on the way.'
Schmidt activated his trap detection, but was surprised to see how few there were.
'There's quite a few explosive landmine traps, but not too many. Theoretically it wouldn't really be an issue if we just advanced. Guess that NPC just got unlucky…'
Then he saw another NPC rush forward, only to explode again. However, with trap detection still active, he didn't see any traps where the NPC had stepped, nor did any spells come over to attack him. He had studied Yggdrasil's spell list pretty extensively and didn't remember seeing 'spontaneous combustion' on the list of spells.
'There shouldn't be any traps capable of avoiding that detection spell. So then what… Perhaps a spell? Maybe, but I didn't see it come from anything. Hold on…'
He activated a presence detection spell, not finding much more than the basic enemies around him. Of course, the spell was a passive one, meant to be going concurrently with other spells, and was thus weaker. But if these potentially self-destructing NPCs had some good stealth traits…
He activated a more advanced presence detection spell, this one requiring his avatar's full 'concentration,' preventing him from using any other non-passive spells while it was active. Just as he suspected, he noticed a few glowing dots just below the ground ahead of them. As another NPC advanced forward towards more cover, it stepped above one of them and promptly exploded, dying instantly.
'That answers that riddle… Clever trick, but let's see just how many there-'
He froze, his gaze looking down as he spotted dozens, if not hundreds, of the glowing dots, all below the rocks they were using as cover.
'The retreat wasn't real. It was a lure, a trap… WE'VE BEEN PLAYED FOR FOOLS!'
"EVERYONE SCA-!"
He soared in the air, but his callout came a moment too late. Although a few were fast enough to evade it, and others were already far enough away, a vast majority were quickly engulfed in a massive glowing inferno that erupted from the ground, sending shockwaves throughout the region. In an instant, half of the players and NPCs hiding behind that cover were dead, the other half having taken critical damage and were now suffering from numerous status effects seemingly from other hidden NPCs who had also self-detonated.
Suddenly the ground began to tremble. He watched from the skies as the terrain shifted, the area where the members of Ainz Ooal Gown stood elevating itself upwards, forming a cliff that the majority of his army was now at the base of. Around the sides of the cliff, golems resembling tanks began to rush parallel to his army, bombarding it with more spells and attacks. Ahead he witnessed a massive construct slowly walking towards his armies. A Strategic Siege Golem.
'WHERE THE HELL DID THEY GET THAT THING?!'
He watched as countless other NPCs, all far stronger than anything they had faced in this dungeon so far, came out standing in a line over the cliff face before leaping down and beginning their assault, some of them he recognized as stronger versions of NPCs they had trampled on before, most of them necromantic undead fodder. Shortly afterwards the players themselves joined in, the battlefield turning into total chaos as one of the NPCs, some abomination that looked like a deformed pink fetus, was killed. When it was slain, a massive debuff was applied to the entire invasion force, simultaneously locking down the area and preventing any escape, removing most of their buffs and applying virtually every debuff theoretically possible known to the game.
'HOW MANY SUICIDAL NPCS DO THEY HAVE?!'
Then he looked ahead, hovering in the air and watching the battle were two figures. One was a pixie, the other an angel much like himself. Upon closer analysis of the pixie specifically, he realized there was no mistaking it; that was WhiteSilver.
WhiteSilver was one of two World Disasters that were part of Ainz Ooal Gown, famed for her ability to become damn near unhittable if given aerial superiority. If he could kill her, he could take her class. If he could become a World Disaster himself, they would never be able to cast [Ragnarok] against Seraphim. It would be a hollow victory considering the raid's inevitable losses if he were to diverge from his current role, but it would be a victory. If he could only kill this one player – this one glass cannon – he could return with victory in his grasp.
'This raid would not be in vain!'
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
WhiteSilver watched as the invading armies attempting to defend behind the conveniently placed rocks were decimated in a series of massive explosions in one grand spectacle.
She had to give credit where it was due; it wasn't her idea, but rather that of the Empire's strategic command from her last life.
'The invaders of the Great Tomb should be grateful, they just got to witness a historic recreation of a major operation from a war this world knows nothing about!' WhiteSilver thought to herself, allowing herself to chuckle as she fired at an elf's head.
The self-destructing earth slimes she hid under the ground were a massive drain on resources, primarily hers. She had spent a significant amount of her real-world cash on getting the level boosts to make them without draining the tomb's level cap, but in the end it had been worth it.
Of course, even she was reluctant to spend real-world money here, but she wasn't taking away from her emergency savings or her regular life expenses, so she figured what the hell. She doesn't do anything else in her free time anymore, nothing out there interested her in the artificial world she saw outside. She was having enough fun here, and there was enough to do, so why bother changing it up any? And if she wasn't doing anything else in her free time, all the money she would've spent on leisure was now free rein to be used in Yggdrasil. It's not like she'd ever have enough to afford living conditions of any significant quality difference anyways, the next apartment complex she even had her eye on cost ten times her annual wage for a month.
Still, it was probably for the best that she didn't tell her brother, he hated cash shop items based on the principle alone; even if he had just started to get some spare cash to spend himself with her taking on a greater percentage of the monthly bills. Of course, he thought the rent had been slightly lowered; she lied. He still thought he was paying half of the bill, in reality, it was closer to 40%. The landlord would never lower the rent, she fought hell just to keep it the same.
It made sense to her that being the one who made most of the money, she would pay most of the bill anyways. Of course, logically speaking, splitting it half and half was how she would've normally done it, at least for anyone else. She wasn't quite sure why she was giving him such favoritism, but she ultimately decided not to think too hard about it.
Especially now that some idiot had decided to charge at her alone.
The attacker's sword met Victoria's shield as she parried him back several feet away. It was an angel player, likely one of the few Seraphim had actually sent. From analysis he appeared to be max level with good equipment, and if he was going after her specifically even before she had started attacking, he definitely knew who she was.
"Attacking a defenseless lady unprovoked? Don't they teach chivalry in Seraphim?" WhiteSilver mocked, a smug grin not shown on her unmoving avatar.
"I'd hardly call having a personal bodyguard 'defenseless,'" the angel, a guild member quickly identified as Schmidt grumbled, moving to strike again, attempting to out-maneuver Victoria to land a blow on WhiteSilver.
As expected, Victoria parried the blow, followed shortly by WhiteSilver rushing around the two angels and attacking Schmidt from behind with a shovel.
"Gah?! The hell?! You're a spellcaster!"
"Surely you're aware of the [Perfect Warrior] spell," she replied, shrugging. "Should've been more prepared."
"That won't work twice," The angel grumbled, holding his sword in both hands as he charged at WhiteSilver, doing his best to evade Victoria whom he had noticed was solely focused on defense.
WhiteSilver was quick to make distance, removing [Perfect Warrior] as the angelic player was now met with the full barrage of her gunner and World Disaster classes, chipping away at his health. Each time he got close to strike, he was blocked by Victoria. Attempts to kill Victoria were equally in vain; her HP was too high, and her defenses were too strong. WhiteSilver's own limited healing spells were more than enough to recover her before the next strike, much to his annoyance.
It was now a war of attrition. While he couldn't do anything to WhiteSilver, WhiteSilver's own damage output was somewhat limited on his tanky build. The question was, would she run out of mana first or would he run out of HP first? Of course, with Victoria still in play, the results hardly mattered.
Their fight continued for another few minutes, WhiteSilver taking joy in frustrating the angel player further. Soon she noticed her mana running low, forcing a shift in strategy. Again she took out her shovel and dashed in for a strike, landing her shovel right in his chest as it blasted him away.
Dashing back towards her, the two's blades clashed, their blows parrying off one another before Schmidt's own skills prevailed, his sword aimed right for her chest as it pushed through, only to immediately slide off the side.
Kicking him away, WhiteSilver flew backwards, flipping the shovel in her hands as she burst out laughing at the shocked silence Schmidt was left in, preparing her next move.
He turned to look at Victoria, who this whole time had stayed close but never gotten involved directly. There he noticed it, an ability he as a major member in an angel-only faction knew well… Under his breath, he grumbled, "[Holy Martyr]..."
"Good, glad to see Seraphim isn't filled with complete idiots. As long as I'm near Victoria, any damage to me is instead reflected at her, of course with her defensive stat and gear still being taken into account in damage calculation," WhiteSilver eagerly explained before putting her shovel away and returning to her rifle. "In any case, it was a fun duel, but it's best we finish up. Looks like things are wrapping up down there."
"Huh? Wrapping up?" The angel turned to look down quickly, his heart sinking with dread as he watched the remaining hundred or so players get torn apart by a single winged monstrosity, beautiful yet terrifying.
Was it a player? No, all identifications indicate otherwise. 'What the hell is that thing?!'
Before he could figure out an answer, he felt a stabbing in his back; glancing back he noticed a smile emoticon appear above WhiteSilver's head as she pushed a bayonet through his armor into his back. 'What the hell kind of bayonet does she use? The piercing shouldn't be able to outperform my plate's strength!'
"Best not to be distracted on the battlefield, though if you're curious, that monstrosity down there is Rubedo. I was hoping not to reveal her, but it seems Tabula was too eager. I also noticed you applied and adjusted your defensive spells before and during the battle, but I bet you overlooked instant death spells didn't you? After all, what kind of gunner would invest in something like that?" For a moment he could almost see a wide grin on the girl's face, her eyes – although expressionless – staring deep into him with a sadistic pleasure in watching the angel fail.
He glanced over at his active resistances, watching as her bayonet destroyed any resistance that may have helped him stop an instant death spell. Before he could respond with any sort of movement, counter, or spell, he heard it.
"[Assassination]!"
And the world went black.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Twelve seats stood encircling a single massive table, surrounded by twelve pillars, each with a banner on it donning twelve unique insignias. Two seats were already filled, the first seat, Ulbert Alain Odle, the Demon of Great Disaster, and the second seat, WhiteSilver, the Devil of the Skies.
Soon, one by one, various [Gate] spells opened, with each of the other World Disasters beginning to walk in.
The first to arrive was the twelfth seat, SuperNava, the Destroyer, member of the Octagon guild, known for its intense roleplaying about heroes and demon lords.
Second was Ark, a paladin Overlord player clad in heavy plate armor. Frankly, it was surprising to see such a physical build invest in the World Disaster class, but if it worked, it worked; she wasn't going to question it. Going by the more basic title of 'Holy Skeleton Knight,' he belonged to no guild, but did hop around and often worked as a mercenary for those who wanted the help of a World Disaster paladin.
Third was the player ShiroKumo, an Arachne player. As such, her avatar was that of an oversized spider, colored in bright pink, white, and black that hardly helped to camouflage her in any environment. Despite not being part of a guild, she had made one specific region of Yggdrasil her own personal home via spawning countless spider mob enemies friendly to her through her race, earning the title 'Nightmare of the Labyrinth.' The major guilds had agreements with her not to invade in exchange for using her grounds occasionally as an experience grinder for newer players.
Next was Diablo-13, a more standard demon spellcaster player who was also the leader of the Greenwood faction. A faction that strangely enough consisted mostly of elves. That said, most of the NPCs he made were said to be… questionable. WhiteSilver assumed he and Pero would probably get along. Naturally, being a demon, he proclaimed himself rather unoriginally by the title of 'Demon Lord.'
Following was the player HajiHaji, a synergist of the hybrid race; he was part of no guild but instead remained with a small clan of his closest friends and allies. Despite their small size, they were still a considerable fighting force that couldn't be overlooked on the battlefield. Their escapades in the realms earned him the title of 'Crimson Tyrant.'
After that was Megalomin, the wizard girl that WhiteSilver had originally stolen the class from. Since then it seemed she very quickly stole it back from someone else, although who WhiteSilver didn't know. Despite having the class stolen from her, she was willing to let it go so long as she was allowed to be part of the 'biggest explosion in Yggdrasil history!' She even managed to use a Fallen Seed to become a heteromorph demon so that she wouldn't become an outcast again. Although unofficially she is known as 'the girl with the explosion fetish,' her official title within the Congress was 'Crimson Demon.'
Pakku arrived after, being a small spiritual race, smaller than WhiteSilver herself, disregarding the fact that WhiteSilver had made herself as big as possible for a pixie. Pakku's appearance was that of a small flying cat, though his race was that of a 'Star Beast.' He was affiliated with the Kingdom of Lugica, especially after his friend became the leader of it after a fierce dispute. That said, even without this influence, Pakku had an incredibly strong Cryomancer build, gaining the title 'Beast of the End.'
Next arrived yet another demon, prompting WhiteSilver to wonder what kind of event was needed to become one of the first twelve and why it resulted in so many demon World Disasters, her brother included. This one had the username Voldinos and was the leader of the demon-only Dilhaze guild, serving as its monarch under the title of the 'Demon King of Tyranny.'
Afterwards was Shinmoe, another Dragonoid player and part of Kuzoha Co., a guild focused primarily on just doing business. That said, they did still get involved directly in combat from time to time; their World Disaster class wasn't just for show. With the guild being small in numbers, Shinmoe served as one of the main powerhouses behind the guild's militaristic branch, earning the title the 'Invincible Shin.'
The last to arrive was a blue-haired automaton which had surprisingly specced most of their levels into bard-oriented classes despite also taking on the World Disaster class. The player held the username Meekoo and was actually a good singer, strangely enough also having a fairly robotic voice that matched their automaton race, akin to the older AI and vocaloids when the internet had been under a century old. People were unsure whether they were just straight up an AI playing the game, they somehow managed to get a voice filter in the game, or if they had some kind of speech impediment that caused them to speak that way even in dive games, but either way they somehow managed to become an idol within an MMO of all games. To add to the strangeness, they used an onion as their primary weapon. Or was it a leek? WhiteSilver couldn't tell. It did hit like a truck though.
With all twelve of them now seated around the table, WhiteSilver took the opportunity to stand up.
"Now you're all aware of what Seraphim has done and what they're likely planning to do now that they have failed to conquer the Great Tomb of Nazarick. And I'm sure you're all well aware of what I propose we do. As such, I'm going to cut to the chase…"
"Today we plan for the end of days…"
"Today we plan for disaster…"
"For armageddon and the fall of Asgard…"
"For the rise of heteromorphs…"
"For the end of Seraphim…"
"Today, my fellow World Disasters…"
"We plan for Ragnarok!"
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Next Chapter:
Chapter VII: Ragnarok
Discord Invite: https://discord.gg/Ghn8qtkaFz
Beta Reader Comments
LuckCrusader: Getting ready to cue up Requiem of Silence next chapter. The end approacheth…
Fish Tank: "I'm singing Miku Miku Ooo Eeee Ooo!" - The last thing the Seraphim heard before being gone with the blast wave
Dr. Rx: I want an army of beastgirls with guns firing away. Let the in-game Lunarians taste their own medicine from the pits of Hell! (I mean, with all the demons Hell's close enough).
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Momonga rested quietly on the Throne of Kings, which rested at the end of the decorated throne room. There he sat, safe on the ninth floor as the invaders of the Great Tomb crossed their way into the second floor. Various screens floated around him, monitoring the horde as it moved from room to room. At times the guild was lucky to pick off one or two of them from traps, ambushes, and basic attacks, but most who perished were quickly restored with revives and buffs. While the first floors were by far the easiest to pass, the sheer size of the raiding party didn't fill the overlord player with much confidence.
Around him stood the various players of Ainz Ooal Gown, at least whoever was online. A few others would be joining them shortly, but even with that in mind, his mind raced with thoughts of what he could do. Even if all 41 of them were to make a stand against the raid personally, they would be outnumbered nearly 40:1; the odds weren't in their favor. But not all hope was lost yet.
The raiding party, although massive, consisted largely of mercenary NPCs hired by the attackers, meaning they would hardly be considered on-par with actual players, their AI inferior to genuine human planning. Despite that, with actual players still dispersed throughout, the shortcomings of their AI mattered little when all they needed to do was add additional firepower and support while the players did all the complicated tasks, a standard format for guild raids.
As he sat pondering, he noticed Ulbert loudly speak up, "What the hell are we doing standing around here for? If Seraphim's the ones spearheading this raid, then their guild base must be undefended! I'm sure the other World Disasters would love to knock them down a peg, let's hit 'em while they're hitting us!"
"I fear that might not be a good idea. Not so spontaneously at least," Momonga muttered, inspecting the monitors around him closely as he analyzed the races and basic specs of every player. Continuing, he explained, "Seraphim is a guild consisting of only players using the angel race. That said, there are actually only a handful of high-level angel players in the raiding party, most are humans or similar. While I've identified some as Seraphim members, it seems Seraphim themselves are barely involved, at least directly."
"I see…" WhiteSilver grumbled, her arms folding as a hand was placed on her chin. "They must be bankrolling this entire operation then."
"Bankrolling it? Are we sure our intel isn't just wrong?" Ulbert asked, crossing his arms as well as a question mark appeared above his head.
Tabula stepped forward, shaking his head. "Impossible. The person I got this information from is within Seraphim itself; he wouldn't have even known about the raid if Seraphim wasn't at least involved."
"Couldn't he warn us a little faster then damnit!" Ulbert shouted in frustration.
"Agreed, I do wish his warning could've come in a more… timely manner. But it seems this operation was planned and started before most members of the guild even knew about it; the details of the attack including the target had been given mere hours before and all members were under heavy scrutiny until recently. Still, given Seraphim's strength, I'm surprised they didn't show up in much greater force."
"Because it would be stupid. Or at the very least risky," WhiteSilver explained, floating around the room. "They clearly know about the twelve World Disasters coming together, and with many of the World Disasters having guilds of their own, they likely don't want to risk having their own base raided by them while they're attacking us - they aren't stupid. As such, they funded a raiding party so massive that it would surely conquer any base it attacked while they sat back and made sure they weren't hit from behind, there's no practical use waging a war if the homeland is destroyed in the process after all."
Tabula lifted his hand, commenting, "I actually believe this raid has been planned since before you two started gathering the World Disasters. Ainz Ooal Gown has the most World Items of any guild by a significant margin. According to my source, they've had their eyes on us for a while, rumors had been floating around for months about their discontent with the status quo. Our sudden moves to gather the World Disasters together has likely forced them to act now rather than later."
"It's like finding out that the country you plan to invade in a few years is beginning work on nuclear weapons…" WhiteSilver muttered.
Amidst the discussion, Pero stepped out and added, "Who cares who's involved and who's funding who, what are we going to do?!"
Stepping forward, a large mass of red and pink flesh approached WhiteSilver from the side, with a nod Bellriver muttered, "I believe if there was ever such a time for that, it would be now…"
WhiteSilver nodded, "Agreed. Tabula, what do you think?"
Tabula nodded as well, "Naturally. I was about to suggest the same thing."
WhiteSilver turned her gaze towards the Overlord sitting on the throne, "Momonga, we propose to initiate Contingency Omega."
'Contingency Omega?' Momonga thought, opening up the Throne of King's UI and scrolling through various NPC operations that had been put within it. Among them were various 'contingencies,' each titled after a letter of the Greek alphabet, with Omega at the very bottom.
'I almost forgot they made these things…' Momonga muttered within his own mind, reading through the mountains of neatly-structured code that made up the entire operation, 'Plans to optimize the 8th floor based on the nature of the invading force. In short, depending on who or what made it there, the floor could be shifted to adapt to any kind of party or invasion. But what was Omega again? I can't even understand a single word they put here…'
"Just what exactly does this do?" Momonga asked, not wanting to push a self-destruct button if they had somehow managed to program that into the tomb.
"Ever since the various NPCs of Nazarick were created, we started working with the creators of the strongest of these NPCs to create plans for them to retreat to the 8th floor in the event of an insurmountable force entering the tomb. With a force this large invading Nazarick, the Floor Guardians won't make a significant dent in it before they get to the 8th floor even if they tried. As such, they would be far more useful helping with the coordinated defense of the 8th floor than they are as free-use punching bags of 1500 people," WhiteSilver explained to the noddings of Bellriver, Tabula, and even Punitto Moe, who had just logged in response to the calls for help.
"Aren't the NPCs programmed with their boss rooms in mind though? Could they even fight optimally on the 8th floor?" Momonga asked, still scrolling through the text of Operation Omega, failing to find where the code ended.
"Normally yes, but with some collaboration with each of their creators, all of the Floor Guardians and their immediate support NPCs have received added data to allow them to fight in unison with the 8th Floor Hierarchy, and the floor design had also been developed with this in mind," Punitto Moe eagerly explained.
Momonga sighed, "Well, I suppose if you already got their permission to add the operation, there's no harm in initiating it…"
Tapping the button to initiate Contingency Omega, he watched on the monitors as all of the Floor Guardians immediately booked it from their patrol routes and began fleeing to the 8th floor, each taking only a few NPCs with them, if any at all. The rest had been left behind to act as fodder, explained WhiteSilver, to stall for time; only the strongest NPCs had been taken to save on data.
"Now for the second proposal, I would like for us to join in the defense as well," WhiteSilver proposed, much to the immediate disruption of various other players in the room.
"Hold on, I thought the plan was for us to make a final stand in the throne room!" Pero shouted in mild dismay.
"Indeed, but if that invasion force can pass the 8th floor, then that fight is as good as lost given our lack of utilities here. Our defense here would be futile. But if we ourselves go to the 8th floor, we can add several more level 100 players to the already powerful defense of the 8th floor, increasing our chance of success significantly."
Ulbert groaned, "I get what you're saying but like… C'mon man, that's boring! Where's the spectacle? The grand final stand! The villainous monologue of Ainz Ooal Gown as we stand waiting for the invaders to make their way here!"
"And what happens if they don't beat the 8th floor…? Are you happy just standing here, barely able to see or know what's happening during the largest battle in Yggdrasil's history?"
Ulbert grumbled, but ultimately conceded with a sigh, nodding. Despite that, some others were unconvinced. Even Momonga himself disagreed with the idea, at least on an emotional standpoint. Logically he understood why it was a bad idea for them to do a last stand here, but it was what his friends originally wanted.
That said, if it meant risking the Great Tomb that he and his friends built together… Then he would gladly give up that spectacle. Regardless, he was still indecisive.
"As usual, let's put it to a vote. By now everyone who is going to log in probably has, so let's decide here and now. All in favor of joining the fight to defend Nazarick on the 8th floor, raise your hand."
Of the 41 members of Ainz Ooal Gown, 21 were now online, all of them currently standing before him. After a few seconds, ten of them had raised their hands as Momonga waited to make his own decision. As the tenth one raised their hand and none others did, he realized the final decision came down to him.
'Of course I have to decide anyway… Do I preserve our vision, or our home? Do I risk Nazarick falling if it means it falls in the way we hoped, or do I help Nazarick survive if it means potentially losing it without the grand last stand…? Oh what the hell, a final stand on the 8th floor would be just as fun as here on the 9th, if anything we've got more space to toss spells around.'
Slowly, Momonga raised his own skeletal hand as he announced, "Eleven to ten. The decision has been made…" Momonga stood up from the throne and nodded to WhiteSilver, "We shall stand with our creations, and repel these invaders from our home! Glory to Ainz Ooal Gown!"
"Glory to Ainz Ooal Gown!"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
ArchangelSchmidt felt underwhelmed by what he had seen so far. It had been just over a year now since his friend had dragged him into Yggdrasil to form what would become the strongest guild in the game, and in such time he had become one of the top players in the guild – no, in all of Yggdrasil itself.
His friend being the guild leader, he had earned the title of one of the seven archdukes of Seraphim, a play on the seven archangels of yore. Of course, with archangels being a race in the game, having his title be that of a race most players in the angel-only guild had, they naturally had to come up with another title.
This wasn't his first MMO, and as such he was skilled at combat and quick to become one of the strongest players, a fact of which he took great pride in. Although he still wasn't as strong as his friend, he was still the sword of Seraphim, the blade that would execute their enemies and bring the guild to dominance over the nine realms.
As such, it was only natural that he would lead this expedition.
But Jesus Christ above was this shit boring.
They had gone through six floors now, and were almost done with the seventh, his allies blasting apart something in the distance. While some of the NPCs were strong, and there were plenty of them, compared to an army of 1500 people, they might as well have been throwing level ones against him. While he could respect the craftsmanship that went into the design of the base, as well as the sophistication of the traps scattered throughout, they would not be enough to phase his army.
Consisting of eight guilds including Seraphim, this coalition was effectively bound to Seraphim in more ways than one, though even with the disingenuous cooperation of some of these guilds, all of them knew the importance of their mission. Together the Union of Eight Guilds ruled over Asgard, spreading out across it and dominating every corner of it. No major guild or player could operate without their permission within the realm, and all major and most minor resource hubs were firmly in their control. However, if something like [Ragnarok] were to be cast, that could be wiped out in an instant, and thus the union had arisen as one to put a permanent end to its possibility.
That said, there was a good chance this raid wouldn't actually result in the killing of either of the two World Disasters part of Ainz Ooal Gown, but it would at least allow them to get their hands on some of Ainz Ooal Gown's many World Items that would enable them to better suppress the guild later on. Better to do this now than wait for them to be strong enough to nuke Asgard, after all.
'Still… Could they at least put up a fight?!'
Schmidt, as his allies often called him to abbreviate his name, felt annoyed. Of course, he was smart enough to recognize that a guild base this large almost certainly had a higher level count than he had witnessed so far, Seraphim had done similar with its own. But honestly, with seven floors already conquered without much trouble and with plenty of NPCs killed already, could they really muster enough NPCs in whatever was left to challenge 1500 people? He doubted it.
It wasn't much longer until they found the exit from the seventh floor and made their way to the eighth. Upon checking for traps and sending in some mercenary NPCs ahead of them, he personally stepped through, touching down on the hard sandy surface of the new level.
Glancing around, it appeared to be a desert-like wasteland, clouds of sand blowing through the air, making sight without magic somewhat difficult beyond a few dozen feet. The further away one got from the entrance, the more hilly the terrain got, likely hiding countless NPCs behind them. That was, unless, this floor was just another dud they had to slog through.
As casters of wind magic began clearing out the sandy fog, several figures became clear from atop a large hill in the distance, a wasteland of jagged rocks and various enemies stretching out before them.
Above he witnessed floating masses of faces hover towards his armies, carrying the voice of what was most likely the guild leader of Ainz Ooal Gown, "Greetings, invaders. Welcome to the Great Tomb of Nazarick. You are the first to make it this far; congratulations. As respect for your accomplishment, we will allow you to turn back now and boast how you made it to the eighth floor of Nazarick and survived. If you decide to continue with this folly of yours, you will face the full might of Ainz Ooal Gown!"
Schmidt raised his sword, pointing it at the mass of heads and destroying it with a beam of light. A few seconds later another head descended to replace it. "It's war then."
The head disappeared as explosions rocked the wasteland, spells launched in quick succession, both sides erupting into a firefight so massive that it was nearly impossible to keep track of anything. Fortunately, that was precisely his job.
Taking a stance towards the backline, he hovered slightly in the air, calling out instructions and orders through [Message] down the chain of command. As the enemies bombarded them with spells, they remained behind the cover of a thick field of rocks and stones, relying on thin sniper spotlines and large parabolic arcs to do their deeds. That would be their first target.
Calling out to all of his allies, he shouted, "Aim for that central field of stones, it will provide cover for our advance! Don't let them hold it!"
The battle continued raging on for minutes, and despite their numbers, the enemy had impressively made a decent chip off of their own forces. About 150 had died on this floor alone. Accounting for those lost on the other floors, the 1500-strong force was now down to around 1300. Fortunately, very few actual players had died, with mercenary NPCs making up a majority of the casualties, and the few players that had died were smaller fry.
'Such shitty AI…'
Still, despite their losses, the enemy had taken quite a bit themselves. Despite their advantageous positioning, they were disadvantaged in numbers, and soon began a massive retreat away from the rocks, firing all the meanwhile. As they did so, their forces rushed in to take their place.
Before their advance could continue, a massive bombardment of explosions and spells covered the path of the retreating NPCs, even blasting into the rocky area where his armies now stood, forced to take cover behind the remaining larger rocks.
'This area was certainly a very strong defensive zone for the defenders, but now that they've left, it's just as strong for us, too. I bet they didn't even think we'd make it past them, their defensive line is broken, it's only a matter of time now…'
As the bombardment continued with no sign of stopping, various players began prepping means to stop or otherwise defend themselves from the bombardment in anticipation of the inevitable offensive. The question was, how would they advance? Schmidt ran through multiple possibilities, weighing his options as he always did to find the optimal course of action.
That's when he noticed a mercenary NPC idiotically rush forward, detonating an explosive trap below him, dying instantly.
'Shit! Traps! Of course, I shouldn't have overlooked them. All the other floors were heavy with traps; this floor is likely no different. That's probably why they retreated; any advance is bound to be met with countless traps on the way.'
Schmidt activated his trap detection, but was surprised to see how few there were.
'There's quite a few explosive landmine traps, but not too many. Theoretically it wouldn't really be an issue if we just advanced. Guess that NPC just got unlucky…'
Then he saw another NPC rush forward, only to explode again. However, with trap detection still active, he didn't see any traps where the NPC had stepped, nor did any spells come over to attack him. He had studied Yggdrasil's spell list pretty extensively and didn't remember seeing 'spontaneous combustion' on the list of spells.
'There shouldn't be any traps capable of avoiding that detection spell. So then what… Perhaps a spell? Maybe, but I didn't see it come from anything. Hold on…'
He activated a presence detection spell, not finding much more than the basic enemies around him. Of course, the spell was a passive one, meant to be going concurrently with other spells, and was thus weaker. But if these potentially self-destructing NPCs had some good stealth traits…
He activated a more advanced presence detection spell, this one requiring his avatar's full 'concentration,' preventing him from using any other non-passive spells while it was active. Just as he suspected, he noticed a few glowing dots just below the ground ahead of them. As another NPC advanced forward towards more cover, it stepped above one of them and promptly exploded, dying instantly.
'That answers that riddle… Clever trick, but let's see just how many there-'
He froze, his gaze looking down as he spotted dozens, if not hundreds, of the glowing dots, all below the rocks they were using as cover.
'The retreat wasn't real. It was a lure, a trap… WE'VE BEEN PLAYED FOR FOOLS!'
"EVERYONE SCA-!"
He soared in the air, but his callout came a moment too late. Although a few were fast enough to evade it, and others were already far enough away, a vast majority were quickly engulfed in a massive glowing inferno that erupted from the ground, sending shockwaves throughout the region. In an instant, half of the players and NPCs hiding behind that cover were dead, the other half having taken critical damage and were now suffering from numerous status effects seemingly from other hidden NPCs who had also self-detonated.
Suddenly the ground began to tremble. He watched from the skies as the terrain shifted, the area where the members of Ainz Ooal Gown stood elevating itself upwards, forming a cliff that the majority of his army was now at the base of. Around the sides of the cliff, golems resembling tanks began to rush parallel to his army, bombarding it with more spells and attacks. Ahead he witnessed a massive construct slowly walking towards his armies. A Strategic Siege Golem.
'WHERE THE HELL DID THEY GET THAT THING?!'
He watched as countless other NPCs, all far stronger than anything they had faced in this dungeon so far, came out standing in a line over the cliff face before leaping down and beginning their assault, some of them he recognized as stronger versions of NPCs they had trampled on before, most of them necromantic undead fodder. Shortly afterwards the players themselves joined in, the battlefield turning into total chaos as one of the NPCs, some abomination that looked like a deformed pink fetus, was killed. When it was slain, a massive debuff was applied to the entire invasion force, simultaneously locking down the area and preventing any escape, removing most of their buffs and applying virtually every debuff theoretically possible known to the game.
'HOW MANY SUICIDAL NPCS DO THEY HAVE?!'
Then he looked ahead, hovering in the air and watching the battle were two figures. One was a pixie, the other an angel much like himself. Upon closer analysis of the pixie specifically, he realized there was no mistaking it; that was WhiteSilver.
WhiteSilver was one of two World Disasters that were part of Ainz Ooal Gown, famed for her ability to become damn near unhittable if given aerial superiority. If he could kill her, he could take her class. If he could become a World Disaster himself, they would never be able to cast [Ragnarok] against Seraphim. It would be a hollow victory considering the raid's inevitable losses if he were to diverge from his current role, but it would be a victory. If he could only kill this one player – this one glass cannon – he could return with victory in his grasp.
'This raid would not be in vain!'
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
WhiteSilver watched as the invading armies attempting to defend behind the conveniently placed rocks were decimated in a series of massive explosions in one grand spectacle.
She had to give credit where it was due; it wasn't her idea, but rather that of the Empire's strategic command from her last life.
'The invaders of the Great Tomb should be grateful, they just got to witness a historic recreation of a major operation from a war this world knows nothing about!' WhiteSilver thought to herself, allowing herself to chuckle as she fired at an elf's head.
The self-destructing earth slimes she hid under the ground were a massive drain on resources, primarily hers. She had spent a significant amount of her real-world cash on getting the level boosts to make them without draining the tomb's level cap, but in the end it had been worth it.
Of course, even she was reluctant to spend real-world money here, but she wasn't taking away from her emergency savings or her regular life expenses, so she figured what the hell. She doesn't do anything else in her free time anymore, nothing out there interested her in the artificial world she saw outside. She was having enough fun here, and there was enough to do, so why bother changing it up any? And if she wasn't doing anything else in her free time, all the money she would've spent on leisure was now free rein to be used in Yggdrasil. It's not like she'd ever have enough to afford living conditions of any significant quality difference anyways, the next apartment complex she even had her eye on cost ten times her annual wage for a month.
Still, it was probably for the best that she didn't tell her brother, he hated cash shop items based on the principle alone; even if he had just started to get some spare cash to spend himself with her taking on a greater percentage of the monthly bills. Of course, he thought the rent had been slightly lowered; she lied. He still thought he was paying half of the bill, in reality, it was closer to 40%. The landlord would never lower the rent, she fought hell just to keep it the same.
It made sense to her that being the one who made most of the money, she would pay most of the bill anyways. Of course, logically speaking, splitting it half and half was how she would've normally done it, at least for anyone else. She wasn't quite sure why she was giving him such favoritism, but she ultimately decided not to think too hard about it.
Especially now that some idiot had decided to charge at her alone.
The attacker's sword met Victoria's shield as she parried him back several feet away. It was an angel player, likely one of the few Seraphim had actually sent. From analysis he appeared to be max level with good equipment, and if he was going after her specifically even before she had started attacking, he definitely knew who she was.
"Attacking a defenseless lady unprovoked? Don't they teach chivalry in Seraphim?" WhiteSilver mocked, a smug grin not shown on her unmoving avatar.
"I'd hardly call having a personal bodyguard 'defenseless,'" the angel, a guild member quickly identified as Schmidt grumbled, moving to strike again, attempting to out-maneuver Victoria to land a blow on WhiteSilver.
As expected, Victoria parried the blow, followed shortly by WhiteSilver rushing around the two angels and attacking Schmidt from behind with a shovel.
"Gah?! The hell?! You're a spellcaster!"
"Surely you're aware of the [Perfect Warrior] spell," she replied, shrugging. "Should've been more prepared."
"That won't work twice," The angel grumbled, holding his sword in both hands as he charged at WhiteSilver, doing his best to evade Victoria whom he had noticed was solely focused on defense.
WhiteSilver was quick to make distance, removing [Perfect Warrior] as the angelic player was now met with the full barrage of her gunner and World Disaster classes, chipping away at his health. Each time he got close to strike, he was blocked by Victoria. Attempts to kill Victoria were equally in vain; her HP was too high, and her defenses were too strong. WhiteSilver's own limited healing spells were more than enough to recover her before the next strike, much to his annoyance.
It was now a war of attrition. While he couldn't do anything to WhiteSilver, WhiteSilver's own damage output was somewhat limited on his tanky build. The question was, would she run out of mana first or would he run out of HP first? Of course, with Victoria still in play, the results hardly mattered.
Their fight continued for another few minutes, WhiteSilver taking joy in frustrating the angel player further. Soon she noticed her mana running low, forcing a shift in strategy. Again she took out her shovel and dashed in for a strike, landing her shovel right in his chest as it blasted him away.
Dashing back towards her, the two's blades clashed, their blows parrying off one another before Schmidt's own skills prevailed, his sword aimed right for her chest as it pushed through, only to immediately slide off the side.
Kicking him away, WhiteSilver flew backwards, flipping the shovel in her hands as she burst out laughing at the shocked silence Schmidt was left in, preparing her next move.
He turned to look at Victoria, who this whole time had stayed close but never gotten involved directly. There he noticed it, an ability he as a major member in an angel-only faction knew well… Under his breath, he grumbled, "[Holy Martyr]..."
"Good, glad to see Seraphim isn't filled with complete idiots. As long as I'm near Victoria, any damage to me is instead reflected at her, of course with her defensive stat and gear still being taken into account in damage calculation," WhiteSilver eagerly explained before putting her shovel away and returning to her rifle. "In any case, it was a fun duel, but it's best we finish up. Looks like things are wrapping up down there."
"Huh? Wrapping up?" The angel turned to look down quickly, his heart sinking with dread as he watched the remaining hundred or so players get torn apart by a single winged monstrosity, beautiful yet terrifying.
Was it a player? No, all identifications indicate otherwise. 'What the hell is that thing?!'
Before he could figure out an answer, he felt a stabbing in his back; glancing back he noticed a smile emoticon appear above WhiteSilver's head as she pushed a bayonet through his armor into his back. 'What the hell kind of bayonet does she use? The piercing shouldn't be able to outperform my plate's strength!'
"Best not to be distracted on the battlefield, though if you're curious, that monstrosity down there is Rubedo. I was hoping not to reveal her, but it seems Tabula was too eager. I also noticed you applied and adjusted your defensive spells before and during the battle, but I bet you overlooked instant death spells didn't you? After all, what kind of gunner would invest in something like that?" For a moment he could almost see a wide grin on the girl's face, her eyes – although expressionless – staring deep into him with a sadistic pleasure in watching the angel fail.
He glanced over at his active resistances, watching as her bayonet destroyed any resistance that may have helped him stop an instant death spell. Before he could respond with any sort of movement, counter, or spell, he heard it.
"[Assassination]!"
And the world went black.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Twelve seats stood encircling a single massive table, surrounded by twelve pillars, each with a banner on it donning twelve unique insignias. Two seats were already filled, the first seat, Ulbert Alain Odle, the Demon of Great Disaster, and the second seat, WhiteSilver, the Devil of the Skies.
Soon, one by one, various [Gate] spells opened, with each of the other World Disasters beginning to walk in.
The first to arrive was the twelfth seat, SuperNava, the Destroyer, member of the Octagon guild, known for its intense roleplaying about heroes and demon lords.
Second was Ark, a paladin Overlord player clad in heavy plate armor. Frankly, it was surprising to see such a physical build invest in the World Disaster class, but if it worked, it worked; she wasn't going to question it. Going by the more basic title of 'Holy Skeleton Knight,' he belonged to no guild, but did hop around and often worked as a mercenary for those who wanted the help of a World Disaster paladin.
Third was the player ShiroKumo, an Arachne player. As such, her avatar was that of an oversized spider, colored in bright pink, white, and black that hardly helped to camouflage her in any environment. Despite not being part of a guild, she had made one specific region of Yggdrasil her own personal home via spawning countless spider mob enemies friendly to her through her race, earning the title 'Nightmare of the Labyrinth.' The major guilds had agreements with her not to invade in exchange for using her grounds occasionally as an experience grinder for newer players.
Next was Diablo-13, a more standard demon spellcaster player who was also the leader of the Greenwood faction. A faction that strangely enough consisted mostly of elves. That said, most of the NPCs he made were said to be… questionable. WhiteSilver assumed he and Pero would probably get along. Naturally, being a demon, he proclaimed himself rather unoriginally by the title of 'Demon Lord.'
Following was the player HajiHaji, a synergist of the hybrid race; he was part of no guild but instead remained with a small clan of his closest friends and allies. Despite their small size, they were still a considerable fighting force that couldn't be overlooked on the battlefield. Their escapades in the realms earned him the title of 'Crimson Tyrant.'
After that was Megalomin, the wizard girl that WhiteSilver had originally stolen the class from. Since then it seemed she very quickly stole it back from someone else, although who WhiteSilver didn't know. Despite having the class stolen from her, she was willing to let it go so long as she was allowed to be part of the 'biggest explosion in Yggdrasil history!' She even managed to use a Fallen Seed to become a heteromorph demon so that she wouldn't become an outcast again. Although unofficially she is known as 'the girl with the explosion fetish,' her official title within the Congress was 'Crimson Demon.'
Pakku arrived after, being a small spiritual race, smaller than WhiteSilver herself, disregarding the fact that WhiteSilver had made herself as big as possible for a pixie. Pakku's appearance was that of a small flying cat, though his race was that of a 'Star Beast.' He was affiliated with the Kingdom of Lugica, especially after his friend became the leader of it after a fierce dispute. That said, even without this influence, Pakku had an incredibly strong Cryomancer build, gaining the title 'Beast of the End.'
Next arrived yet another demon, prompting WhiteSilver to wonder what kind of event was needed to become one of the first twelve and why it resulted in so many demon World Disasters, her brother included. This one had the username Voldinos and was the leader of the demon-only Dilhaze guild, serving as its monarch under the title of the 'Demon King of Tyranny.'
Afterwards was Shinmoe, another Dragonoid player and part of Kuzoha Co., a guild focused primarily on just doing business. That said, they did still get involved directly in combat from time to time; their World Disaster class wasn't just for show. With the guild being small in numbers, Shinmoe served as one of the main powerhouses behind the guild's militaristic branch, earning the title the 'Invincible Shin.'
The last to arrive was a blue-haired automaton which had surprisingly specced most of their levels into bard-oriented classes despite also taking on the World Disaster class. The player held the username Meekoo and was actually a good singer, strangely enough also having a fairly robotic voice that matched their automaton race, akin to the older AI and vocaloids when the internet had been under a century old. People were unsure whether they were just straight up an AI playing the game, they somehow managed to get a voice filter in the game, or if they had some kind of speech impediment that caused them to speak that way even in dive games, but either way they somehow managed to become an idol within an MMO of all games. To add to the strangeness, they used an onion as their primary weapon. Or was it a leek? WhiteSilver couldn't tell. It did hit like a truck though.
With all twelve of them now seated around the table, WhiteSilver took the opportunity to stand up.
"Now you're all aware of what Seraphim has done and what they're likely planning to do now that they have failed to conquer the Great Tomb of Nazarick. And I'm sure you're all well aware of what I propose we do. As such, I'm going to cut to the chase…"
"Today we plan for the end of days…"
"Today we plan for disaster…"
"For armageddon and the fall of Asgard…"
"For the rise of heteromorphs…"
"For the end of Seraphim…"
"Today, my fellow World Disasters…"
"We plan for Ragnarok!"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Next Chapter:
Chapter VII: Ragnarok
Discord Invite: https://discord.gg/Ghn8qtkaFz
Beta Reader Comments
LuckCrusader: Getting ready to cue up Requiem of Silence next chapter. The end approacheth…
Fish Tank: "I'm singing Miku Miku Ooo Eeee Ooo!" - The last thing the Seraphim heard before being gone with the blast wave
Dr. Rx: I want an army of beastgirls with guns firing away. Let the in-game Lunarians taste their own medicine from the pits of Hell! (I mean, with all the demons Hell's close enough).
Chapter VII - Ragnarok
SwissChocolatess
Shalltear is all and all is Shalltear
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2023
- Messages
- 16
Several angels stood around a central table, each of them radiant with a heavenly glow. Sitting at the table was a single angel, clad in full golden plate armor, glowing far brighter than any of the angels around him. Two pairs of wings stretched out from his back, forming an X shape, much like most of the angels surrounding him. Resting on the table below him was a map of Asgard, the realm he and his clans had come to dominate through much effort and resource expenditure.
The Union of Eight Clans was a proxy through which Seraphim dominated Asgard. There was a player cap to guilds, one that Seraphim had reached long ago; a futile effort by the game devs to prevent monopolies. To extend their sphere of influence and further allow players to join under their banner, they established proxy guilds; some forcibly subordinated and others deliberately created. These guilds were then spread out throughout Asgard and worked to keep their area of the realm under control. The result was Asgard being run like a feudal kingdom under his — or rather Seraphim's — control, as all other Union guilds answered to Seraphim.
One of his top strategic officers pointed to the map, explaining, "The enemy has made a breakthrough, they have taken the outer wall and are advancing towards the east. They're at the western city border of Aniol. In the east, they've reached past the southern mines, himsdorf outpost, and the southwestern temple. A Gate has also reportedly been opened in the south of the city, bringing in further reinforcements from the recently destroyed Caelium guild base."
"If Schmidt attacks, everything will be alright…" TheWay muttered from where he sat, waving his hand dismissively, his gaze locked firmly on the map below.
The angels surrounding him looked around, a nervous silence taking over them.
"My Lord…" One of the angels began, trailing off, "Schmidt…"
Another angel interjected, "Schmidt didn't have enough forces. The attack didn't take place."
TheWay's hands lifted up to his helmet, shaking as he slowly lifted it to show his face. He lowered it down on the table slowly, hands trembling as he did so.
"The following stay here:" He instructed, "OxygenMolecule, BrightKnight, CielManias and Merciful."
Soon the room emptied, leaving behind only the four ordered to stay and TheWay himself. Silence remained for a few moments as the other players could only stand and stare at one another.
"That was an order! Schmidt's attack was an order!" TheWay shouted, slamming against his desk with fury. "How dare you ignore my orders?! Is this what it has come to?! The union has been lying to me, even our proxies! The Archdukes are no more than a bunch of disloyal cowards!"
TheWay stood up, pointing and screaming as he slowly walked around, fury in his voice as the rest of the room remained frozen.
"My Lord, I can't permit you to insult the soldiers…" Merciful muttered, her voice soon silenced by TheWay's screaming.
"Cowards, traitors, and incompetents!"
"My Lord, this is outrageous."
"Our puppet guilds are the scum of Asgard! No sense of honor! You call yourself top tier players because you spent years on the wiki where you only learnt to use knife and fork! For years, our puppets obstructed me! All they ever did was thwart me! I should have had all the puppet guilds destroyed, as ManofSteel did!"
Calming down slightly, TheWay returned to his seat, looking up at the players around him, continuing, "I never went to any wiki. But I conquered all of Asgard on my own… Traitors… I have been betrayed and deceived from the start! Such an enormous betrayal of Seraphim. But all of these traitors will pay. With their own blood! They will drown in their own blood!"
TheWay let out a heavy sigh. Turning back to the table, he lifted up his helmet and placed it back on his head, once more hiding his face behind a shadow, leaving only two glowing eyes through the visor. Looking down he muttered, "All of my orders have been ignored. Our puppet guilds are conquered, their guild weapons destroyed. We have no allies left. But if you think that means that I'll leave Asgard, you're wrong. I'd rather shoot a bullet through my head. Seraphim shall not fall! We'll reconquer Asgard all on our own if we must! But I swear to you now, the city shall survive!"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Twelve figures stood overlooking what was once a mighty fortress on a hill, now reduced to smoldering ruins as smoke rose into the sky; a signal of their victory. The twelve of them had stayed out of the fighting, their firepower would be needed for the next phase, but with the combined force of nearly 3000 players, there was little these proxy guilds could do to stop them. Sheer numbers and respawn mechanics meant swarms were easy to do.
Some had questioned why they didn't go straight for Seraphim's base directly, but the answer was simple: their allies. Seraphim had seven allies, all of whom were extensions of Seraphim themselves. In a heartbeat they would rather leave their bases undefended if it meant keeping Seraphim's intact. As such, in order to minimize Seraphim's defenses, the allied guilds needed to be destroyed to prevent encirclement, one by one. With the guild destroyed, there was no entity to align to, and thus friendly fire would be on even if the players remained loyal to Seraphim. In short, the amount of help these former guilds could give Seraphim was now severely limited, lest they kill each other in the chaos of battle. There was the obligatory loss of resources and space the Seraphim members would face as well, since many resources were funneled from allies to Seraphim during day-to-day operations, and key defensive points would be inaccessible for certain magics.
One of the twelve figures, a small floating cat-like pixie raised a paw to their ear before nodding. Soon they lowered their arm and exclaimed proudly, "Mission complete! The guild weapon has been destroyed and all seven proxy guilds are properly annihilated!"
"Yay! Does that mean we can join in the next fight? Please? Please?" The Pink-haired dragonoid hovered over to the nearby pixie, giving the best puppy-dog eyes face they could make without actually moving any part of their avatar's expressions. To their credit, they had customized their avatar to have comically huge anime-like eyes.
The demonic wizard Megalomin nodded along with SuperNava, "Indeed, I've been standing here this whole time and I still haven't blown anything up!"
WhiteSilver sighed and put her hand to her face, "Neither of you were paying attention when we planned this, did you?"
The two went silent and awkwardly looked at each other before WhiteSilver continued, "Once they're done with cleanup down there, we'll split up into twelve armies to begin the assault. Seraphim's base is a heavily defended floating island city base. Its walls are as strong as they are massive, armed to the bricks with players, weapons, and powerful NPCs. They're made with top-tier items and can't be so easily destroyed by anything but the most destructive spells. Fortunately, that happens to be our specialty."
WhiteSilver stepped forward and gazed down as she watched the players slowly trickling out of the former fortress base of one of Seraphim's proxies. Soon the players began grouping together into twelve massive hordes, all beginning to separate and prepare for the final phase.
Getting 3000 people and mercenary NPCs involved in the raid had been surprisingly easy; Seraphim wasn't short on enemies considering they had spent the better part of the last two years kicking out most major players or guilds from an entire realm. You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone not willing to knock Seraphim down a peg, even if it meant allowing Asgard to get nuked in the process. They had made a lot of enemies, and where player numbers lacked, mercenaries conveniently filled in the gaps. The total legion was a well-rounded attack force, also armed to the teeth as numerous players invested items and time.
"Once we're all in position, I will send a signal, upon that signal, all twelve of us will fire [Grand Catastrophe] at the castle walls. Aim for the most populated area you can see, but try not to aim in someone else's area, we need to maximize the spread of our damage. Don't worry about your MP, each of you is assigned with someone capable of quickly getting you back to full, whether it's through spells or items doesn't matter. Once the battle begins, it's a free-for-all. A friend of mine says that no strategy survives contact with the enemy, and while that's not entirely true, the best strategy is one the enemy can't predict. And what's more unpredictable than something unplanned?! Especially since we know jack about the interior layout of the city. Stick with allies and parties that you trust. Scatter quickly and destroy as much as you can. Most importantly of all; survive. I will not tolerate any dead World Disasters. If I see any of you dead in the kill feed, I will find your spawn point and force you back to level one myself! Understood?"
Some of them gave a quick 'Yes Ma'am!' in unison, her brother Ulbert included. Others simply nodded along, giving their own silent confirmations.
A few more minutes passed as all of the groups were divided and ready. Nodding to the others, they all hopped down and found their way to their groups. After yet another few moments, twelve [Gate] spells were opened, courtesy of the coalition's strongest mages, leading directly to the outskirts of Seraphim's base.
The city shall fall.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
WhiteSilver walked through the [Gate], followed silently by a force of roughly 250 people behind her, loosely marching in the same direction towards Seraphim's guild base. To her slight surprise, she found herself walking beside Momonga.
"Shocked to see you joining my army and not Ulbert's," WhiteSilver commented, turning towards the Overlord as he nodded in response.
"Shocked? Really? Well I suppose… Truthfully I feel much safer fighting in your group than in Ulbert's…"
"It's really that bad, huh?" WhiteSilver responded, continuing to walk as she talked with Momonga.
"Well… It's not really bad but I… I don't know actually, I suppose he's a lot less coordinated than you are with his spells."
"He does tend to just throw those things around. His ranting leaves him vulnerable to attacks, but then again he has an entire force of bodyguards just like all the other World Disasters," WhiteSilver stated, prompting Momonga to look around.
"Where exactly is yours anyways?" Momonga asked, still shifting his gaze trying to find them.
WhiteSilver pointed towards Victoria as the angel kept in stride with WhiteSilver just a few short steps behind.
"Ah, I should've figured."
"She's about as good of a defense I can expect. Anyone else wouldn't be able to keep up with me. I'm arguably safer if I have room to move around freely."
"And who did you assign to protect Ulbert?" Momonga asked, trying to identify which members of Ainz Ooal Gown were present in WhiteSilver's group and which were sent with Ulbert.
"A few people, but the bulk of his defense is with Touch Me," WhiteSilver stated blankly.
Momonga froze for a few seconds as he stared at WhiteSilver. Sending a squinting emoticon he questioned, "Touch Me?! Really?! I get him being a guard, but for Ulbert?"
"I thought it'd be funny," WhiteSilver explained with an unwavering voice.
"I… see…" Momonga sighed, shaking his skull.
"Jokes aside though, he's arguably the best equipped to defend anyone. Even if the two don't always get along, they're unified in the same goal of kicking Seraphim's ass. They won't let their grudges get in the way of total victory… probably. Ulbert knows better than to start anything with him right now."
"If you say so…"
Soon WhiteSilver stopped, raising her fist as the players gradually stopped behind her. Looking up, a massive floating island hovered in the sky; a grandiose castle resting on top of it, massive walls protecting it with countless defenders awaiting their attack. The castle stretched high into the sky, its top cleaving through the clouds entirely, making its true height unclear.
"So that's their guild base? Impressive, if a bit cliche," Momonga muttered.
"Says the necromancer skeleton ruling a 'great tomb,'" WhiteSilver retorted.
"Touche," Momonga chuckled.
WhiteSilver took a step forward, scrolling through her UI for a moment before typing and nodding.
With a wave of her hand, the screen she had been looking at vanished as lights began to sparkle around her. With a glance at Momonga she stated, "All of Yggdrasil is watching us, Momonga. Let's give them a show."
WhiteSilver pointed her finger towards the castle, casting [Grand Catastrophe] as several beams of light shot out from the nearby terrain, engulfing the entire wall of the castle in a wave of bright light. The walls crumbled and spells were hurled in waves. In seconds the lines broke and people began rushing in, eager for kills and loot. Whether by flight, teleportation, or countless other means, the coalition of thousands forced their way inside, but the battle was just beginning.
Momonga equipped a winged necklace as he cast [Fly], joining WhiteSilver as the two rushed into the castle. All around them chaos filled the guild base. Carefully designed NPCs, skilled players, and Mercenary NPCs all clashed in a chaotic mess of spells and PvP. Explosions and flashes of magic erupted from all across the castle; many angels took flight to escape bombardment, only to be picked off by snipers taking advantage of their lack of cover — a personal idea suggested by Pero, though to WhiteSilver it was common sense.
Momonga watched as WhiteSilver and Victoria patrolled the skies, quick to fire powerful bombardment spells against any angel that dared contest her airspace. Despite being a guild of players that almost entirely consisted of flying races, Seraphim quickly found the skies seized and their angels grounded, forced down by WhiteSilver's sheer expertise and the snipers. Flight in Yggdrasil was always hard to utilize, let alone master anyways, WhiteSilver was abnormal in that aspect.
Momonga for his part was in the middle of this chaos himself, sticking close to his guildmates as they all fought for both survival and destruction. As a spellcaster he was quick to find a safer spot away from the immediate chaos, casting light spells and support buffs and debuffs from behind as he watched his guildmates and allies alike fight more directly.
Despite the constant focus that was required in such a hectic battlefield, Momonga couldn't help but watch with awe and wonder at the spectacle surrounding him. Never in his time playing Yggdrasil did he ever think he would witness something as wondrous as this. Despite the stress of the situation, this was the most fun he had ever had!
'I need to focus. If we lose here, Seraphim will not stop until Ainz Ooal Gown is destroyed. I highly doubt they'll be able to take over Nazarick that easily, but we can't afford to let them try.'
Momonga's attention returned to him as he watched a knight of pure white slash through several mercenary NPCs, destroying them in a single hit. His body was pure white, glowing without shadow as if his entire body was a light source glaring away the darkness. Antlers protruded from its head as it was hard to tell whether it was wearing armor or if that was simply its body. Whatever the case, Momonga was glad its gaze wasn't focused on him.
'That's BrightKnight, isn't it? One of the top players of Seraphim. WhiteSilver briefed us on all of them… but I've already forgotten half of what she was talking about…'
The knight turned its gaze to a strange trio; not affiliated with Ainz Ooal Gown, but among one of the many, many allied groups and guilds. The center figure, a purple lizard-like woman, turned to the human knight at her side, "GOD FUCKING DAMNIT CHRIS WHERE THE HELL ARE WE?!"
The knight slashed towards the trio, only to be blocked and knocked back by the lizard woman's battleaxe, who promptly reflected it, exclaiming the skill from some old turtle had finally come into good use.
Returning his attention to the battle, Momonga looked into the air to witness WhiteSilver in a dogfight with an angel player. Before he could cast spells to assist, he watched as a beam of light shot out from WhiteSilver's rifle, pulverising the attacking angel into particles.
With the skies clear for a moment, WhiteSilver turned to continue her aerial bombardment of the enemy, only to quickly dodge out of the way of lightning striking from the sky.
More followed, many aimed towards WhiteSilver while others bombarded the invading force below. Momonga jumped back as a bolt of lightning struck mere inches from where he stood.
{"It appears they're raining down lightning from above the clouds. Some sort of one-way barrier most likely. Powerful spells too, if he continues this unopposed we may be in trouble…"} Momonga heard through his ear as a [Message] came through from WhiteSilver.
Momonga fired off a bolt of lightning of his own into a crowd of enemies, providing supporting fire to his allies as he replied, {"Of course, however they seem to be targeting their strikes primarily on those closer up… Given how narrow the passageways seem to be that far up, I worry getting to them might be tricky…"}
{"Yeah…"} He heard WhiteSilver grumble through the spell. {I'm the only one in position to go after whoever's up there, but I lack the spells to find out who through this barrier. Even Victoria can't observe through it. No way in hell I'm flying up into a trap. If we lose even a single World Disaster this is all over. I need your help."}
Momonga jumped back and applied defensive magic as a stray spell impacted his shoulder. Quickly breaking a potion in his hands he recovered the HP, but in the chaos of battle he couldn't afford to stand still for long. Rushing away from the immediate chaos he looked up at WhiteSilver hovering in the skies and sending a nod their way. {"What do you need me to do?"}
{"I hate to put this burden on a spellcaster like yourself, but you're the only one with the spells to detect past this barrier that is in an actual position to help. I need you to get as high as possible and cast whatever detection magic you need to see what's up there."} WhiteSilver explained.
{"What of Victoria's [Omniscience]?"} Momonga quickly queried.
{"I tried that already, wasted her damn ability in the process. At this rate, her form will expire long before I enter combat, but I'll just have to fight without it. In hindsight I shouldn't be surprised that a guild of angels accounted for an angel's ability. A passive ability — even one tied to such a powerful state — isn't going to be enough to look past whatever data interference is there. We need an actively cast spell, one that I unfortunately don't have,"} WhiteSilver clarified before launching a spell down near Momonga.
Looking down where the bullet landed, he watched as an approaching angel was blasted down to zero HP by WhiteSilver, saving himself from a confrontation.
{"I'll cover you, get as high as you need!"} She instructed, soaring up higher, dodging another lightning spell as she did so.
Momonga silenced his own sigh as he looked at the crowds of people before him.
'Am I truly the ONLY one in a position to help?'
Suppressing his doubts, he rushed forwards. Applying as many defensive and speed buffs as he could, he began to adjust his build and playstyle completely as he dashed between friend and foe alike. Soon his entire equipment set was different, tailored not to support but to run like hell through the front lines. Most were too distracted with the battle to pursue him further, and those that weren't quickly fell victim to an aerial bombardment of which they had limited defense to. A large skeleton was only outrageous when there weren't other similarly massive avatars and even larger summons on the field.
From time to time WhiteSilver would face actual attempts to seize back aerial superiority, but those few times were shot down before anyone could seriously threaten Momonga. She had skill, he'd admit that, not that he ever wouldn't.
Momonga continued his mad dash forwards, looking up as the bright clouds were just out of range. Glancing around, he realized he was the furthest up out of all the 3000 players. Such a feat would at first be seen as rightfully impressive, however as four angels began to slowly surround him, it became apparent how problematic that was.
{"Shit!"} Momonga shouted, the [Message] spell still active. {"Now would be a great time for some orbital bombardment…"}
{"I can't afford to use all my mana if I want to fight anything that's up there… But that's not to say we're out of options. Your Eclipse class has a trump card, use it."}
{"With four of them here that twelve second timer—"}
{"Use it!"} WhiteSilver commanded, absolute confidence radiating from her words.
Looking down, Momonga could only let out a laugh. Starting as a chuckle it soon erupted into laughter as he could only stand and take his death like the dark lord his build made him out to be, "Ahahahahaha! Face the might of the Eclipse class! [The Goal of All Life is Death!]"
12…
11…
A massive clock appeared behind Momonga, glowing a radiant gold that outshinned the sun. Its hands ticked slowly down from twelve, a countdown to their impending demise.
One of the angels dashed forward, a glowing sword piercing through Momonga as he scoffed at Momonga's skill, "You think we can't kill you in twelve seconds?"
Although the angel sounded smug, he pulled out his blade and backed up, startled to see Momonga's health bar unchanged. Looking down at Momonga's avatar, the four angels watched with confusion as two angel wings sprouted from his back, glowing with an equal radiance to the clock that chimed ever closer to their end.
9…
8…
Momonga turned and laughed. "I appreciate the help, Victoria," he thanked the NPC. He felt a tad awkward doing so, but it felt right. It had saved his life after all, and helped to end theirs.
5…
4…
The players, in a panic, began to flee, only to find themselves bashed backwards towards Momonga by Victoria's shield as she swung around in a flash.
3…
2…
1…
"[Widen Magic — Cry of the Banshee]!" A wave of dark energy rushed out of Momonga, impacting the four angels and even some unsuspecting enemy players and NPCs within 100 meters of Momonga. In an instant their health bars disappeared, all of them falling victim to the unstoppable force of death itself.
Briefly unopposed, Momonga continued his rush, finally finding himself in range and casting all the detection spells he could.
{"Huh… That's… unexpected…"} Momonga uttered with confusion in his voice.
{"Spit it out, what is it?"} WhiteSilver inquired, having Victoria tank the impact of another lightning bolt falling down.
{"There's only one of them up there… How he has the MP for that much lightning I don't know, but it's probably an item of some kind. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say it's probably the guildmaster if he hasn't been spotted already."}
{"Good work, head back down and assist in the battle, I'm going to handle him."}
Momonga was startled at her proclamation, clarifying, {"Alone?!"}
{"I don't have any other choice. You won't make it to the top, even with the [Fly] spell. Not before a dozen other angels make their way to stop you. I'm the only one with the speed to avoid attacks from their aerial melee fighters. Help everyone keep them occupied, that way I can have a real 1v1,"} WhiteSilver rationalized, already beginning to soar up with Victoria.
Momonga mentally scoffed, 'Real 1v1 she says as she takes her NPC with her…'
Momonga could only watch as WhiteSilver soared up to face the final boss on her own. Looking back down at the destruction and the still lingering items from those he had just killed, he couldn't help but reflect on that last encounter, 'Maybe I am a chuunibyou… Ooh but that's a nice staff!' as he chucked a lightning spell at an enraged angel running at him.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
WhiteSilver flew above the clouds as she soared through the opening the stairs provided. She landed, the clouds surrounding her lower legs with a gentle mist. Looking above, she only saw the glistening blue sky of Asgard and the beaming sun shining down on the fields of clouds before her.
Ahead of her were pillars of gold, shining and glimmering in the sunlight, almost glowing before her as they stretched on almost randomly across the entire field. It almost seemed like they were meant to be supporting something, but there appeared to be nothing there.
"Ah, WhiteSilver. It appears we finally meet!" The lone figure stretched his arms wide as he took a few steps towards the pixie. Clad in a shimmering golden plate armor with two sets of angelic wings protruding from his back. His golden eyes glowed, projecting a blank expression through the slit in his helmet as he continued, "I am TheWay, guildmaster of Seraphim, and let me welcome you to the Temple of the Gods! Or rather, what will be. We had only just begun construction when your coalition so rudely interrupted us. But that's neither here nor there. Let us speak clearly, what you've accomplished here is remarkable! Truly, it is! But I must say your intentions are misguided."
The angel's arms folded behind his back as he turned to his right, beginning to walk. Though nothing could be seen behind his helmet, Tanya could practically feel his false smile for miles. "Let's be honest here, you've done a lot! Yet you waste your efforts on a guild that will do nothing with it. You sit in a hole in the ground waiting for the few stupid enough to attack you. And while I must say Nazarick was certainly a formidable dungeon, what glory is there in always being on the defensive?"
He stopped, stepping with his left foot as he turned towards Tanya. "With your skills, you can do so much more than sit in a dungeon all day. You could conquer! You could dominate! Instill fear in those who hear your name! Rule not just a realm, but the entirety of Yggdrasil! All bowing to the will of one guild! Seraphim! And you… well with your skills, you would easily stand at the top alongside me and my closest aides. All could—"
A bullet rang through the air as a damage number appeared briefly over TheWay's head. He sighed, a sword appearing in his hands as he looked down, shaking his head.
Tanya reloaded her weapon, raising it back up to aim at the target before her. "Finally! I never thought you'd shut up! Are you done larping yet? You remind me of an idiot I once had the displeasure of dealing with. I might not be able to blow his brains out, but you'll make a nice alternative."
"As you wish…" TheWay muttered, dashing forward with incredible speed, raising his sword up as Victoria moved into place. Raising her shield, the angelic knight swung down, crashing through it as he shouted, "Repent! [World Break]!"
The world tore in two, the void of space opening up as his sword slashed through Victoria, sending her sliding backwards, her health pool rapidly dropping to less than half what it once was in an instant.
Tanya launched into the air, flying higher as she began to pellet the angel with bullets. He jumped back, his wings stretching out as he launched into the air himself, flying up to make up ground with WhiteSilver.
"What? Surprised to see that move? Didn't you know I'm a World Champion? That guild of your has one in it too, doesn't it? Touch Me, I believe his username was. He may have gotten higher than me before, but I've gotten better since then."
"[Maximize Magic - Annihilation]!" WhiteSilver shouted as a glowing beam of energy shot out from her weapon, impacting the angel and sending him back a few feet. Although knocked back, he continued his assault.
As more bullets made small dents on his HP, he finally neared the pixie, only to be blocked and knocked back by her angelic guardian. Swinging his sword against Victoria, he began clashing with her shield and armor, all the while he attempted to dodge more of the numerous spells fired from WhiteSilver as she swirled around him.
"This is getting nowhere!" he muttered to himself. He turned his attention and soared at WhiteSilver, though quickly found himself bashed by the angel and knocked to the side. Despite the stun, he persisted. The angel did what she could to block TheWay, but her attempts were ultimately futile. With no offensive power he simply learned to avoid her as he finally made his way to the real threat, WhiteSilver.
He reached her as she flew above him, barely dodging his sword as she fired a point-blank shot at his chest. The knockback gave her distance, but not enough. Dashing towards her, he brought his sword down once more, stabbing it into her chest, "[World Break]!"
Behind her, the wings of an angel glowed, as her health pool remained unchanged. He pulled out his sword as the wings twitched, turning into sparkling dust as the guardian's shield fell to the ground. Left hovering inches above the clouds.
Tanya raised her rifle again, "[Extend Magic — Gust Bullet]!"
Wind swirled around the bullet as it made impact with its target, sending them flying backwards as the wind carried them away. As the wind settled he hovered there and began to gloat, "Well then, seems your pathetic excuse for an angel has been taken care of! I have to give them props though, they nearly survived two World Breaks and a plethora of my attacks. Most players can't even do that. But you? Heheheh, you won't even survive a single strike, will you?"
WhiteSilver briefly holstered her gun on her shoulder, a smug grin hidden only by Yggdrasil's lack of expressions. "Of course not! But you know, normally I need to make an effort not to leave my guardian behind. Don't want a stray hit landing when she's not around. After all, her speed is actually a bit lower than my own. Of course, if you were a ranged fighter, that wouldn't be a problem, but you don't have much in terms of ranged options, do you? And from what I've seen… Well, I'm a tad faster than you."
TheWay clenched onto his sword, putting it away briefly as lightning sparked from his fingertips. Around his neck, an amulet glowed, one WhiteSilver hadn't noticed before. With three wings circling a singular red jewel, it almost reminded her of the bane she once dealt with, but that was all just a coincidence. Its red glowed brightly as the knight shot out a bolt of lightning that she barely dodged.
By all means, someone with the classes she noticed him having shouldn't have been able to cast such a spell with that much damage output. Furthermore, upon looking at it so closely, it didn't appear like any spell she knew. That magic necklace must've given him some spells.
Again he fired a thunderbolt, lightning strike after lightning strike failing to hit as he downed a mana potion to try and continue the bombardment.
"Is that all you have? Just give up on the lightning already. Let's make this interesting. Let's see if you can land a hit on me before I whittle your HP down to zero. Of course, it's not like you have a choice. You're a tad out of other options. We both know that you're not getting anywhere with those. And with your World Break on cooldown…"
TheWay growled as his sword returned to his hand, glowing gold now as he rushed up towards her, WhiteSilver flying up in kind. True to her observations, with each passing second, she gained just a bit more speed. And with his ranged options limited, it appeared he truly had very few ways of actually damaging her. The few attempts he made, whether with items or spells, proved futile as she expertly dodged around them, with the few successful hits being too weak to do much damage – even to her.
With each attempt to catch up, he was met with spell after spell. His HP lowered, pixels by pixels with the occasional chunk or two when a powerful spell landed. He was running out of options, but with the rate WhiteSilver was draining his HP, he had time. Plenty of it.
"Enough of this! [World Break]!" Once more he cast his ace move, swinging his sword down as it for the third time tore through reality itself. With his target now far from his reach, the tear sword through space, slicing through the world to reach its target.
Although his attack moved incredibly fast, it wasn't instant, giving WhiteSilver enough time to barely move out of its way, turning her body as she positioned herself above the now briefly stationary TheWay. "Agreed!"
In her left hand a blue potion appeared. Normally MP potions were unobtainable by regular craftsmiths, but with the financial power of a functional member of society, a lucky enough player could get their hands on a fairly powerful one. She pushed her thumb, cracking its lid as the potion disappeared into sparkles and her MP pool restored itself.
Reorienting herself, she aimed her rifle at the angel as he turned to face her. Before he could react, it was too late. "[Maximize Magic - Grand Catastrophe]!"
A beam of destructive energy rushed out of her rifle. The beam shone a bright pure white as its edges sparkled with a faint red hue. It made an immediate impact with its target, knocking him back until he was fully engulfed into the energy, sending him flying for meters upon meters. The beam made contact with the clouds, blasting them and the barrier away in an instant, leaving a giant hole as the beam continued, colliding with the walls of the city's central castle, tearing them apart as the beam finally began to fade.
As the last sparks fizzled out, the battlefield was left barren as a small assortment of TheWay's items fell to the soft misty ground, seemingly mostly defensive and buffing items. Landing herself, WhiteSilver first made her way to Victoria's shield, taking it in her hands. "Good work," she muttered, storing it away in her inventory. "Hope the revival cost isn't absurd…"
She finally walked over to TheWay's dropped items, though only two stood out. The first was his sword, glowing in a golden hue and filled with stats that would allow it to do tremendous damage. Within it was the very existence of Seraphim, allowing him to reach nearly unparalleled heights in close combat. The other item however was a World Item, though WhiteSilver was surprised he hadn't used it.
As she read over its abilities however, she realized that he had. The World Item allowed the player to create their own spells and use them. Although it seemed to be restrictive with how said spells were made, the freedom it gave could open the door to some interesting spells. Though as she thought of it for a few moments she could only wonder, 'WHAT IDIOT LET THEIR FUCKING NON-SPELLCASTER KNIGHT USE THIS?!'
WhiteSilver sighed, 'That idiot probably wanted the World Item all to himself and so kept it. If one of his mages with an actual goddamn MP pool used it, they could've been especially problematic…'
As she stored the World Item away — deciding not to let the potentially power-hungry players learn of her newfound item, she noticed Momonga teleport in, Ulbert following almost immediately behind him.
"Seems that your spell broke the barrier blocking our teleportation attempts up here. I came to assist if you needed, but it appears you have it handled," Momonga muttered, looking around at the expanse of clouds.
"Naturally!" Ulbert declared, "That was a Maximize Magic Grand Catastrophe, right? How in the hell did you get the MP to use that?!"
WhiteSilver folded her arms and looked away, avoiding eye contact as she muttered, "It may have been… a gacha item…"
Ulbert stared, his avatar's expression unmoving but his disappointment was only held back by his care for his sister, though there was only so much water a dam could hold back. "I…" He sighed, "I suppose if it won you the battle…"
"If you had an item like that, why didn't you open with that Grand Catastrophe?" Momonga asked.
WhiteSilver kicked a helmet dropped by TheWay as she explained, "Dude was incredibly tanky. I wasn't confident he couldn't survive the hit with at least some HP. A Maximized Grand Catastrophe takes quite literally all of my MP, I didn't want to be left outright defenseless."
Momonga hummed, "Hmm, logical. So was that the Guildmaster? We haven't had any luck finding him, but there's still fighting downstairs."
WhiteSilver held up the glowing sword before the two of them, "Indeed! And this is the Guild Weapon. Or rather…"
With her mana having recovered a slight bit, she cast [Greater Destroy Item] as the golden sword cracked before shattering into sparkles, disbanding Seraphim for good.
"...Was the Guild Weapon."
They turned to look down the hole in the clouds left by WhiteSilver's spell as the Seraphim players quickly realized what had happened. Some began to flee, others attempted to surrender, and some desperately continued the fight, but as the invaders gradually realized what happened, morale was too high for their momentum to slow down. As the NPCs of Seraphim vanished and any form of coordination broke down, it took mere minutes for the rest of the guild base to fall into their hands.
"With Seraphim down, it's time to wrap it up."
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
The twelve World Disasters stood around in a giant circle at the top of the mighty fortress city that once housed their enemy. With the enemy gone, their guild base sat in decay, but not destruction, for in the brief window when it would remain standing, they set their plan into motion.
Between them all, a glowing orange magical circle appeared, a smaller circle appearing under each person before they became surrounded by smaller circles above and around them. Concentric circles then began to expand in the center, reaching above as more and more appeared, though it didn't stop. Each player appeared as if they were casting Super-Tier magic: the strongest there was, but despite that, it kept going higher. The ritual grew larger and larger with each passing second until it appeared bigger than the tallest of skyscrapers, piercing the heavens with countless magical circles of varying sizes and shapes. Immediately above the twelve, magic began to rapidly swirl as a black hole slowly emerged, emanating an orange hue around it as it slowly grew.
The casting time was two whole hours, during which their location was easily broadcast to the entire game as everyone in Asgard would simultaneously and constantly be alerted on what they were doing. However, with Seraphim gone, there were few who cared, and those who did would have to fight like hell to even try and disable this spell.
Seraphim once dominated the realm, and with them gone, there stood no guild or unified force within Asgard strong enough to muster a strong enough retaliation in two hours. Although remnants of Seraphim attempted to rally together and strike, their attempts were easily thwarted by nearly 3000 players who had had plenty of time to lick their wounds and recover any lost allies and most items, each eager to claim the glory of participating in such a grand magic. Add on their reduced Levels from dying and their loss of equipment from loot drops, and these weakened Seraphim forces failed to even somewhat threaten the end of their realm. It was over.
As the two hours neared its end, the black hole had reached a size comparable to the entire former Seraphim Guild base itself, swirling with chaotic magic that yearned for release. As the ritual finally completed, each player received a popup for confirmation. As each player confirmed 'Yes,' their circles glows shifted from orange to red, and as the last player hit yes — after teasing that they'd hit 'no' before being threatened to be spawnkilled to level 1 by not just the sprite but also everyone else involved — the circles all shifted red as light radiated from the spire of destruction. The black orb of destructive energy began to rapidly shrink, absorbing more magic around it as it rapidly decreased in size. Soon it became almost incomprehensibly small, growing whiter and brighter the smaller it got until it was merely a small yet impossibly bright speck in the middle of the circle.
Then it ended.
In a bright flash, the world was consumed, a pillar of light stretched into the sky, engulfing all the players defending it in a white light as they stood right in the middle of it. From afar, the few observers of it watched in a combination of horror and awe as the beam of light expanded outwards at a rapid pace. Those fortunate enough to not be caught in the immediate explosion still found themselves reeling from the shockwave as a loud boom filled Asgard and a trembling was felt across the World Tree and into the other realms.
Flames soared across Asgard, leaving little unscorched as the sky turned red. The clouds crackled, darkening and sparkling with destructive power as cracks emerged from the ground, threatening to tear Asgard apart entirely. Wild beasts began to spawn in, crawling from the cracks or being birthed from the flames. The old resources, mobs, and flora of Asgard withered away, leaving only chaos and destruction in its place as monsters took their place on Asgard's throne.
As the explosion finally faded and the immediate carnage subsided, the casters and their allies found themselves on the ground in the epicenter of a massive crater larger than any guild base, only shortened by the height at which the spell was cast. As for the old Seraphim guild base, there was nothing left, leaving not even ashes to float in the wind.
Flaming spheres of annihilation and molten rock fell from the sky as debris lifted into the air crashed back down in a beautiful shower of destruction, many exploding in the air like fireworks; congratulating the victors on the complete and utter destruction of Asgard.
Although with time — even if a long time — Asgard would heal and mostly return to its former state, the scars would remain. The World Disasters had left their mark on the world, and the once forcibly stabilized realm once more fell freely into the true chaotic nature of Yggdrasil.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
TheWay stared down at his pathetic excuse for a sword as his hand shook in anger. Frustrated, he threw it to the ground as it simply hovered in place, slowly circling around. He grumbled and looked up at the crimson red sky, a continuous reminder of his failure. How long had the sky been like that? A few weeks, maybe? He thought, having lost count.
In the aftermath of Seraphim's dismantlement, he had tried to rally what he could to rebuild the guild and prepare for a takeover of Asgard, but it all fell apart despite his best efforts. The guild members once unified under his iron fist now fought amongst one another. Some blamed him for their defeat, others for starting the war that had caused all their losses in the first place. While some of this hatred was genuine from his peers, some were merely excuses for his closest subordinates to seize power for themselves. In the chaos he had been killed a dozen times, causing him to struggle to even maintain level 100. Even now he wasn't even near it, still recovering from the most recent assassination. Each death cost him more and more equipment and levels each time, leaving him with crappy gear and crappy weapons; at least by his prior standards.
As he sat atop a rock likely having fallen from the sky just weeks prior, he looked up to see an old friend of his approaching. He hadn't joined Seraphim when he founded it, having not wanted to join a guild, but he had remained friendly since. The forest elf approached him, reaching his hand down for TheWay to grab, pulling him up afterwards.
"Been a while? How's it been?" He asked with a smug emoticon appearing above his head.
TheWay scoffed, "Shut up, don't mock me."
"Yeah, yeah, the whole 'guild went down in a blaze of glory' thing. It was quite the spectacle, but definitely sounds like it sucked. Anyways, I warned you."
"Fuck off," TheWay scoffed, turning and beginning to walk slowly away from him.
"As you wish," the elf muttered, "But I thought it'd be nice if we get the old friend group back together."
TheWay stopped and turned his body to look partially at the elf, though his feet remained firmly in place. "What are you proposing?"
"Nothing much, just a new guild for our old clan before you went off to make your whole guild. This would be a much smaller scale guild though, no going off to conquer the world. At least not for a while."
TheWay looked away from the elf and looked up at the crimson sky, grumbling to himself.
"Cmon, it'll be like old times! Just the eight of us!"
TheWay sighed, "Alright… I'll give it a shot, Hougan."
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Next Chapter
Chapter VIII: The End is Never the End
Oh hai. Aren't you glad I have this weekly upload schedule? I don't know what you mean about "not having uploaded in nearly half a year," these are very consistent uploads.
Anyways Beta Readers:
Yert:
I'm gonna fight 'em off
An eight guild army couldn't hold me back
I'm going to blow 'em up
Gonna make his sword crack
Dr. Rx:
Gotta kill em all!
The Union of Eight Clans was a proxy through which Seraphim dominated Asgard. There was a player cap to guilds, one that Seraphim had reached long ago; a futile effort by the game devs to prevent monopolies. To extend their sphere of influence and further allow players to join under their banner, they established proxy guilds; some forcibly subordinated and others deliberately created. These guilds were then spread out throughout Asgard and worked to keep their area of the realm under control. The result was Asgard being run like a feudal kingdom under his — or rather Seraphim's — control, as all other Union guilds answered to Seraphim.
One of his top strategic officers pointed to the map, explaining, "The enemy has made a breakthrough, they have taken the outer wall and are advancing towards the east. They're at the western city border of Aniol. In the east, they've reached past the southern mines, himsdorf outpost, and the southwestern temple. A Gate has also reportedly been opened in the south of the city, bringing in further reinforcements from the recently destroyed Caelium guild base."
"If Schmidt attacks, everything will be alright…" TheWay muttered from where he sat, waving his hand dismissively, his gaze locked firmly on the map below.
The angels surrounding him looked around, a nervous silence taking over them.
"My Lord…" One of the angels began, trailing off, "Schmidt…"
Another angel interjected, "Schmidt didn't have enough forces. The attack didn't take place."
TheWay's hands lifted up to his helmet, shaking as he slowly lifted it to show his face. He lowered it down on the table slowly, hands trembling as he did so.
"The following stay here:" He instructed, "OxygenMolecule, BrightKnight, CielManias and Merciful."
Soon the room emptied, leaving behind only the four ordered to stay and TheWay himself. Silence remained for a few moments as the other players could only stand and stare at one another.
"That was an order! Schmidt's attack was an order!" TheWay shouted, slamming against his desk with fury. "How dare you ignore my orders?! Is this what it has come to?! The union has been lying to me, even our proxies! The Archdukes are no more than a bunch of disloyal cowards!"
TheWay stood up, pointing and screaming as he slowly walked around, fury in his voice as the rest of the room remained frozen.
"My Lord, I can't permit you to insult the soldiers…" Merciful muttered, her voice soon silenced by TheWay's screaming.
"Cowards, traitors, and incompetents!"
"My Lord, this is outrageous."
"Our puppet guilds are the scum of Asgard! No sense of honor! You call yourself top tier players because you spent years on the wiki where you only learnt to use knife and fork! For years, our puppets obstructed me! All they ever did was thwart me! I should have had all the puppet guilds destroyed, as ManofSteel did!"
Calming down slightly, TheWay returned to his seat, looking up at the players around him, continuing, "I never went to any wiki. But I conquered all of Asgard on my own… Traitors… I have been betrayed and deceived from the start! Such an enormous betrayal of Seraphim. But all of these traitors will pay. With their own blood! They will drown in their own blood!"
TheWay let out a heavy sigh. Turning back to the table, he lifted up his helmet and placed it back on his head, once more hiding his face behind a shadow, leaving only two glowing eyes through the visor. Looking down he muttered, "All of my orders have been ignored. Our puppet guilds are conquered, their guild weapons destroyed. We have no allies left. But if you think that means that I'll leave Asgard, you're wrong. I'd rather shoot a bullet through my head. Seraphim shall not fall! We'll reconquer Asgard all on our own if we must! But I swear to you now, the city shall survive!"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Twelve figures stood overlooking what was once a mighty fortress on a hill, now reduced to smoldering ruins as smoke rose into the sky; a signal of their victory. The twelve of them had stayed out of the fighting, their firepower would be needed for the next phase, but with the combined force of nearly 3000 players, there was little these proxy guilds could do to stop them. Sheer numbers and respawn mechanics meant swarms were easy to do.
Some had questioned why they didn't go straight for Seraphim's base directly, but the answer was simple: their allies. Seraphim had seven allies, all of whom were extensions of Seraphim themselves. In a heartbeat they would rather leave their bases undefended if it meant keeping Seraphim's intact. As such, in order to minimize Seraphim's defenses, the allied guilds needed to be destroyed to prevent encirclement, one by one. With the guild destroyed, there was no entity to align to, and thus friendly fire would be on even if the players remained loyal to Seraphim. In short, the amount of help these former guilds could give Seraphim was now severely limited, lest they kill each other in the chaos of battle. There was the obligatory loss of resources and space the Seraphim members would face as well, since many resources were funneled from allies to Seraphim during day-to-day operations, and key defensive points would be inaccessible for certain magics.
One of the twelve figures, a small floating cat-like pixie raised a paw to their ear before nodding. Soon they lowered their arm and exclaimed proudly, "Mission complete! The guild weapon has been destroyed and all seven proxy guilds are properly annihilated!"
"Yay! Does that mean we can join in the next fight? Please? Please?" The Pink-haired dragonoid hovered over to the nearby pixie, giving the best puppy-dog eyes face they could make without actually moving any part of their avatar's expressions. To their credit, they had customized their avatar to have comically huge anime-like eyes.
The demonic wizard Megalomin nodded along with SuperNava, "Indeed, I've been standing here this whole time and I still haven't blown anything up!"
WhiteSilver sighed and put her hand to her face, "Neither of you were paying attention when we planned this, did you?"
The two went silent and awkwardly looked at each other before WhiteSilver continued, "Once they're done with cleanup down there, we'll split up into twelve armies to begin the assault. Seraphim's base is a heavily defended floating island city base. Its walls are as strong as they are massive, armed to the bricks with players, weapons, and powerful NPCs. They're made with top-tier items and can't be so easily destroyed by anything but the most destructive spells. Fortunately, that happens to be our specialty."
WhiteSilver stepped forward and gazed down as she watched the players slowly trickling out of the former fortress base of one of Seraphim's proxies. Soon the players began grouping together into twelve massive hordes, all beginning to separate and prepare for the final phase.
Getting 3000 people and mercenary NPCs involved in the raid had been surprisingly easy; Seraphim wasn't short on enemies considering they had spent the better part of the last two years kicking out most major players or guilds from an entire realm. You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone not willing to knock Seraphim down a peg, even if it meant allowing Asgard to get nuked in the process. They had made a lot of enemies, and where player numbers lacked, mercenaries conveniently filled in the gaps. The total legion was a well-rounded attack force, also armed to the teeth as numerous players invested items and time.
"Once we're all in position, I will send a signal, upon that signal, all twelve of us will fire [Grand Catastrophe] at the castle walls. Aim for the most populated area you can see, but try not to aim in someone else's area, we need to maximize the spread of our damage. Don't worry about your MP, each of you is assigned with someone capable of quickly getting you back to full, whether it's through spells or items doesn't matter. Once the battle begins, it's a free-for-all. A friend of mine says that no strategy survives contact with the enemy, and while that's not entirely true, the best strategy is one the enemy can't predict. And what's more unpredictable than something unplanned?! Especially since we know jack about the interior layout of the city. Stick with allies and parties that you trust. Scatter quickly and destroy as much as you can. Most importantly of all; survive. I will not tolerate any dead World Disasters. If I see any of you dead in the kill feed, I will find your spawn point and force you back to level one myself! Understood?"
Some of them gave a quick 'Yes Ma'am!' in unison, her brother Ulbert included. Others simply nodded along, giving their own silent confirmations.
A few more minutes passed as all of the groups were divided and ready. Nodding to the others, they all hopped down and found their way to their groups. After yet another few moments, twelve [Gate] spells were opened, courtesy of the coalition's strongest mages, leading directly to the outskirts of Seraphim's base.
The city shall fall.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
WhiteSilver walked through the [Gate], followed silently by a force of roughly 250 people behind her, loosely marching in the same direction towards Seraphim's guild base. To her slight surprise, she found herself walking beside Momonga.
"Shocked to see you joining my army and not Ulbert's," WhiteSilver commented, turning towards the Overlord as he nodded in response.
"Shocked? Really? Well I suppose… Truthfully I feel much safer fighting in your group than in Ulbert's…"
"It's really that bad, huh?" WhiteSilver responded, continuing to walk as she talked with Momonga.
"Well… It's not really bad but I… I don't know actually, I suppose he's a lot less coordinated than you are with his spells."
"He does tend to just throw those things around. His ranting leaves him vulnerable to attacks, but then again he has an entire force of bodyguards just like all the other World Disasters," WhiteSilver stated, prompting Momonga to look around.
"Where exactly is yours anyways?" Momonga asked, still shifting his gaze trying to find them.
WhiteSilver pointed towards Victoria as the angel kept in stride with WhiteSilver just a few short steps behind.
"Ah, I should've figured."
"She's about as good of a defense I can expect. Anyone else wouldn't be able to keep up with me. I'm arguably safer if I have room to move around freely."
"And who did you assign to protect Ulbert?" Momonga asked, trying to identify which members of Ainz Ooal Gown were present in WhiteSilver's group and which were sent with Ulbert.
"A few people, but the bulk of his defense is with Touch Me," WhiteSilver stated blankly.
Momonga froze for a few seconds as he stared at WhiteSilver. Sending a squinting emoticon he questioned, "Touch Me?! Really?! I get him being a guard, but for Ulbert?"
"I thought it'd be funny," WhiteSilver explained with an unwavering voice.
"I… see…" Momonga sighed, shaking his skull.
"Jokes aside though, he's arguably the best equipped to defend anyone. Even if the two don't always get along, they're unified in the same goal of kicking Seraphim's ass. They won't let their grudges get in the way of total victory… probably. Ulbert knows better than to start anything with him right now."
"If you say so…"
Soon WhiteSilver stopped, raising her fist as the players gradually stopped behind her. Looking up, a massive floating island hovered in the sky; a grandiose castle resting on top of it, massive walls protecting it with countless defenders awaiting their attack. The castle stretched high into the sky, its top cleaving through the clouds entirely, making its true height unclear.
"So that's their guild base? Impressive, if a bit cliche," Momonga muttered.
"Says the necromancer skeleton ruling a 'great tomb,'" WhiteSilver retorted.
"Touche," Momonga chuckled.
WhiteSilver took a step forward, scrolling through her UI for a moment before typing and nodding.
With a wave of her hand, the screen she had been looking at vanished as lights began to sparkle around her. With a glance at Momonga she stated, "All of Yggdrasil is watching us, Momonga. Let's give them a show."
WhiteSilver pointed her finger towards the castle, casting [Grand Catastrophe] as several beams of light shot out from the nearby terrain, engulfing the entire wall of the castle in a wave of bright light. The walls crumbled and spells were hurled in waves. In seconds the lines broke and people began rushing in, eager for kills and loot. Whether by flight, teleportation, or countless other means, the coalition of thousands forced their way inside, but the battle was just beginning.
Momonga equipped a winged necklace as he cast [Fly], joining WhiteSilver as the two rushed into the castle. All around them chaos filled the guild base. Carefully designed NPCs, skilled players, and Mercenary NPCs all clashed in a chaotic mess of spells and PvP. Explosions and flashes of magic erupted from all across the castle; many angels took flight to escape bombardment, only to be picked off by snipers taking advantage of their lack of cover — a personal idea suggested by Pero, though to WhiteSilver it was common sense.
Momonga watched as WhiteSilver and Victoria patrolled the skies, quick to fire powerful bombardment spells against any angel that dared contest her airspace. Despite being a guild of players that almost entirely consisted of flying races, Seraphim quickly found the skies seized and their angels grounded, forced down by WhiteSilver's sheer expertise and the snipers. Flight in Yggdrasil was always hard to utilize, let alone master anyways, WhiteSilver was abnormal in that aspect.
Momonga for his part was in the middle of this chaos himself, sticking close to his guildmates as they all fought for both survival and destruction. As a spellcaster he was quick to find a safer spot away from the immediate chaos, casting light spells and support buffs and debuffs from behind as he watched his guildmates and allies alike fight more directly.
Despite the constant focus that was required in such a hectic battlefield, Momonga couldn't help but watch with awe and wonder at the spectacle surrounding him. Never in his time playing Yggdrasil did he ever think he would witness something as wondrous as this. Despite the stress of the situation, this was the most fun he had ever had!
'I need to focus. If we lose here, Seraphim will not stop until Ainz Ooal Gown is destroyed. I highly doubt they'll be able to take over Nazarick that easily, but we can't afford to let them try.'
Momonga's attention returned to him as he watched a knight of pure white slash through several mercenary NPCs, destroying them in a single hit. His body was pure white, glowing without shadow as if his entire body was a light source glaring away the darkness. Antlers protruded from its head as it was hard to tell whether it was wearing armor or if that was simply its body. Whatever the case, Momonga was glad its gaze wasn't focused on him.
'That's BrightKnight, isn't it? One of the top players of Seraphim. WhiteSilver briefed us on all of them… but I've already forgotten half of what she was talking about…'
The knight turned its gaze to a strange trio; not affiliated with Ainz Ooal Gown, but among one of the many, many allied groups and guilds. The center figure, a purple lizard-like woman, turned to the human knight at her side, "GOD FUCKING DAMNIT CHRIS WHERE THE HELL ARE WE?!"
The knight slashed towards the trio, only to be blocked and knocked back by the lizard woman's battleaxe, who promptly reflected it, exclaiming the skill from some old turtle had finally come into good use.
Returning his attention to the battle, Momonga looked into the air to witness WhiteSilver in a dogfight with an angel player. Before he could cast spells to assist, he watched as a beam of light shot out from WhiteSilver's rifle, pulverising the attacking angel into particles.
With the skies clear for a moment, WhiteSilver turned to continue her aerial bombardment of the enemy, only to quickly dodge out of the way of lightning striking from the sky.
More followed, many aimed towards WhiteSilver while others bombarded the invading force below. Momonga jumped back as a bolt of lightning struck mere inches from where he stood.
{"It appears they're raining down lightning from above the clouds. Some sort of one-way barrier most likely. Powerful spells too, if he continues this unopposed we may be in trouble…"} Momonga heard through his ear as a [Message] came through from WhiteSilver.
Momonga fired off a bolt of lightning of his own into a crowd of enemies, providing supporting fire to his allies as he replied, {"Of course, however they seem to be targeting their strikes primarily on those closer up… Given how narrow the passageways seem to be that far up, I worry getting to them might be tricky…"}
{"Yeah…"} He heard WhiteSilver grumble through the spell. {I'm the only one in position to go after whoever's up there, but I lack the spells to find out who through this barrier. Even Victoria can't observe through it. No way in hell I'm flying up into a trap. If we lose even a single World Disaster this is all over. I need your help."}
Momonga jumped back and applied defensive magic as a stray spell impacted his shoulder. Quickly breaking a potion in his hands he recovered the HP, but in the chaos of battle he couldn't afford to stand still for long. Rushing away from the immediate chaos he looked up at WhiteSilver hovering in the skies and sending a nod their way. {"What do you need me to do?"}
{"I hate to put this burden on a spellcaster like yourself, but you're the only one with the spells to detect past this barrier that is in an actual position to help. I need you to get as high as possible and cast whatever detection magic you need to see what's up there."} WhiteSilver explained.
{"What of Victoria's [Omniscience]?"} Momonga quickly queried.
{"I tried that already, wasted her damn ability in the process. At this rate, her form will expire long before I enter combat, but I'll just have to fight without it. In hindsight I shouldn't be surprised that a guild of angels accounted for an angel's ability. A passive ability — even one tied to such a powerful state — isn't going to be enough to look past whatever data interference is there. We need an actively cast spell, one that I unfortunately don't have,"} WhiteSilver clarified before launching a spell down near Momonga.
Looking down where the bullet landed, he watched as an approaching angel was blasted down to zero HP by WhiteSilver, saving himself from a confrontation.
{"I'll cover you, get as high as you need!"} She instructed, soaring up higher, dodging another lightning spell as she did so.
Momonga silenced his own sigh as he looked at the crowds of people before him.
'Am I truly the ONLY one in a position to help?'
Suppressing his doubts, he rushed forwards. Applying as many defensive and speed buffs as he could, he began to adjust his build and playstyle completely as he dashed between friend and foe alike. Soon his entire equipment set was different, tailored not to support but to run like hell through the front lines. Most were too distracted with the battle to pursue him further, and those that weren't quickly fell victim to an aerial bombardment of which they had limited defense to. A large skeleton was only outrageous when there weren't other similarly massive avatars and even larger summons on the field.
From time to time WhiteSilver would face actual attempts to seize back aerial superiority, but those few times were shot down before anyone could seriously threaten Momonga. She had skill, he'd admit that, not that he ever wouldn't.
Momonga continued his mad dash forwards, looking up as the bright clouds were just out of range. Glancing around, he realized he was the furthest up out of all the 3000 players. Such a feat would at first be seen as rightfully impressive, however as four angels began to slowly surround him, it became apparent how problematic that was.
{"Shit!"} Momonga shouted, the [Message] spell still active. {"Now would be a great time for some orbital bombardment…"}
{"I can't afford to use all my mana if I want to fight anything that's up there… But that's not to say we're out of options. Your Eclipse class has a trump card, use it."}
{"With four of them here that twelve second timer—"}
{"Use it!"} WhiteSilver commanded, absolute confidence radiating from her words.
Looking down, Momonga could only let out a laugh. Starting as a chuckle it soon erupted into laughter as he could only stand and take his death like the dark lord his build made him out to be, "Ahahahahaha! Face the might of the Eclipse class! [The Goal of All Life is Death!]"
12…
11…
A massive clock appeared behind Momonga, glowing a radiant gold that outshinned the sun. Its hands ticked slowly down from twelve, a countdown to their impending demise.
One of the angels dashed forward, a glowing sword piercing through Momonga as he scoffed at Momonga's skill, "You think we can't kill you in twelve seconds?"
Although the angel sounded smug, he pulled out his blade and backed up, startled to see Momonga's health bar unchanged. Looking down at Momonga's avatar, the four angels watched with confusion as two angel wings sprouted from his back, glowing with an equal radiance to the clock that chimed ever closer to their end.
9…
8…
Momonga turned and laughed. "I appreciate the help, Victoria," he thanked the NPC. He felt a tad awkward doing so, but it felt right. It had saved his life after all, and helped to end theirs.
5…
4…
The players, in a panic, began to flee, only to find themselves bashed backwards towards Momonga by Victoria's shield as she swung around in a flash.
3…
2…
1…
"[Widen Magic — Cry of the Banshee]!" A wave of dark energy rushed out of Momonga, impacting the four angels and even some unsuspecting enemy players and NPCs within 100 meters of Momonga. In an instant their health bars disappeared, all of them falling victim to the unstoppable force of death itself.
Briefly unopposed, Momonga continued his rush, finally finding himself in range and casting all the detection spells he could.
{"Huh… That's… unexpected…"} Momonga uttered with confusion in his voice.
{"Spit it out, what is it?"} WhiteSilver inquired, having Victoria tank the impact of another lightning bolt falling down.
{"There's only one of them up there… How he has the MP for that much lightning I don't know, but it's probably an item of some kind. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say it's probably the guildmaster if he hasn't been spotted already."}
{"Good work, head back down and assist in the battle, I'm going to handle him."}
Momonga was startled at her proclamation, clarifying, {"Alone?!"}
{"I don't have any other choice. You won't make it to the top, even with the [Fly] spell. Not before a dozen other angels make their way to stop you. I'm the only one with the speed to avoid attacks from their aerial melee fighters. Help everyone keep them occupied, that way I can have a real 1v1,"} WhiteSilver rationalized, already beginning to soar up with Victoria.
Momonga mentally scoffed, 'Real 1v1 she says as she takes her NPC with her…'
Momonga could only watch as WhiteSilver soared up to face the final boss on her own. Looking back down at the destruction and the still lingering items from those he had just killed, he couldn't help but reflect on that last encounter, 'Maybe I am a chuunibyou… Ooh but that's a nice staff!' as he chucked a lightning spell at an enraged angel running at him.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
WhiteSilver flew above the clouds as she soared through the opening the stairs provided. She landed, the clouds surrounding her lower legs with a gentle mist. Looking above, she only saw the glistening blue sky of Asgard and the beaming sun shining down on the fields of clouds before her.
Ahead of her were pillars of gold, shining and glimmering in the sunlight, almost glowing before her as they stretched on almost randomly across the entire field. It almost seemed like they were meant to be supporting something, but there appeared to be nothing there.
"Ah, WhiteSilver. It appears we finally meet!" The lone figure stretched his arms wide as he took a few steps towards the pixie. Clad in a shimmering golden plate armor with two sets of angelic wings protruding from his back. His golden eyes glowed, projecting a blank expression through the slit in his helmet as he continued, "I am TheWay, guildmaster of Seraphim, and let me welcome you to the Temple of the Gods! Or rather, what will be. We had only just begun construction when your coalition so rudely interrupted us. But that's neither here nor there. Let us speak clearly, what you've accomplished here is remarkable! Truly, it is! But I must say your intentions are misguided."
The angel's arms folded behind his back as he turned to his right, beginning to walk. Though nothing could be seen behind his helmet, Tanya could practically feel his false smile for miles. "Let's be honest here, you've done a lot! Yet you waste your efforts on a guild that will do nothing with it. You sit in a hole in the ground waiting for the few stupid enough to attack you. And while I must say Nazarick was certainly a formidable dungeon, what glory is there in always being on the defensive?"
He stopped, stepping with his left foot as he turned towards Tanya. "With your skills, you can do so much more than sit in a dungeon all day. You could conquer! You could dominate! Instill fear in those who hear your name! Rule not just a realm, but the entirety of Yggdrasil! All bowing to the will of one guild! Seraphim! And you… well with your skills, you would easily stand at the top alongside me and my closest aides. All could—"
A bullet rang through the air as a damage number appeared briefly over TheWay's head. He sighed, a sword appearing in his hands as he looked down, shaking his head.
Tanya reloaded her weapon, raising it back up to aim at the target before her. "Finally! I never thought you'd shut up! Are you done larping yet? You remind me of an idiot I once had the displeasure of dealing with. I might not be able to blow his brains out, but you'll make a nice alternative."
"As you wish…" TheWay muttered, dashing forward with incredible speed, raising his sword up as Victoria moved into place. Raising her shield, the angelic knight swung down, crashing through it as he shouted, "Repent! [World Break]!"
The world tore in two, the void of space opening up as his sword slashed through Victoria, sending her sliding backwards, her health pool rapidly dropping to less than half what it once was in an instant.
Tanya launched into the air, flying higher as she began to pellet the angel with bullets. He jumped back, his wings stretching out as he launched into the air himself, flying up to make up ground with WhiteSilver.
"What? Surprised to see that move? Didn't you know I'm a World Champion? That guild of your has one in it too, doesn't it? Touch Me, I believe his username was. He may have gotten higher than me before, but I've gotten better since then."
"[Maximize Magic - Annihilation]!" WhiteSilver shouted as a glowing beam of energy shot out from her weapon, impacting the angel and sending him back a few feet. Although knocked back, he continued his assault.
As more bullets made small dents on his HP, he finally neared the pixie, only to be blocked and knocked back by her angelic guardian. Swinging his sword against Victoria, he began clashing with her shield and armor, all the while he attempted to dodge more of the numerous spells fired from WhiteSilver as she swirled around him.
"This is getting nowhere!" he muttered to himself. He turned his attention and soared at WhiteSilver, though quickly found himself bashed by the angel and knocked to the side. Despite the stun, he persisted. The angel did what she could to block TheWay, but her attempts were ultimately futile. With no offensive power he simply learned to avoid her as he finally made his way to the real threat, WhiteSilver.
He reached her as she flew above him, barely dodging his sword as she fired a point-blank shot at his chest. The knockback gave her distance, but not enough. Dashing towards her, he brought his sword down once more, stabbing it into her chest, "[World Break]!"
Behind her, the wings of an angel glowed, as her health pool remained unchanged. He pulled out his sword as the wings twitched, turning into sparkling dust as the guardian's shield fell to the ground. Left hovering inches above the clouds.
Tanya raised her rifle again, "[Extend Magic — Gust Bullet]!"
Wind swirled around the bullet as it made impact with its target, sending them flying backwards as the wind carried them away. As the wind settled he hovered there and began to gloat, "Well then, seems your pathetic excuse for an angel has been taken care of! I have to give them props though, they nearly survived two World Breaks and a plethora of my attacks. Most players can't even do that. But you? Heheheh, you won't even survive a single strike, will you?"
WhiteSilver briefly holstered her gun on her shoulder, a smug grin hidden only by Yggdrasil's lack of expressions. "Of course not! But you know, normally I need to make an effort not to leave my guardian behind. Don't want a stray hit landing when she's not around. After all, her speed is actually a bit lower than my own. Of course, if you were a ranged fighter, that wouldn't be a problem, but you don't have much in terms of ranged options, do you? And from what I've seen… Well, I'm a tad faster than you."
TheWay clenched onto his sword, putting it away briefly as lightning sparked from his fingertips. Around his neck, an amulet glowed, one WhiteSilver hadn't noticed before. With three wings circling a singular red jewel, it almost reminded her of the bane she once dealt with, but that was all just a coincidence. Its red glowed brightly as the knight shot out a bolt of lightning that she barely dodged.
By all means, someone with the classes she noticed him having shouldn't have been able to cast such a spell with that much damage output. Furthermore, upon looking at it so closely, it didn't appear like any spell she knew. That magic necklace must've given him some spells.
Again he fired a thunderbolt, lightning strike after lightning strike failing to hit as he downed a mana potion to try and continue the bombardment.
"Is that all you have? Just give up on the lightning already. Let's make this interesting. Let's see if you can land a hit on me before I whittle your HP down to zero. Of course, it's not like you have a choice. You're a tad out of other options. We both know that you're not getting anywhere with those. And with your World Break on cooldown…"
TheWay growled as his sword returned to his hand, glowing gold now as he rushed up towards her, WhiteSilver flying up in kind. True to her observations, with each passing second, she gained just a bit more speed. And with his ranged options limited, it appeared he truly had very few ways of actually damaging her. The few attempts he made, whether with items or spells, proved futile as she expertly dodged around them, with the few successful hits being too weak to do much damage – even to her.
With each attempt to catch up, he was met with spell after spell. His HP lowered, pixels by pixels with the occasional chunk or two when a powerful spell landed. He was running out of options, but with the rate WhiteSilver was draining his HP, he had time. Plenty of it.
"Enough of this! [World Break]!" Once more he cast his ace move, swinging his sword down as it for the third time tore through reality itself. With his target now far from his reach, the tear sword through space, slicing through the world to reach its target.
Although his attack moved incredibly fast, it wasn't instant, giving WhiteSilver enough time to barely move out of its way, turning her body as she positioned herself above the now briefly stationary TheWay. "Agreed!"
In her left hand a blue potion appeared. Normally MP potions were unobtainable by regular craftsmiths, but with the financial power of a functional member of society, a lucky enough player could get their hands on a fairly powerful one. She pushed her thumb, cracking its lid as the potion disappeared into sparkles and her MP pool restored itself.
Reorienting herself, she aimed her rifle at the angel as he turned to face her. Before he could react, it was too late. "[Maximize Magic - Grand Catastrophe]!"
A beam of destructive energy rushed out of her rifle. The beam shone a bright pure white as its edges sparkled with a faint red hue. It made an immediate impact with its target, knocking him back until he was fully engulfed into the energy, sending him flying for meters upon meters. The beam made contact with the clouds, blasting them and the barrier away in an instant, leaving a giant hole as the beam continued, colliding with the walls of the city's central castle, tearing them apart as the beam finally began to fade.
As the last sparks fizzled out, the battlefield was left barren as a small assortment of TheWay's items fell to the soft misty ground, seemingly mostly defensive and buffing items. Landing herself, WhiteSilver first made her way to Victoria's shield, taking it in her hands. "Good work," she muttered, storing it away in her inventory. "Hope the revival cost isn't absurd…"
She finally walked over to TheWay's dropped items, though only two stood out. The first was his sword, glowing in a golden hue and filled with stats that would allow it to do tremendous damage. Within it was the very existence of Seraphim, allowing him to reach nearly unparalleled heights in close combat. The other item however was a World Item, though WhiteSilver was surprised he hadn't used it.
As she read over its abilities however, she realized that he had. The World Item allowed the player to create their own spells and use them. Although it seemed to be restrictive with how said spells were made, the freedom it gave could open the door to some interesting spells. Though as she thought of it for a few moments she could only wonder, 'WHAT IDIOT LET THEIR FUCKING NON-SPELLCASTER KNIGHT USE THIS?!'
WhiteSilver sighed, 'That idiot probably wanted the World Item all to himself and so kept it. If one of his mages with an actual goddamn MP pool used it, they could've been especially problematic…'
As she stored the World Item away — deciding not to let the potentially power-hungry players learn of her newfound item, she noticed Momonga teleport in, Ulbert following almost immediately behind him.
"Seems that your spell broke the barrier blocking our teleportation attempts up here. I came to assist if you needed, but it appears you have it handled," Momonga muttered, looking around at the expanse of clouds.
"Naturally!" Ulbert declared, "That was a Maximize Magic Grand Catastrophe, right? How in the hell did you get the MP to use that?!"
WhiteSilver folded her arms and looked away, avoiding eye contact as she muttered, "It may have been… a gacha item…"
Ulbert stared, his avatar's expression unmoving but his disappointment was only held back by his care for his sister, though there was only so much water a dam could hold back. "I…" He sighed, "I suppose if it won you the battle…"
"If you had an item like that, why didn't you open with that Grand Catastrophe?" Momonga asked.
WhiteSilver kicked a helmet dropped by TheWay as she explained, "Dude was incredibly tanky. I wasn't confident he couldn't survive the hit with at least some HP. A Maximized Grand Catastrophe takes quite literally all of my MP, I didn't want to be left outright defenseless."
Momonga hummed, "Hmm, logical. So was that the Guildmaster? We haven't had any luck finding him, but there's still fighting downstairs."
WhiteSilver held up the glowing sword before the two of them, "Indeed! And this is the Guild Weapon. Or rather…"
With her mana having recovered a slight bit, she cast [Greater Destroy Item] as the golden sword cracked before shattering into sparkles, disbanding Seraphim for good.
"...Was the Guild Weapon."
They turned to look down the hole in the clouds left by WhiteSilver's spell as the Seraphim players quickly realized what had happened. Some began to flee, others attempted to surrender, and some desperately continued the fight, but as the invaders gradually realized what happened, morale was too high for their momentum to slow down. As the NPCs of Seraphim vanished and any form of coordination broke down, it took mere minutes for the rest of the guild base to fall into their hands.
"With Seraphim down, it's time to wrap it up."
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
The twelve World Disasters stood around in a giant circle at the top of the mighty fortress city that once housed their enemy. With the enemy gone, their guild base sat in decay, but not destruction, for in the brief window when it would remain standing, they set their plan into motion.
Between them all, a glowing orange magical circle appeared, a smaller circle appearing under each person before they became surrounded by smaller circles above and around them. Concentric circles then began to expand in the center, reaching above as more and more appeared, though it didn't stop. Each player appeared as if they were casting Super-Tier magic: the strongest there was, but despite that, it kept going higher. The ritual grew larger and larger with each passing second until it appeared bigger than the tallest of skyscrapers, piercing the heavens with countless magical circles of varying sizes and shapes. Immediately above the twelve, magic began to rapidly swirl as a black hole slowly emerged, emanating an orange hue around it as it slowly grew.
The casting time was two whole hours, during which their location was easily broadcast to the entire game as everyone in Asgard would simultaneously and constantly be alerted on what they were doing. However, with Seraphim gone, there were few who cared, and those who did would have to fight like hell to even try and disable this spell.
Seraphim once dominated the realm, and with them gone, there stood no guild or unified force within Asgard strong enough to muster a strong enough retaliation in two hours. Although remnants of Seraphim attempted to rally together and strike, their attempts were easily thwarted by nearly 3000 players who had had plenty of time to lick their wounds and recover any lost allies and most items, each eager to claim the glory of participating in such a grand magic. Add on their reduced Levels from dying and their loss of equipment from loot drops, and these weakened Seraphim forces failed to even somewhat threaten the end of their realm. It was over.
As the two hours neared its end, the black hole had reached a size comparable to the entire former Seraphim Guild base itself, swirling with chaotic magic that yearned for release. As the ritual finally completed, each player received a popup for confirmation. As each player confirmed 'Yes,' their circles glows shifted from orange to red, and as the last player hit yes — after teasing that they'd hit 'no' before being threatened to be spawnkilled to level 1 by not just the sprite but also everyone else involved — the circles all shifted red as light radiated from the spire of destruction. The black orb of destructive energy began to rapidly shrink, absorbing more magic around it as it rapidly decreased in size. Soon it became almost incomprehensibly small, growing whiter and brighter the smaller it got until it was merely a small yet impossibly bright speck in the middle of the circle.
Then it ended.
In a bright flash, the world was consumed, a pillar of light stretched into the sky, engulfing all the players defending it in a white light as they stood right in the middle of it. From afar, the few observers of it watched in a combination of horror and awe as the beam of light expanded outwards at a rapid pace. Those fortunate enough to not be caught in the immediate explosion still found themselves reeling from the shockwave as a loud boom filled Asgard and a trembling was felt across the World Tree and into the other realms.
Flames soared across Asgard, leaving little unscorched as the sky turned red. The clouds crackled, darkening and sparkling with destructive power as cracks emerged from the ground, threatening to tear Asgard apart entirely. Wild beasts began to spawn in, crawling from the cracks or being birthed from the flames. The old resources, mobs, and flora of Asgard withered away, leaving only chaos and destruction in its place as monsters took their place on Asgard's throne.
As the explosion finally faded and the immediate carnage subsided, the casters and their allies found themselves on the ground in the epicenter of a massive crater larger than any guild base, only shortened by the height at which the spell was cast. As for the old Seraphim guild base, there was nothing left, leaving not even ashes to float in the wind.
Flaming spheres of annihilation and molten rock fell from the sky as debris lifted into the air crashed back down in a beautiful shower of destruction, many exploding in the air like fireworks; congratulating the victors on the complete and utter destruction of Asgard.
Although with time — even if a long time — Asgard would heal and mostly return to its former state, the scars would remain. The World Disasters had left their mark on the world, and the once forcibly stabilized realm once more fell freely into the true chaotic nature of Yggdrasil.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
TheWay stared down at his pathetic excuse for a sword as his hand shook in anger. Frustrated, he threw it to the ground as it simply hovered in place, slowly circling around. He grumbled and looked up at the crimson red sky, a continuous reminder of his failure. How long had the sky been like that? A few weeks, maybe? He thought, having lost count.
In the aftermath of Seraphim's dismantlement, he had tried to rally what he could to rebuild the guild and prepare for a takeover of Asgard, but it all fell apart despite his best efforts. The guild members once unified under his iron fist now fought amongst one another. Some blamed him for their defeat, others for starting the war that had caused all their losses in the first place. While some of this hatred was genuine from his peers, some were merely excuses for his closest subordinates to seize power for themselves. In the chaos he had been killed a dozen times, causing him to struggle to even maintain level 100. Even now he wasn't even near it, still recovering from the most recent assassination. Each death cost him more and more equipment and levels each time, leaving him with crappy gear and crappy weapons; at least by his prior standards.
As he sat atop a rock likely having fallen from the sky just weeks prior, he looked up to see an old friend of his approaching. He hadn't joined Seraphim when he founded it, having not wanted to join a guild, but he had remained friendly since. The forest elf approached him, reaching his hand down for TheWay to grab, pulling him up afterwards.
"Been a while? How's it been?" He asked with a smug emoticon appearing above his head.
TheWay scoffed, "Shut up, don't mock me."
"Yeah, yeah, the whole 'guild went down in a blaze of glory' thing. It was quite the spectacle, but definitely sounds like it sucked. Anyways, I warned you."
"Fuck off," TheWay scoffed, turning and beginning to walk slowly away from him.
"As you wish," the elf muttered, "But I thought it'd be nice if we get the old friend group back together."
TheWay stopped and turned his body to look partially at the elf, though his feet remained firmly in place. "What are you proposing?"
"Nothing much, just a new guild for our old clan before you went off to make your whole guild. This would be a much smaller scale guild though, no going off to conquer the world. At least not for a while."
TheWay looked away from the elf and looked up at the crimson sky, grumbling to himself.
"Cmon, it'll be like old times! Just the eight of us!"
TheWay sighed, "Alright… I'll give it a shot, Hougan."
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Next Chapter
Chapter VIII: The End is Never the End
Oh hai. Aren't you glad I have this weekly upload schedule? I don't know what you mean about "not having uploaded in nearly half a year," these are very consistent uploads.
Anyways Beta Readers:
Yert:
I'm gonna fight 'em off
An eight guild army couldn't hold me back
I'm going to blow 'em up
Gonna make his sword crack
Dr. Rx:
Gotta kill em all!
ThedudeManBro
The Dudeliest Man on the block, Bro!
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Not only does the madman return from the mists, he also posted it all QQ! What an absolute lad!
... Also yeah I could totally see the QQ influence in the Tanya art. It's the hips and glutes you see: perfectly spankable as all butts should be
Welcum here with this one dood.
... Also yeah I could totally see the QQ influence in the Tanya art. It's the hips and glutes you see: perfectly spankable as all butts should be
Welcum here with this one dood.
Chapter VIII
SwissChocolatess
Shalltear is all and all is Shalltear
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2023
- Messages
- 16
The sound of tapping echoed through the silent meeting room, empty chairs evoking a silent melancholy as the Overlord sat, counting the minutes and seconds until the end. He glanced down at the round table, his finger still anxiously tapping away on its shining surface. He sighed and stopped, leaning himself against the table as his head rested in his hand.
'How had it come to this?'
He looked back up at the seats, all forty of them unfilled. Of the 41 members of Ainz Ooal Gown, only a handful remained in contact, the rest lost to reality. Of those, few ever bothered to log in. In short, only two — maybe three of the guild members remained active, and that was in a good week.
He had spent the better part of the last year reminiscing on the past, on what the guild once was. The glory days all those years ago, fighting across Asgard and reducing an empire to ash. It was fun, but it had ended, as all things do. Now all he could do was wait for the end, the true end.
Yggdrasil had announced it not long prior: their servers would be shutting down and the devs moving on to another project, at least, whatever devs remained. Momonga speculated most of the dev and GM team had left a short while ago, likely to work on whatever new slop the company was going to pour out. Hell, even now, apparently some NPCs tied to a World Enemy bugged out a few days prior and the GM online couldn't do anything about it because they didn't have high enough authorization to deal with World Enemies or NPCs tied to them. Took multiple hours before a higher-ranked admin stepped in and solved the problem, and even then it was a patchwork fix at best that failed half the time.
The last few months had been a shitshow, but most had already moved on. Yggdrasil went past its prime years ago, and the game had been stagnating on the edge of a cliff for nearly two years now, decaying bit by bit. Those who remained were the stubborn few like himself, too deep in sunk-cost fallacy to give up. Though in Momonga's case, it was a bit more than that.
He stood up, pushing his chair back in as he walked over to the edge of the meeting room. Standing before him was a glistening staff, bending, curving, and twisting upwards towards the top, where multiple snake heads held glowing orbs in their mouths, each gleaming with power. The shining golden staff was a testament to their guild, the friendships he had forged with his guildmates. Countless hours, vacation days, and even real-world money through cash items went into the creation of the Guild Weapon, an item with the power to rival even World Items.
This was why he stayed. Not for the staff, but rather what it represented. The hours, days, weeks, months spent with his friends grinding away all for a single shared goal, a single desire they all shared: to escape.
His fist slammed against the wall next to the staff in fury. "HOW COULD THEY GIVE IT UP SO EASILY?!"
His rage subsided as he let out another deep sigh. He knew why, and he couldn't — wouldn't — blame a single one of them. Ainz Ooal Gown required players to be active members of society, no showerless nepobabies who were living off of inheritance. Each player had lives to return to, jobs to work, some even families to care for, and only so much free time, if they had any at all. Some simply didn't have time to play, and those that still did found it no longer worth spending what little free time they had in the day on a dying game with no new content or players.
For him, this game was his life, but for others… it was still just a game. He couldn't blame them for making that distinction, but he couldn't give it up himself. If there was a chance, even the slightest one, of someone wanting to return, he needed to stay. The guild and its home base needed to remain intact, so that even if for only one day, those players could return and enjoy themselves as they once had. Even if it meant he would have to play alone, he would do so, until the end of days, or more likely, when his body gave out.
Unfortunately, that day had finally come. In several hours, the servers would shut down, and that would be that. He could find a new game to play, and though he would mourn, that's likely what he would do. He hoped Tana, or rather, WhiteSilver, would still want to join him in whatever new game they would venture into. Maybe he could get into the shooter-exclusive games Tana was good at.
Momonga reached forward, the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown clicking into his hands as he pulled it out. "Normally this would not be moved without permission, but… It's the last day, you are a testament to the guild."
He turned as he noticed a pop-up appear in the corner of his vision; "[Ulbert Alain Odle is now Online]."
He nearly jumped when a few moments later Ulbert appeared in the meeting room beside him. Before he could respond, he saw the goat-like demon waving, his brown and crimson attire still the same as all those years ago. He never changed his gear — deemed it "too cool" to give up, but he did greatly upgrade it. He held a deep hatred for cash shop items, especially the more expensive ones, but conveniently forgot that hatred when his sister offered some to buff up his equipment.
"Ah! Momonga! Got your message. Glad I managed to wake up early to make it!"
A smiling emoticon appeared above Momonga's head as he greeted his friend, "Glad you could! Though… early? It's nearly 1PM dude."
Ulbert folded his arms, an air of annoyance surrounding him and filling his voice, though it didn't appear aimed at Momonga but just in general, "Yeah, I suppose I never really brought it up, but they moved me onto the night shift almost a year ago. I'm lucky to get home before my sister leaves for work. It's why I stopped playing, really. I tried to play occasionally since my sister still did, but once they moved me onto night shift, I would never be on when anyone else was, so it became kind of boring. I ended up only playing when Tana wanted my help grinding a specific item, and only when work was so slow they let us off early to avoid paying us."
Momonga nodded. "I understand completely. I suppose that explains things."
Ulbert had been one of the few who remained vaguely active, but as he had said, his activity plummeted in the last year or so, with the answer as to why now clear. It was all the more reminder to Momonga that his friends had more in their lives than Yggdrasil. It was a hard and depressing truth, but it was the truth nonetheless.
"Will WhiteSilver be getting on as well?" Momonga asked.
"Most likely, but she didn't take today off like you seem to have done. She took tomorrow off I think, apparently she's planning to stay on till the shutdown. To quote her, 'I know that idiot's gonna stay up 'till midnight, I don't want to have to cover his slack when he shows up to work sleep-deprived.'"
Momonga let out a small laugh, "Sounds like her. So, it's the last day, what do you want to do?"
Ulbert planted his hands on his waist and looked up, seemingly thinking for a few seconds before looking back down at Momonga. "Not quite sure, honestly. I only got a few hours before I should be preparing for work. Perhaps we can explore the tomb a bit. I haven't actually looked at what you two have been doing for the last year or so, at most I just grinded materials and left them in the treasury. Oh right, before I log off, I would also like to give you my gear, don't let me forget."
"Your gear? Are you sure?" Momonga asked with concern.
Ulbert waved his hand dismissively, "Yeah of course! It's not like I'll need it when the servers shut down. I would've given it to you months ago if not for my limited commitment to helping out my sister. If I can't be here physically for the shutdown, I'd still like for my equipment to be there. You made all those statues in the Treasury, I've seen them every time I deposited resources. I want you to put my gear on mine. Let me join our fellow guildmates in the halls of our glorious triumphs!"
Momonga could only let out a hearty laugh. "Hahaha! Very well, my comrade!"
Ulbert nudged Momonga with his shoulder, a smug emoticon appearing as he declared, "I knew you had it in ya! Especially after I looked at that NPC of yours."
"A-Ah.. Pandora's Actor…"
"The aesthetics remind me of someone… Got something you wanna tell me, Momonga?" Ulbert questioned, smugness radiating from his expressionless avatar.
"You're sounding a lot like Bukubukuchagama right now," Momonga groaned, facepalming.
Ulbert turned and began walking out of the meeting room, waving his hand dismissively as he left, "She's still single!"
Momonga groaned, "That goat's gonna be the death of me."
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Ulbert and Momonga walked side by side down the gilded halls of the Ninth Floor of Nazarick. With each step, Momonga saw something new that reminded him of the past. Every wall, every door, every maid NPC that passed them, each was built with the digital blood, sweat, and tears of his closest friends. It pained him that he was forced to give it up and never recover, except through screenshots and video recordings.
"Love what you did with the place!" Ulbert exclaimed, looking around.
"I didn't change anything," Momonga corrected.
"I know! I love it!" Ulbert stopped as he turned to look down one of the halls only to see a door at the end of it he didn't recognize. "Oh, that's new. What's that?"
He approached the door, its appearance giving the impression of hard stone, as if serving as an entrance to a deeper dungeon. Detailed on it was an engraving of four wings of fire, stretching outwards above further flames below. The door was a solid grey, though the engravings were distinctly darker than the rest of the door.
Pushing on it, the door slowly opened, giving the impression of weight even in its digital state.
"Ah, it's what WhiteSilver's mostly been working on over the last year. It started out as a more practical addition, but with nothing else to do she's taken to making it aesthetically interesting," Momonga explained, following behind Ulbert as he stepped into the dimly lit corridor.
Faint torchlights lit the hallway as it descended downwards into a steep staircase. With each step the lights flickered, as if one gust would blow them out completely. The walls consisted of the same cold stone as the doorway, as if this was a part of the tomb not meant for visitors. Cracks revealed artificial decay, giving the impression that this room had been in the tomb much longer than it really had. Ulbert had to hand it to his sister, she knew how to make a dungeon.
"So what exactly is it?" Ulbert inquired, looking back briefly at Momonga as he descended the stairs.
"If you recall WhiteSilver's contingencies back when we first started building Yggdrasil, this is a new one she developed recently. She calls it Contingency Zero, effectively Nazarick's last resort if it was believed that we would lose a raid," Momonga began as they began to near the end of the steep staircase, "WhiteSilver acknowledged the fact that should another Seraphim come around and try to invade Nazarick in the… current state of the guild, the resources needed to actually recover from such an invasion would not be easy to acquire. We have an enormous amount of GP in the treasury, but multiple powerful raids over time would very quickly drain us, especially with our limited income, having only two players grinding. In the event that an invasion had a strong enough chance at victory relative to what Nazarick has, Contingency Zero would be activated."
"And what is Contingency Zero?" Ulbert inquired again, stopping at the bottom of the staircase.
Momonga followed, silently stepping ahead of him before turning to face him. "Ragnarok."
Ulbert was stunned, confused into silence as he looked around the room. Torches kept it dimly lit as ten cloaked NPCs stood, hands together, the light just barely illuminating the faint white masks they all wore. At the center was an eleventh NPC that stood out from all the rest, although it was one he immediately recognized, Victoria. Her golden armor contrasted brightly against the dulled room and shadowy NPCs, glittering with power.
Behind Victoria were detailed engravings, giving the room the only variable color it had, circling around its entire circumference. He turned his head to glance at it all. It could hardly be called a masterpiece, but there was clearly some considerable effort put into making it look at least vaguely accurate. Given its nature as a stone carving, its simplistic style arguably helped bring it all together. In the center was a black circle seemingly radiating with an orange halo, countless lines and magical circles surrounding it as below it twelve figures of only minimal detail stood. In the center was a cloaked man with a snout, horns, and a small top hat alongside a short girl with a ponytail and wings. It was clear to Ulbert who those two were meant to represent, himself and his sister. But as he looked at the other ten, he slowly realized that it detailed each of the ten World Disasters that had cast Ragnarok all those years ago. A large towering knight, a floating twin-tailed dragonoid, a small cat-like pixie, and so on; they were all there, partially raising their arms to cast the infamous spell.
The rest of the mural seemed to detail the other events of the war, displaying vague depictions of each of the seven other guilds destroyed that day. To the immediate left and right of the orb — likely depicting the Ragnarok spell itself — and its magic circles was the island that made up Seraphim's base, split into two and seemingly falling to the ground.
On the floor below him, between all of the cloaked figures, was a detailed engraving of a magical circle. Although the specifics of the shape were unfamiliar to him, the size and general shape of the magic circle made it clear that it was a depiction of the Ragnarok Ritual's circle itself, twelve smaller circles left for each of the World Disasters, twelve stone pillars surrounding it in front of which ten cloak figures stood, leaving two pillars unattended.
The entire room was a shrine to their triumph, though he was confused as to what Ragnarok had to do with a contingency plan. Was this somehow a means to gather the other World Disasters, he wondered.
Momonga stepped forward, standing on the edge of the circle and raising his hand, "Harbingers of Disaster, show yourselves!" He stood there awkwardly for a few moments before tapping his chin. "Hmmm… Why isn't it…? Oh right! It's… Harbingers of Disaster, reveal yourselves!"
Upon saying the right phrase, the ten cloaked figures transformed as they began to kneel. Now surrounding the circle were ten colorful figures, each one recognized by him immediately.
"These are… The other World Disasters? Wait, you don't mean…"
Momonga nodded and explained, "It was believed for a while that doppelgangers replicating the World Disaster class could not cast Ragnarok, as otherwise you'd only need one World Disaster and eleven doppelgangers to do it. However, it was eventually discovered that either by ignorance or deliberate design by the shitty devs, the ritual doesn't actually check if the caster is truly a World Disaster; it just cares that there are twelve different ones. Apparently, each World Disaster class is technically a different, but functionally identical, class. Having two of the same World Disaster in a ritual wouldn't work, but if you happened to have eleven doppelgangers, each of a different World Disaster… Well, you can do something stupid like this."
Ulbert stepped into the middle of the circle, looking around at all the NPCs before questioning, "But where are the last two? I understand Ainz Ooal Gown has me and WhiteSilver, but good luck getting us both on for two hours at the exact time a raid happens to be occurring."
"In the event of Contingency Zero being fired, Pandora's Actor will arrive from the treasury and take on the role of either yourself or WhiteSilver depending on whoever's online."
Ulbert folded his arms, "And what if neither of us are online?"
Momonga shook his head, "Then it won't fire. The idea is that when a force deemed strong enough to wipe out all of Nazarick arrives in the dungeon, the contingency is fired, and the casting time begins. By the time the casting time is up, ideally such a force is still fighting in Nazarick. At that point, WhiteSilver would hold off on selecting the confirmation to fire, thereby holding the spell indefinitely. If the invading army was defeated or left out of fear or respect for their own items, then the spell would be cancelled. If they beat the eighth floor and make their way to the ninth, the spell is cast and Nazarick goes down with all of Helheim. However, NPCs cannot be coded to delay the casting. When the casting time is done, they will instantly cast the spell no matter what. You need at least one player to make sure you can still hold off and cancel it if you need to. Many players wouldn't be petty enough to lose all of their items and the entire realm just to destroy a guild base."
Ulbert looked around at the NPCs with surprise, "Wow… Quite the plan there. Most people invading would be after the World Items we have or the guild base itself, they would get neither if that spell fired, with you guys being able to survive, snag the World Items, and bail outta there before they could ever hope to respawn and return."
Momonga nodded in confirmation. "I was never the biggest fan of it, but even I agreed that I'd rather see Nazarick completely destroyed than fall into the hands of another guild. Since it would only fire when the battle was already lost, there was no real reason to say no. Besides, in the current state of the game, there was zero hope of such a raid ever occurring anyways, so it was just a nice touch to the base. Something to occupy our time and resources."
"Harbingers of Disasters, at ease!" He lifted his arm again as the ten NPCs slowly stood, transforming back into their original state.
"How did she even get the doppelgangers to replicate them?" Ulbert asked.
Momonga shrugged, beginning to walk up the stairs again. "No clue, I suspect foul play. Probably had to lure them here or something. Alternatively she may have taken a page out of Tabula's book and used an exploit. Maybe she traded for it, I don't really know; never bothered to ask. I doubt many of the others know she made this, if any besides us two. Also strangely enough, since doppelgangers copy their targets at a single state and don't update unless you make them do so, if any of them should lose the World Disaster class, those doppelgangers would still be able to cast it. In fact, I believe WhiteSilver mentioned that about half of those World Disasters no longer have the class."
"Of course…" Ulbert couldn't help but chuckle, although there was a sting of sadness deep in his heart, a sorrow that he couldn't have been active when it was all happening. He had so little time to even chat with his sister nowadays that he barely knew what was going on in her life, let alone Yggdrasil.
"So, what now?" Momonga asked as they finally returned to the halls of the ninth floor. Closing the doors behind the duo, he continued, "I'm here all day — not to mention I've been active for the last several years — so it's only right that you get to decide."
Ulbert brought his hand to his chin, pretending to stroke the fur at the bottom of his jaw before deciding, "Perhaps we head to the throne room, take a nice screenshot on the throne. You and WhiteSilver can get one when she gets on and I'll have someone photoshop them together, we'll frame it or something, I dunno."
"Sounds like a plan. Would you like to take the scenic route?" Momonga offered.
Ulbert shrugged. "Why not?"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Momonga approached the mighty throne at the end of the grandiose hallway. A red carpet led his way towards his destination, mighty pillars stretching high above him leading to a grand chandelier that glimmered out a faint blue light that descended onto the carpet below.
Reaching the throne, he turned and sat down, holding the golden Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown in his left hand as he looked up at the goat demon following him. "So, like this?"
Ulbert gave him a thumbs up, "Perfect! Just like that. Though — Hmm, it seems there's an NPC here. Guess I forgot about her. One of Tabula's right? It looks like it. Eh, check the code, you'll be able to tell instantly."
Momonga turned to look at the NPC, a tall, dark-haired woman dressed in a long, white dress with a yellow, web-like pattern covering her fairly revealing cleavage. A pair of dark-feathered wings stretched out from her lower back, curving around her like a shadow. He was also startled to notice the NPC holding a World Item, something that should've been safely stored in the treasury. It seemed her creator had given it to her before he left, but he would overlook the blatant rule violation, it was the last day after all. He already knew for a fact the NPC was Tabula's, more specifically it was Albedo, the Guardian Overseer. Despite that, he held the staff up to the NPC and opened its stats, granting permission for Ulbert to see the UI box as well.
Looking upon the character data itself revealed quite the extensive list. Momonga swiped his fingers to scroll through it, line after line of settings passing by detailing the smallest intricacies of Albedo's personality.
Ulbert groaned, "Yep… Definitely Tabula's… Jeez, this has to be his longest yet!"
Momonga chuckled, "Indeed. She's in charge of the other Guardians. I believe a handful of WhiteSilver and Tabula's contingencies were made through her. Though…" Momonga's scrolling stopped as he skimmed over, reading one line aloud, "...She was originally planned to be an angel of the highest order, to stand alongside the likes of her would've-been sister Victoria as one of angelkind's best guardians. However, she ended up with a greatly distorted appearance after being fused with a monster from the land of dreams…"
"Ah so Tabula made her and Victoria connected? Did he ask WhiteSilver first?" Ulbert wondered out loud.
"Probably, Tabula did play a big hand in the creation and refinement of Victoria. Given how Albedo's build was inspired by Victoria's defensive playstyle — albeit taken to a lesser extreme — it makes sense where they'd be quote unquote 'related,'" Momonga responded, chuckling.
Momonga took a look back at the code, again skimming over it until he finally reached the bottom. "...Incidentally, she is a slut…" Momonga read the line aloud and remained unmoving and silent for a few moments before letting out a faint sigh.
"Deeefinetly Tabula… Really dude, you make an NPC that's tied to Victoria and make her a slut?" Ulbert objected. It was clear he wasn't taking it too seriously, but Momonga could sense a slight bit of anger from his tone.
"He did like his contrasting attributes," Momonga clarified.
"Even so… Hey, it's the last day, and we both know that lunatic isn't showing up, so why don't we change that line? The staff lets you do that, right?"
"I suppose… But that would go against Guild rules–"
"Boooring!" Ulbert cried. "C'mon! It's the last day, seriously, who gives a shit?"
Momonga sighed, "Well I suppose I could delete it…" He muttered, opening up the keyboard to remove the last line. "Though, is there even anything good to put in its place? Might be best to just leave it blank."
Ulbert crossed his arms behind his head, tilting his head back to look up for a few moments before gazing back down. "How about 'She is deeply in love with WhiteSilver!' That'd be funny!"
Momonga slowly turned his head up and to the left, the sound of concrete shifting just barely audible from just how slow his gaze fell upon his demonic friend. He took in a deep digital breath and let out a hefty sigh, "Fine. But if she finds out, I'm telling her you did that."
Ulbert lowered his arms back down to give a thumbs up once more, "Deal!"
Momonga rolled his eyes and typed the phrase into the console. Finished, he closed her UI, glancing up at the NPC before turning away. He already felt disgusted, although it was more from breaking the guild rules than messing with WhiteSilver. That was Ulbert's doing, after all, he'd take the blame.
"Hmmm… Speaking of NPCs, I had one of my own on the seventh floor, Demiurge. Let's go see what I put in his code!"
Momonga stood up from the throne. "You don't remember?" He asked.
Ulbert tilted his head briefly before answering, "Yeah… nope. Unlike Tabula, I actually didn't put much thought or effort into his settings. It was something simple, that's all that I remember."
"I see. Scenic route?" Momonga offered.
Ulbert placed his hands on his waist and looked up. "Hmmm… Nah."
He vanished an instant later, teleporting to the seventh floor. Not wanting to be left behind, Momonga followed suit.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Momonga stared up to witness the massive temple standing before him. In truth, 'standing' was a bit of an exaggeration. If he didn't know it was built this way, it seemed nearly half destroyed. Built in the style of ancient Greek architecture, its pillars appeared crumbling and damaged, some laying on the floor in shattered pieces. The roof had caved in at several points, and various statues depicting various gods laid shattered on the floor. Strangely enough, among them appeared to be a shattered statue of a nutcracker of all things, somewhat standing out amidst the otherwise accurate depictions of mythological gods.
He walked inside, passing several high-level demons that served as guards before meeting up with Ulbert standing besides a well-dressed demon in a vibrant orange-red suit. Ulbert looked down at a UI as Momonga approached, again pretending to brush his fur.
"So, what's on there?" Momonga asked, curious to what exactly Ulbert had put into his NPC.
"Uh… Not much. I always spent more time on appearances — both of the NPC and his surroundings. Never put much thought into writing. That being said, he was very much just a representation of everything wrong with the world. Perhaps it's a little harsh to leave Nazarick with something like that."
"I mean we are larping as the 'bad guys,' I don't see a problem."
"I suppose," Ulbert muttered, typing into the console to delete a short bit of text. "Still, a small adjustment wouldn't hurt. I'm sure as hell not typing out a full new background."
"What exactly did you change?" Momonga inquired.
"Oh not much," Ulbert answered. "His description was mostly stuff like 'He's an evil sociopathic businesslike demon who yada yada, and so on. I just deleted one word… Evil. Still a sociopathic corporate executive though, but hey, it's a bit more tame than evil right?"
"Not really."
Ulbert laughed. "I know! That's why it's funny!" Ulbert then opened up some elements of his UI, tapping away on buttons Momonga couldn't see before saying, "Well then, with all that handles, why don't we ruin some people's last day, huh?"
"Gladly."
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
The duo returned to the depths of Nazarick as they manifested before the grand treasury, the culmination of the guild's wealth. Their raids had been successful, and their haul bountiful — well, as bountiful as one would get for Yggdrasil's current state. With only two people, even with one as a World Disaster, there was only so much they could raid. Had WhiteSilver been there, perhaps they could've done more. But for now, they were happy with what they got. They had ransacked dozens of small and a few medium-sized guilds, rundown as they were, raking in tens of thousands of gold coins left in chests and numerous other items.
As Momonga stepped forward, he opened his UI and unequipped his Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown. With the ring he could travel anywhere in Nazarick instantly, however, his own creation, Pandora's Actor, would turn hostile if he entered the tomb without handing it to him. A sort of 'failsafe' should all other defenses fail. It was unlikely that anyone who got this far wouldn't be able to fight off Pandora's actor and the plethora of golems he made in the likeness of his guildmates, but there were probably some items that could've been able to bypass the other floors to arrive here.
Part of him was also paranoid that one of his guildmates might at some point get their account hacked or sell it to a rival guild, at which point they would try to raid the treasury. Fortunately, such fears never came to pass, although the defenses remained up regardless.
Pandora's Actor gave a salute upon taking the ring, an animation he replicated upon taking Ulbert's as well. The two opened the gates to the main treasury and began walking down the long hallway to the main storage room.
With a smug tone in his voice, Ulbert commented, "Familiar style… I swear I recognized it from somewhere…"
Momonga rolled his eyes. "It had nothing to do with WhiteSilver. I had a… phase…"
"I knew there was a bit of chuuni in you. Though for you to be chuuni in that way of all things… Makes you wonder."
"Well, you can stop wondering."
"Alright, alright, I concede," Ulbert responded, lifting his hands in the air briefly. As he lowered them, he stopped and turned, gazing up at a greyed out statue making a silhouette of his own avatar.
The statue was one of forty-one, each statue a model of the other players once part of the guild. He had seen them before, a small number of times in fact. Momonga had started working on the project when the guild had begun to lose players in larger numbers. With a tradition forming to hand off your gear to Momonga, he wanted some place to put it - in part in case they ever came back. Knowing the player and his hoarding tendencies, he probably would snap numerous screenshots of everyone's gear before the server went dark one last time, and that was good enough for him.
When the statues were finally created, most of the guild was completely gone. Glancing at the statue now, it looked a bit better than it originally did back then, though that was in part his own doing. At Momonga's request, he had put in some work refining the statues, making them ever so more detailed and accurate. He wasn't quite on the level of modeling as some of his former guildmates, but he had some experience with designing - even if it was mostly with architecture. Still, that translated well enough into statues that he was able to make some additional touches onto Momonga's fairly respectable work, even if Momonga would say it was shoddy.
He reached up, opening the NPC's armor UI and swapping his equipment from his own avatar into this one. Left with nothing but the default trousers on, he lowered the UI and let out a heavy sigh. He didn't hold quite the same attachment to this game as Momonga did, or hell even his sister, and he knew that. To him, it was just another game, one he enjoyed a lot more than others, but one he himself likely would've abandoned years ago if not for Tana. He had too much in life now, too much stress, too many problems. Yggdrasil reminded him of a simpler time. A time where, although he had problems, and quite a few of them at that, they all felt… manageable. Like he could push through them. Though that was no longer the case.
Yggdrasil's end was the end of a phase of his life — one that ended years ago, but one he still held onto hope that would return. It saddened him, but he knew it was time to move on. He couldn't linger on the past forever, that would only weigh his sister down. He needed to do what he could for her — if nothing else.
"It's… It was fun, Momonga," Ulbert muttered as he looked down from the statue now clad in his gear.
"Yes…" Momonga muttered, struggling to muster the proper words. "Well when the next game comes, I'll be sure to friend you on that too."
Ulbert sighed again, this time brief as he began walking towards the main treasury to deposit the rest of his loot. "I doubt I'll play it honestly."
"Oh? Why's that?" Momonga inquired, a tinge of sadness, or perhaps disappointment in his voice.
"Tana refuses to tell me, but rent's almost certainly gone up a few times in the last few years. She claims it's not changed and that I don't need to pay more of my half but…" His hands clenched into fists before finally slamming into the wall on his left as he stopped.
"It's not fair!" he screamed, voice filled with a rage Momonga didn't recognize from his friend. It was pure, unfiltered, genuine emotion. "She does so much for me, and I can't even do the bare fucking minimum! I'm working my ass off to try and financially keep up with my end of the rent and the bills, and she's out doing everything else for us! All the groceries, all our bills, hell, even keeping the house clean! I can't do anything for her! She's stretching her money thin, I know it. Hell, I'm stretching my money thin and I barely even buy anything!"
His breathing was heavier now, that much was obvious by audio alone, even though his avatar failed to show his own self-frustrations visibly. "I-It's not that bad…" Momonga muttered in an attempt to comfort the demon, "You helped Tana get the education she needed to have the job she has now, that's got to be worth something. You sacrificed your own career to give Tana one herself! She says so herself, her success was all because of your sacrifice. I think she considers it the least she could do."
Ulbert folded his arms and looked down. He remained standing in silence for a few moments, though it felt like it dragged on for hours. Finally releasing another sigh he continued, "Even still, I feel like I'm just holding her back. I can't keep being the dead weight. Tonight, at work, I'm going to my manager's office and demanding a better wage or hours or anything! I cannot let the rent go higher and higher while my sister is the only one shouldering the burden!"
"I-I see… If that's what you think is best. Then I wish you the best of luck. You have my number IRL I believe, please text me if you need anything."
"Thank you, Suzuki. Here," He quickly opened the trading menu and threw all of the items in his inventory into it. Momonga accepted without another question. "I'm really pushing how much time I have. I trust you and your excessive sorting will find a place for it all - or it will sit eternally in your black hole of an inventory, both are fine with me."
He then brought up another panel of his UI, his finger hovering over the log out button, "Been a blast, Momonga. To the end of the world!"
The demonic avatar vanished for the last time as Momonga stood there, standing still as a newfound silence once more returned to him.
'So that's it, then… Best of luck, Albert.'
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
WhiteSilver appeared within the halls of the ninth floor as she logged in. Looking around, she saw no immediate sign of Momonga, eventually casting the message spell to get in contact.
{ "Hey! Momonga, where are you?" }
{ "Oh! Yeah, I'm just hanging around the meeting room in case anyone comes online." }
{ "Anyone show yet?" } WhiteSilver asked, beginning to tap away to select the meeting room as her teleportation destination.
{ "Nobody new yet, but your brother was here a few hours ago. We did a bit of raiding before he had to leave for work." } Momonga answered as WhiteSilver appeared in a flash of light into the meeting hall.
"So… What's the plan? Last day after all," WhiteSilver asked, taking a seat in one of the forty-one chairs, now sitting nearly perfectly across from Momonga.
"Hmm… Truthfully, I had hoped more people would show… With just the two of us, well I suppose there's still some things we can do."
"I mean, I only just got off of work not too long ago, it's possible some of them might still get on but… Well, I don't want you getting your hopes up."
Momonga sighed in defeat, "I know… But like, c'mon! This is our guild! Our creation! We spent hours upon hours crafting it! Couldn't they spare a single hour! Hell, even just thirty minutes to say goodbye?! How hard is it to care for one day!"
WhiteSilver folded her arms and shook her head. "We both know why. Even you've acknowledged why yourself. They're busy. Your dedication to your past friendships and keeping their efforts in this game alive is respectable, but if I'm being honest, I'm not even sure how many of our friends are alive, let alone in any state to play a DIVE game."
Momonga lowered his head in defeat, he knew WhiteSilver was right — he had come to the same conclusion himself, of course, but it didn't make it hurt any less. "Yes, yes… Of course. Perhaps after this I could reach out, see what games some of them are playing. If Yggdrasil 2 doesn't come out, it might be fun to meet up with them in some other game."
"See, just let me know at work and I'll see if I can get the game. And after work tomorrow I'll take you to get a drink. I wouldn't want you going through the five stages of grief over a video game," WhiteSilver joked, arms moving behind her head as she leaned back.
"Yeah, I'd like that… Welp," Momonga stood up, Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown still in his hand from his prior expeditions, as he gave a determined nod. "It's as you said, no reason to sit here moping until the shutdown, let's do something fun!"
"We can fire Ragnarok," WhiteSilver said, tilting her head slightly.
"Lets… Not…" Momonga muttered, "Even if I'm willing to let this place go, I'd rather not destroy it by firing that spell."
"It would be quite the spectacle though, you gotta admit. Just imagine the look on people's faces when they're celebrating the end of the game then 'woosh' there goes Helheim!"
Momonga let out a brief laugh but shook his head dismissively. "They'd probably think it was scripted for the shutdown, honestly."
WhiteSilver shrugged, standing up. "Probably. Still, if we aren't gonna blow up Helheim for the fun of it, what do you want to do?"
"Hm… Well, Ulbert and I went and did some last minute touches on his NPCs, anything you want to touch on? Victoria maybe?"
WhiteSilver shook her head. "Nah, Victoria's fine, though I may go and grab her for the shutdown. Perhaps I can check out some of my creations on the eighth floor. Go to the eighth floor, I'll meet you there once I pick up Victoria."
"Sounds like a plan," Momonga replied, teleporting to the eighth floor.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Momonga waited for only a minute or so before WhiteSilver arrived next to him on the eighth floor, her personal guardian angel Victoria following closely behind her. Momonga had already spent his limited time there gazing at the various entities on the eighth floor, reminiscing on the time they had spent grinding to make them as well as having witnessed all of them decimating those 1500 invaders. Glorious times.
"So, what did you want to look at?" Momonga asked as WhiteSilver walked past him.
The pixie looked around, noticing various entities hiding within various caves and traps. The eighth floor defenses were different than they had been all those years ago — updated from the lessons they learned then, but never refined beyond that. Nobody made it past the sixth floor since then.
"Truthfully, it's hard to say really any of these NPCs are 'mine.' Sure, I orchestrated and planned for many of their creations, but they were the unified efforts of all of us. Most don't even have anything special in the way of visuals or personality settings. They all just… exist." WhiteSilver explained as she walked through the fields before stumbling upon a row of golems designed like Panzer IV tanks, with some magical alterations made to them. Surrounding them was a makeshift military base, with golems similarly appearing like pieces of artillery stationed in a long row behind the tanks.
They were all part of a 'fear and confusion' tactic by WhiteSilver — at least officially — but most were quick to recognize that they were just WhiteSilver indulging in her interests because she wanted to. Of course, she had all the power to do so, even on the eighth floor.
Standing above the makeshift military base was a single flag decorated with the insignia of Ainz Ooal Gown. It was one of the few flags within Ainz Ooal Gown at all, given their underground aesthetic, but many of the players had adopted it as AOG's "official" flag, to the point that some even brought a custom item bearing it to the battle of Asgard, planting it in Seraphim's guild base before it was annihilated by Ragnarok.
On the flag was the symbol of Ainz Ooal Gown in black with a golden shield shape behind it, surrounded by a black outline before swapping to a thicker yellow outline, then back to a thicker black, and then a lighter yellow. Behind the shield and its outlines was then a thick black line with rotating outlines of gold, then black, then gold once again.
WhiteSilver had called herself 'lazy' when she made the flag, but Momonga didn't see it. Was it perhaps referencing a country flag he didn't know? It partially reminded him of some old German flags that he saw those neo-whatever types flying around in the news, but it didn't seem close enough to say.
WhiteSilver approached one of the tanks, opening up a UI panel to view its settings. Very little of the code had been spared for any sort of personality writings, but that was mostly because she previously saw no need to add anything. Even now, it felt pointless. They were tanks, artificial ones at that, and ones that would soon be deleted. But with her brother refining his NPCs, and with nothing better to do, she decided to type something in.
She finally closed the UI and turned to Momonga, "Yeah, that's about all I can change there… Not much to add, but at least there's something there."
"Oh? What did you —" Momonga stopped as a notification appeared on his UI. "Oh? It appears we have some visitors."
"Invaders? Today? I suppose they might as well. How many?"
"Let me check," Momonga replied, teleporting away into the throne room. WhiteSilver followed, appearing near him as he sat on the Throne of Kings. With it, he began to observe the upper layers of the tomb as the players made their way through it. They seemed to avoid some of even the more well-hidden traps, so it was likely not their first attempt. After a bit of further analysis he explained, "There seems to be about ten of 'em." Not enough to worry about obviously, but still high enough to have a bit of fun with. They don't all seem to be max level, but they're well above 85 at the lowest. At least two of them are level 100."
"How skilled are they, do you think? Any guild affiliations?" WhiteSilver asked, walking around to look at the projected screens surrounding the throne.
"No affiliations as far as I can tell, but they don't strike me as meta players either. Possibly some people who have raided here in the past, likely recently. Nothing worth noting, but I imagine they didn't start this raid thinking they'd win. If someone's been here before, then they'd know just how much we have here."
WhiteSilver looked down at the screens portraying the invading party before turning to look at one on the sixth floor. "Activate Contingency Zeta, let's have a bit of fun with this."
Momonga nodded, already having pulled up the contingencies panel as he selected the sixth one on the list. Contingency Zeta was hardly a severe one; in fact, it actively had them LOWER security in many places. In short, its goal was to make it certain that any invaders made their way to the sixth floor, ideally without any needless expenditure of resources. Any teleportation traps and most teleport pads were also adjusted to send them to the sixth floor instead of their original destinations. The contingency was used largely just for messing with people, or in short, parties that weren't a threat.
Not long after the contingency was initiated, the invading players found themselves stepping where they shouldn't have, being transported immediately all the way to the colosseum on the sixth floor.
Teleporting to meet them there, Momong and WhiteSilver approached the edge of the VIP area where they watched as the party of players made their way to the central area. Despite their activation of Contingency Zeta, it appeared two had already died, unfortunate but inconsequential.
"Welcome, invaders, to the Great Tomb of Nazarick!" WhiteSilver cried out, turning her head to Momonga.
Nodding in acknowledgement, Momonga himself stepped forward and continued, "We are glad to have visitors on this final day, but it appears you have arrived uninvited, and without Visas."
WhiteSilver placed her arms behind her back as she spoke up once again, "And we don't take too kindly to trespassers…
"Naturally," Momonga began, "That includes you… All that said…"
"DAMNATIO AD BESTIAS!"
The two elf twin NPCs standing nearby leaped down onto the colosseum floor. Bukubukuchagama's creations, the two were the joint guardians of the Sixth floor, and the de facto orchestrators of the coliseum.
Aura Bella Fiora, the older of the two twins, was a tomboyish dark elf donned in a white vest and pants with a yellow-gold trim and a red-scaled undershirt with leather gloves covering her hands. She waved her hand, pointing it forward as various beasts emerged to fight. Among them were the likes of Fenrir, a mighty wolf of night-black fur and shining gold streaks, a giant black Iris Tyrannus Basileus, a dinosaur-like monster resembling the Kaiju of old, and no less than half a dozen other mythical creatures all heeding her call.
On the other side of the colosseum was Mare Bello Fiore, the younger brother of the two, donned in a more feminine outfit with a skirt, thigh-highs, silk gloves, a leaf-like cape, and a blue-scaled undershirt rather than a red one.
Much like WhiteSilver, he specialized in AOE attacks, raising his staff,the earth itself heeding his command as the entire enemy party was bombarded by the very ground beneath their feet. While Aura was a ranger and beastmaster, with her already pulling out her bow to take shots at the panicked party, Mare held the 'Disciple of Disaster' class, effectively a weaker and less limited version of WhiteSilver's own 'World Disaster.'
That said, much like World Disaster, which adapted to her gunner class, so too had Mare's class adapted more towards his druid classes, causing much of his AoE attacks to take on a more natural appearance.
Before long, a combination of these two NPCs in addition to some others dragged in from around brought the party's strength down to just three fairly exhausted members. Looking down with folded arms she muttered, "I think that's enough."
Momonga nodded, "Surprised you didn't call it off earlier." He raised his hand, shouting to the NPCs, "Fall back!"
WhiteSilver leaped down, wings fluttering as her cape flowed in the wind generated by them, lowering herself to the ground. On the opposite side of the arena, she stared with a still grin on her unchanging avatar's face as she slowly began to clap. Momonga teleported to her side a moment later as WhiteSilver spread her arms out in congratulations. "Great job! Truly remarkable show! Now, let us show you just how little of a chance you stood!"
The red amulet around her neck glowed a deep crimson color as she held open her hand, a black orb appearing within it, radiating a faint purple hue on its edges as it grew. She threw it forward as the trio that remained began charging at her. The ball landed on the ground, immediately expanding upon impact. As it did so, it gradually turned into a glowing white sphere that soon engulfed one of the players before managing to leap outwards.
The party seemed confused, now unmoving as WhiteSilver laughed, "Don't recognize it, do you? Doesn't matter, you don't need to!" Another orb appeared, this time slowly growing before shooting out a beam forward that grew larger with each second. Before long, the beam faded, but not before taking a giant chunk out of one player's health points.
Before the party could respond, Momonga appeared behind them, teleporting in an instant. A golden clock behind Momonga's head ticked to the 12 position as he instantly shouted, "[Widen Magic - Cry of the Banshee]!"
The health pools of the trio quickly fell to zero as their items dropped not long after. Momonga shook his head, half-disappointed. "Easily distracted, weren't they? Decided to use your World Item spells right? Smart. Definitely confused the hell out of em'."
WhiteSilver hummed her agreement. "Glad Tabula was able to help me make some spells before he stopped playing a while back. The system for making spells with this thing kinda sucks, it's like coding with blocks, but it's so limiting. Not that I have much more experience with programming than a basic computer science class."
"You got to have a computer science class?!"
"Education aside, their stuff doesn't seem all too impressive but… Why did their tank have a gun?" WhiteSilver wondered out loud before picking it up only to make a loud "Pffft!"
"Hm? What is it?"
"A fucking World Item!"
"Huh?!"
WhiteSilver held up the fairly basic-looking flintlock pistol, much to Momonga's confusion. Immediately, she explained, "Chekov's gun. According to its description, 'A pistol that shall only be used once at the most opportune moment'… What the hell does that even mean?!" She began to scroll through its info to find the actual item ability description. "Alright, so apparently it has the power to basically instant-kill someone regardless of any defenses or resistances. The death will be a permanent deletion, likely similar to Longinus, although there doesn't seem to be a downside to doing it. The only restriction, however, is that it cannot be done instantly. The ability only becomes available if you hold onto this World Item for a certain amount of time. And after using it, the gun is permanently deleted."
"Interesting… How long do you need to hold onto it for?" Momonga asked.
"It does not say."
"Ah… Definitely not using it today, then."
"Yeah, not that I would wanna be the guy that deletes someone's account a few hours before the shutdown," WhiteSilver muttered.
"Yeah, I'd be pissed, honestly," Momonga muttered.
"Welp… With this new World Item, it seems Ainz Ooal Gown is up to thirteen World Items, a World Record."
"It was already a World Record at twelve," Momonga corrected.
"Well it's an even better record now."
Momonga rolled his eyes, "You're just like your brother."
"Shut up. We don't have terribly long, let's go find something to do."
"Oh?" Momonga muttered, looking at his UI. "Herohero just got online." Without another word, Momonga teleported to the meeting hall alongside WhiteSilver.
It wasn't long before Herohero arrived himself. "Oh, Momonga, WhiteSilver. Nice to see I wasn't the only one who responded to Momonga's email."
"Eh, I was always somewhat active on Yggdrasil anyways," WhiteSilver corrected.
"Glad you have you, you missed Ulbert a few hours back, he was here for a bit."
"Ah, glad to hear there's been quite a few people still around. Honestly, I'm surprised Nazarick's still standing. I suppose I owe that to you two. I could only hop on for a short while, unfortunately. Mostly, I wanted to stop by and say hi if I could. Work has been hell, you know." The purple slime rubbed his forehead, or rather what would've been his forehead had his body not been a moving puddle of ooze. "Sorry, I shouldn't ramble about IRL things."
"It's no problem, really. It's the last day, who cares if the rules are bent a little?" Momonga replied, giving a hearty laugh thinking of how often he had said that phrase. "Anything you wanted to do before you log off? We only have an hour until the shutdown, that's probably enough time."
Herohero's slimy mass swayed from left to right, "Nah, I think I'm good. I don't quite have it in me to do a whole quest or raid or anything like that. I'm tired as it is, I don't think I'll even be able to stay until the shutdown. I just wanted to say hi mostly."
"That's understandable…" Momonga muttered. "How about a basic stroll through the tomb, take in the sights. I wanted to get a few more screenshots anyway. I doubt the devs will be nice enough to provide us a world download."
"Sure, why not," Herohero replied, climbing up from his seat at the table.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Time passed quickly, almost too quickly as far as Momonga was concerned. Their final tour, though enjoyable, was filled with an increasing feeling of anxiety within Momonga. With only minutes until the shutdown, Herohero unfortunately left, despite Momonga's hopes that he'd stay until the end.
'I can't blame them' had been his personal mantra of the day, it seemed, though he was growing tired of saying it. Still, he was glad he showed up at all. Four different players of Ainz Ooal Gown showing up in one day was practically unheard of over the last year, after all.
As Herohero logged off, Momonga fell silent, nothing left to distract himself from the impending end. WhiteSilver remained, much to his gratitude, as he walked his way to the throne room without making another word. If there was anywhere he should end the game, it was here, at the center of it all.
Momonga sat down once more upon the Throne of Kings as he looked up to the ceiling, gazing upon the rows of red and gold banners with the logos of each of his friends. He pointed at them, muttering their names in his head.
'Touch Me'
'Ulbert Alain Odle'
'Bukubukuchagama'
'Peroronocino'
'There's myself'
His finger then moved to one last symbol, forming an X-like shape out of two sets of wings with a small circle above it, White Silver called the symbol the 'Silver Wings'. 'WhiteSilver as well. Glad she stuck out this long. I do wish we could've gone on for longer but…'
"I've said this before, but it was truly fun, WhiteSilver. I am grateful you stuck it out this long."
"Eh, I spent so much time and money on this game, it felt like a waste to ditch it. Besides, the only reason I started playing this game was my brother, I have no motivation to try out a whole new MMO unless I get someone who wants me to try it."
"That's fair. Speaking of, had your eye on any games we could play once Yggdrasil shuts down?" Momonga asked.
"Not really, never looked much into the genre. But honestly, I should get you to try some real-time strategy games. I think you'll enjoy them, at least once you get the hang of it."
"I'll have to try it out then," Momonga responded.
"You gotta get to work first. I took tomorrow off specifically so I could stay up, the fact you were off today tells me that you didn't. So when the servers shut down, go to bed and get work done. I'm not covering your slack when I get back."
"O-Of course…" Momonga muttered.
'Jeez, she can get so intimidating when she's talking about work. Glad I'm not on her bad side there at least.'
Momonga leaned back on his throne, WhiteSilver to his left leaning against it and Albedo to his right standing politely as he gazed upon the in-game clock ticking up to the end.
23:59:50
23:59:51
23:59:52
23:59:53
23:59:54
23:59:55
23:59:56
23:59:57
23:59:58
23:59:59
'Been a blast, truly. But all things must end.'
24:00:00
24:00:01
But not today.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X–X-X-X
Next Chapter:
A Pixie's Plight
Le chapter is done! Also big thanks to both my Beta Readers and Assistants. I recently divided my former Beta Reader role into the direct Beta Readers, who only correct grammar — and the Assistants, who help with some of the more writing-adjacent aspects.
So please thank all the Beta Readers who worked on this chapter:
[There's uuh… not many beta readers yet — not that I gave them a lot of time either, so that's kinda on me.]
And also thank all the Assistants who helped:
Fish Tank - "Resistance is futile, at this point."
Dr. Rx - Time for isekai.
Yert - So when I first watched Overlord, what really drew me in was the intense nostalgia, since I played an MMO once upon a time. I wonder if anyone else had the same reaction?
And Join the Discord to receive notifications, hang out, or apply to be a Beta Reader or Assistant:
discord.gg
'How had it come to this?'
He looked back up at the seats, all forty of them unfilled. Of the 41 members of Ainz Ooal Gown, only a handful remained in contact, the rest lost to reality. Of those, few ever bothered to log in. In short, only two — maybe three of the guild members remained active, and that was in a good week.
He had spent the better part of the last year reminiscing on the past, on what the guild once was. The glory days all those years ago, fighting across Asgard and reducing an empire to ash. It was fun, but it had ended, as all things do. Now all he could do was wait for the end, the true end.
Yggdrasil had announced it not long prior: their servers would be shutting down and the devs moving on to another project, at least, whatever devs remained. Momonga speculated most of the dev and GM team had left a short while ago, likely to work on whatever new slop the company was going to pour out. Hell, even now, apparently some NPCs tied to a World Enemy bugged out a few days prior and the GM online couldn't do anything about it because they didn't have high enough authorization to deal with World Enemies or NPCs tied to them. Took multiple hours before a higher-ranked admin stepped in and solved the problem, and even then it was a patchwork fix at best that failed half the time.
The last few months had been a shitshow, but most had already moved on. Yggdrasil went past its prime years ago, and the game had been stagnating on the edge of a cliff for nearly two years now, decaying bit by bit. Those who remained were the stubborn few like himself, too deep in sunk-cost fallacy to give up. Though in Momonga's case, it was a bit more than that.
He stood up, pushing his chair back in as he walked over to the edge of the meeting room. Standing before him was a glistening staff, bending, curving, and twisting upwards towards the top, where multiple snake heads held glowing orbs in their mouths, each gleaming with power. The shining golden staff was a testament to their guild, the friendships he had forged with his guildmates. Countless hours, vacation days, and even real-world money through cash items went into the creation of the Guild Weapon, an item with the power to rival even World Items.
This was why he stayed. Not for the staff, but rather what it represented. The hours, days, weeks, months spent with his friends grinding away all for a single shared goal, a single desire they all shared: to escape.
His fist slammed against the wall next to the staff in fury. "HOW COULD THEY GIVE IT UP SO EASILY?!"
His rage subsided as he let out another deep sigh. He knew why, and he couldn't — wouldn't — blame a single one of them. Ainz Ooal Gown required players to be active members of society, no showerless nepobabies who were living off of inheritance. Each player had lives to return to, jobs to work, some even families to care for, and only so much free time, if they had any at all. Some simply didn't have time to play, and those that still did found it no longer worth spending what little free time they had in the day on a dying game with no new content or players.
For him, this game was his life, but for others… it was still just a game. He couldn't blame them for making that distinction, but he couldn't give it up himself. If there was a chance, even the slightest one, of someone wanting to return, he needed to stay. The guild and its home base needed to remain intact, so that even if for only one day, those players could return and enjoy themselves as they once had. Even if it meant he would have to play alone, he would do so, until the end of days, or more likely, when his body gave out.
Unfortunately, that day had finally come. In several hours, the servers would shut down, and that would be that. He could find a new game to play, and though he would mourn, that's likely what he would do. He hoped Tana, or rather, WhiteSilver, would still want to join him in whatever new game they would venture into. Maybe he could get into the shooter-exclusive games Tana was good at.
Momonga reached forward, the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown clicking into his hands as he pulled it out. "Normally this would not be moved without permission, but… It's the last day, you are a testament to the guild."
He turned as he noticed a pop-up appear in the corner of his vision; "[Ulbert Alain Odle is now Online]."
He nearly jumped when a few moments later Ulbert appeared in the meeting room beside him. Before he could respond, he saw the goat-like demon waving, his brown and crimson attire still the same as all those years ago. He never changed his gear — deemed it "too cool" to give up, but he did greatly upgrade it. He held a deep hatred for cash shop items, especially the more expensive ones, but conveniently forgot that hatred when his sister offered some to buff up his equipment.
"Ah! Momonga! Got your message. Glad I managed to wake up early to make it!"
A smiling emoticon appeared above Momonga's head as he greeted his friend, "Glad you could! Though… early? It's nearly 1PM dude."
Ulbert folded his arms, an air of annoyance surrounding him and filling his voice, though it didn't appear aimed at Momonga but just in general, "Yeah, I suppose I never really brought it up, but they moved me onto the night shift almost a year ago. I'm lucky to get home before my sister leaves for work. It's why I stopped playing, really. I tried to play occasionally since my sister still did, but once they moved me onto night shift, I would never be on when anyone else was, so it became kind of boring. I ended up only playing when Tana wanted my help grinding a specific item, and only when work was so slow they let us off early to avoid paying us."
Momonga nodded. "I understand completely. I suppose that explains things."
Ulbert had been one of the few who remained vaguely active, but as he had said, his activity plummeted in the last year or so, with the answer as to why now clear. It was all the more reminder to Momonga that his friends had more in their lives than Yggdrasil. It was a hard and depressing truth, but it was the truth nonetheless.
"Will WhiteSilver be getting on as well?" Momonga asked.
"Most likely, but she didn't take today off like you seem to have done. She took tomorrow off I think, apparently she's planning to stay on till the shutdown. To quote her, 'I know that idiot's gonna stay up 'till midnight, I don't want to have to cover his slack when he shows up to work sleep-deprived.'"
Momonga let out a small laugh, "Sounds like her. So, it's the last day, what do you want to do?"
Ulbert planted his hands on his waist and looked up, seemingly thinking for a few seconds before looking back down at Momonga. "Not quite sure, honestly. I only got a few hours before I should be preparing for work. Perhaps we can explore the tomb a bit. I haven't actually looked at what you two have been doing for the last year or so, at most I just grinded materials and left them in the treasury. Oh right, before I log off, I would also like to give you my gear, don't let me forget."
"Your gear? Are you sure?" Momonga asked with concern.
Ulbert waved his hand dismissively, "Yeah of course! It's not like I'll need it when the servers shut down. I would've given it to you months ago if not for my limited commitment to helping out my sister. If I can't be here physically for the shutdown, I'd still like for my equipment to be there. You made all those statues in the Treasury, I've seen them every time I deposited resources. I want you to put my gear on mine. Let me join our fellow guildmates in the halls of our glorious triumphs!"
Momonga could only let out a hearty laugh. "Hahaha! Very well, my comrade!"
Ulbert nudged Momonga with his shoulder, a smug emoticon appearing as he declared, "I knew you had it in ya! Especially after I looked at that NPC of yours."
"A-Ah.. Pandora's Actor…"
"The aesthetics remind me of someone… Got something you wanna tell me, Momonga?" Ulbert questioned, smugness radiating from his expressionless avatar.
"You're sounding a lot like Bukubukuchagama right now," Momonga groaned, facepalming.
Ulbert turned and began walking out of the meeting room, waving his hand dismissively as he left, "She's still single!"
Momonga groaned, "That goat's gonna be the death of me."
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Ulbert and Momonga walked side by side down the gilded halls of the Ninth Floor of Nazarick. With each step, Momonga saw something new that reminded him of the past. Every wall, every door, every maid NPC that passed them, each was built with the digital blood, sweat, and tears of his closest friends. It pained him that he was forced to give it up and never recover, except through screenshots and video recordings.
"Love what you did with the place!" Ulbert exclaimed, looking around.
"I didn't change anything," Momonga corrected.
"I know! I love it!" Ulbert stopped as he turned to look down one of the halls only to see a door at the end of it he didn't recognize. "Oh, that's new. What's that?"
He approached the door, its appearance giving the impression of hard stone, as if serving as an entrance to a deeper dungeon. Detailed on it was an engraving of four wings of fire, stretching outwards above further flames below. The door was a solid grey, though the engravings were distinctly darker than the rest of the door.
Pushing on it, the door slowly opened, giving the impression of weight even in its digital state.
"Ah, it's what WhiteSilver's mostly been working on over the last year. It started out as a more practical addition, but with nothing else to do she's taken to making it aesthetically interesting," Momonga explained, following behind Ulbert as he stepped into the dimly lit corridor.
Faint torchlights lit the hallway as it descended downwards into a steep staircase. With each step the lights flickered, as if one gust would blow them out completely. The walls consisted of the same cold stone as the doorway, as if this was a part of the tomb not meant for visitors. Cracks revealed artificial decay, giving the impression that this room had been in the tomb much longer than it really had. Ulbert had to hand it to his sister, she knew how to make a dungeon.
"So what exactly is it?" Ulbert inquired, looking back briefly at Momonga as he descended the stairs.
"If you recall WhiteSilver's contingencies back when we first started building Yggdrasil, this is a new one she developed recently. She calls it Contingency Zero, effectively Nazarick's last resort if it was believed that we would lose a raid," Momonga began as they began to near the end of the steep staircase, "WhiteSilver acknowledged the fact that should another Seraphim come around and try to invade Nazarick in the… current state of the guild, the resources needed to actually recover from such an invasion would not be easy to acquire. We have an enormous amount of GP in the treasury, but multiple powerful raids over time would very quickly drain us, especially with our limited income, having only two players grinding. In the event that an invasion had a strong enough chance at victory relative to what Nazarick has, Contingency Zero would be activated."
"And what is Contingency Zero?" Ulbert inquired again, stopping at the bottom of the staircase.
Momonga followed, silently stepping ahead of him before turning to face him. "Ragnarok."
Ulbert was stunned, confused into silence as he looked around the room. Torches kept it dimly lit as ten cloaked NPCs stood, hands together, the light just barely illuminating the faint white masks they all wore. At the center was an eleventh NPC that stood out from all the rest, although it was one he immediately recognized, Victoria. Her golden armor contrasted brightly against the dulled room and shadowy NPCs, glittering with power.
Behind Victoria were detailed engravings, giving the room the only variable color it had, circling around its entire circumference. He turned his head to glance at it all. It could hardly be called a masterpiece, but there was clearly some considerable effort put into making it look at least vaguely accurate. Given its nature as a stone carving, its simplistic style arguably helped bring it all together. In the center was a black circle seemingly radiating with an orange halo, countless lines and magical circles surrounding it as below it twelve figures of only minimal detail stood. In the center was a cloaked man with a snout, horns, and a small top hat alongside a short girl with a ponytail and wings. It was clear to Ulbert who those two were meant to represent, himself and his sister. But as he looked at the other ten, he slowly realized that it detailed each of the ten World Disasters that had cast Ragnarok all those years ago. A large towering knight, a floating twin-tailed dragonoid, a small cat-like pixie, and so on; they were all there, partially raising their arms to cast the infamous spell.
The rest of the mural seemed to detail the other events of the war, displaying vague depictions of each of the seven other guilds destroyed that day. To the immediate left and right of the orb — likely depicting the Ragnarok spell itself — and its magic circles was the island that made up Seraphim's base, split into two and seemingly falling to the ground.
On the floor below him, between all of the cloaked figures, was a detailed engraving of a magical circle. Although the specifics of the shape were unfamiliar to him, the size and general shape of the magic circle made it clear that it was a depiction of the Ragnarok Ritual's circle itself, twelve smaller circles left for each of the World Disasters, twelve stone pillars surrounding it in front of which ten cloak figures stood, leaving two pillars unattended.
The entire room was a shrine to their triumph, though he was confused as to what Ragnarok had to do with a contingency plan. Was this somehow a means to gather the other World Disasters, he wondered.
Momonga stepped forward, standing on the edge of the circle and raising his hand, "Harbingers of Disaster, show yourselves!" He stood there awkwardly for a few moments before tapping his chin. "Hmmm… Why isn't it…? Oh right! It's… Harbingers of Disaster, reveal yourselves!"
Upon saying the right phrase, the ten cloaked figures transformed as they began to kneel. Now surrounding the circle were ten colorful figures, each one recognized by him immediately.
"These are… The other World Disasters? Wait, you don't mean…"
Momonga nodded and explained, "It was believed for a while that doppelgangers replicating the World Disaster class could not cast Ragnarok, as otherwise you'd only need one World Disaster and eleven doppelgangers to do it. However, it was eventually discovered that either by ignorance or deliberate design by the shitty devs, the ritual doesn't actually check if the caster is truly a World Disaster; it just cares that there are twelve different ones. Apparently, each World Disaster class is technically a different, but functionally identical, class. Having two of the same World Disaster in a ritual wouldn't work, but if you happened to have eleven doppelgangers, each of a different World Disaster… Well, you can do something stupid like this."
Ulbert stepped into the middle of the circle, looking around at all the NPCs before questioning, "But where are the last two? I understand Ainz Ooal Gown has me and WhiteSilver, but good luck getting us both on for two hours at the exact time a raid happens to be occurring."
"In the event of Contingency Zero being fired, Pandora's Actor will arrive from the treasury and take on the role of either yourself or WhiteSilver depending on whoever's online."
Ulbert folded his arms, "And what if neither of us are online?"
Momonga shook his head, "Then it won't fire. The idea is that when a force deemed strong enough to wipe out all of Nazarick arrives in the dungeon, the contingency is fired, and the casting time begins. By the time the casting time is up, ideally such a force is still fighting in Nazarick. At that point, WhiteSilver would hold off on selecting the confirmation to fire, thereby holding the spell indefinitely. If the invading army was defeated or left out of fear or respect for their own items, then the spell would be cancelled. If they beat the eighth floor and make their way to the ninth, the spell is cast and Nazarick goes down with all of Helheim. However, NPCs cannot be coded to delay the casting. When the casting time is done, they will instantly cast the spell no matter what. You need at least one player to make sure you can still hold off and cancel it if you need to. Many players wouldn't be petty enough to lose all of their items and the entire realm just to destroy a guild base."
Ulbert looked around at the NPCs with surprise, "Wow… Quite the plan there. Most people invading would be after the World Items we have or the guild base itself, they would get neither if that spell fired, with you guys being able to survive, snag the World Items, and bail outta there before they could ever hope to respawn and return."
Momonga nodded in confirmation. "I was never the biggest fan of it, but even I agreed that I'd rather see Nazarick completely destroyed than fall into the hands of another guild. Since it would only fire when the battle was already lost, there was no real reason to say no. Besides, in the current state of the game, there was zero hope of such a raid ever occurring anyways, so it was just a nice touch to the base. Something to occupy our time and resources."
"Harbingers of Disasters, at ease!" He lifted his arm again as the ten NPCs slowly stood, transforming back into their original state.
"How did she even get the doppelgangers to replicate them?" Ulbert asked.
Momonga shrugged, beginning to walk up the stairs again. "No clue, I suspect foul play. Probably had to lure them here or something. Alternatively she may have taken a page out of Tabula's book and used an exploit. Maybe she traded for it, I don't really know; never bothered to ask. I doubt many of the others know she made this, if any besides us two. Also strangely enough, since doppelgangers copy their targets at a single state and don't update unless you make them do so, if any of them should lose the World Disaster class, those doppelgangers would still be able to cast it. In fact, I believe WhiteSilver mentioned that about half of those World Disasters no longer have the class."
"Of course…" Ulbert couldn't help but chuckle, although there was a sting of sadness deep in his heart, a sorrow that he couldn't have been active when it was all happening. He had so little time to even chat with his sister nowadays that he barely knew what was going on in her life, let alone Yggdrasil.
"So, what now?" Momonga asked as they finally returned to the halls of the ninth floor. Closing the doors behind the duo, he continued, "I'm here all day — not to mention I've been active for the last several years — so it's only right that you get to decide."
Ulbert brought his hand to his chin, pretending to stroke the fur at the bottom of his jaw before deciding, "Perhaps we head to the throne room, take a nice screenshot on the throne. You and WhiteSilver can get one when she gets on and I'll have someone photoshop them together, we'll frame it or something, I dunno."
"Sounds like a plan. Would you like to take the scenic route?" Momonga offered.
Ulbert shrugged. "Why not?"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Momonga approached the mighty throne at the end of the grandiose hallway. A red carpet led his way towards his destination, mighty pillars stretching high above him leading to a grand chandelier that glimmered out a faint blue light that descended onto the carpet below.
Reaching the throne, he turned and sat down, holding the golden Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown in his left hand as he looked up at the goat demon following him. "So, like this?"
Ulbert gave him a thumbs up, "Perfect! Just like that. Though — Hmm, it seems there's an NPC here. Guess I forgot about her. One of Tabula's right? It looks like it. Eh, check the code, you'll be able to tell instantly."
Momonga turned to look at the NPC, a tall, dark-haired woman dressed in a long, white dress with a yellow, web-like pattern covering her fairly revealing cleavage. A pair of dark-feathered wings stretched out from her lower back, curving around her like a shadow. He was also startled to notice the NPC holding a World Item, something that should've been safely stored in the treasury. It seemed her creator had given it to her before he left, but he would overlook the blatant rule violation, it was the last day after all. He already knew for a fact the NPC was Tabula's, more specifically it was Albedo, the Guardian Overseer. Despite that, he held the staff up to the NPC and opened its stats, granting permission for Ulbert to see the UI box as well.
Looking upon the character data itself revealed quite the extensive list. Momonga swiped his fingers to scroll through it, line after line of settings passing by detailing the smallest intricacies of Albedo's personality.
Ulbert groaned, "Yep… Definitely Tabula's… Jeez, this has to be his longest yet!"
Momonga chuckled, "Indeed. She's in charge of the other Guardians. I believe a handful of WhiteSilver and Tabula's contingencies were made through her. Though…" Momonga's scrolling stopped as he skimmed over, reading one line aloud, "...She was originally planned to be an angel of the highest order, to stand alongside the likes of her would've-been sister Victoria as one of angelkind's best guardians. However, she ended up with a greatly distorted appearance after being fused with a monster from the land of dreams…"
"Ah so Tabula made her and Victoria connected? Did he ask WhiteSilver first?" Ulbert wondered out loud.
"Probably, Tabula did play a big hand in the creation and refinement of Victoria. Given how Albedo's build was inspired by Victoria's defensive playstyle — albeit taken to a lesser extreme — it makes sense where they'd be quote unquote 'related,'" Momonga responded, chuckling.
Momonga took a look back at the code, again skimming over it until he finally reached the bottom. "...Incidentally, she is a slut…" Momonga read the line aloud and remained unmoving and silent for a few moments before letting out a faint sigh.
"Deeefinetly Tabula… Really dude, you make an NPC that's tied to Victoria and make her a slut?" Ulbert objected. It was clear he wasn't taking it too seriously, but Momonga could sense a slight bit of anger from his tone.
"He did like his contrasting attributes," Momonga clarified.
"Even so… Hey, it's the last day, and we both know that lunatic isn't showing up, so why don't we change that line? The staff lets you do that, right?"
"I suppose… But that would go against Guild rules–"
"Boooring!" Ulbert cried. "C'mon! It's the last day, seriously, who gives a shit?"
Momonga sighed, "Well I suppose I could delete it…" He muttered, opening up the keyboard to remove the last line. "Though, is there even anything good to put in its place? Might be best to just leave it blank."
Ulbert crossed his arms behind his head, tilting his head back to look up for a few moments before gazing back down. "How about 'She is deeply in love with WhiteSilver!' That'd be funny!"
Momonga slowly turned his head up and to the left, the sound of concrete shifting just barely audible from just how slow his gaze fell upon his demonic friend. He took in a deep digital breath and let out a hefty sigh, "Fine. But if she finds out, I'm telling her you did that."
Ulbert lowered his arms back down to give a thumbs up once more, "Deal!"
Momonga rolled his eyes and typed the phrase into the console. Finished, he closed her UI, glancing up at the NPC before turning away. He already felt disgusted, although it was more from breaking the guild rules than messing with WhiteSilver. That was Ulbert's doing, after all, he'd take the blame.
"Hmmm… Speaking of NPCs, I had one of my own on the seventh floor, Demiurge. Let's go see what I put in his code!"
Momonga stood up from the throne. "You don't remember?" He asked.
Ulbert tilted his head briefly before answering, "Yeah… nope. Unlike Tabula, I actually didn't put much thought or effort into his settings. It was something simple, that's all that I remember."
"I see. Scenic route?" Momonga offered.
Ulbert placed his hands on his waist and looked up. "Hmmm… Nah."
He vanished an instant later, teleporting to the seventh floor. Not wanting to be left behind, Momonga followed suit.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Momonga stared up to witness the massive temple standing before him. In truth, 'standing' was a bit of an exaggeration. If he didn't know it was built this way, it seemed nearly half destroyed. Built in the style of ancient Greek architecture, its pillars appeared crumbling and damaged, some laying on the floor in shattered pieces. The roof had caved in at several points, and various statues depicting various gods laid shattered on the floor. Strangely enough, among them appeared to be a shattered statue of a nutcracker of all things, somewhat standing out amidst the otherwise accurate depictions of mythological gods.
He walked inside, passing several high-level demons that served as guards before meeting up with Ulbert standing besides a well-dressed demon in a vibrant orange-red suit. Ulbert looked down at a UI as Momonga approached, again pretending to brush his fur.
"So, what's on there?" Momonga asked, curious to what exactly Ulbert had put into his NPC.
"Uh… Not much. I always spent more time on appearances — both of the NPC and his surroundings. Never put much thought into writing. That being said, he was very much just a representation of everything wrong with the world. Perhaps it's a little harsh to leave Nazarick with something like that."
"I mean we are larping as the 'bad guys,' I don't see a problem."
"I suppose," Ulbert muttered, typing into the console to delete a short bit of text. "Still, a small adjustment wouldn't hurt. I'm sure as hell not typing out a full new background."
"What exactly did you change?" Momonga inquired.
"Oh not much," Ulbert answered. "His description was mostly stuff like 'He's an evil sociopathic businesslike demon who yada yada, and so on. I just deleted one word… Evil. Still a sociopathic corporate executive though, but hey, it's a bit more tame than evil right?"
"Not really."
Ulbert laughed. "I know! That's why it's funny!" Ulbert then opened up some elements of his UI, tapping away on buttons Momonga couldn't see before saying, "Well then, with all that handles, why don't we ruin some people's last day, huh?"
"Gladly."
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
The duo returned to the depths of Nazarick as they manifested before the grand treasury, the culmination of the guild's wealth. Their raids had been successful, and their haul bountiful — well, as bountiful as one would get for Yggdrasil's current state. With only two people, even with one as a World Disaster, there was only so much they could raid. Had WhiteSilver been there, perhaps they could've done more. But for now, they were happy with what they got. They had ransacked dozens of small and a few medium-sized guilds, rundown as they were, raking in tens of thousands of gold coins left in chests and numerous other items.
As Momonga stepped forward, he opened his UI and unequipped his Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown. With the ring he could travel anywhere in Nazarick instantly, however, his own creation, Pandora's Actor, would turn hostile if he entered the tomb without handing it to him. A sort of 'failsafe' should all other defenses fail. It was unlikely that anyone who got this far wouldn't be able to fight off Pandora's actor and the plethora of golems he made in the likeness of his guildmates, but there were probably some items that could've been able to bypass the other floors to arrive here.
Part of him was also paranoid that one of his guildmates might at some point get their account hacked or sell it to a rival guild, at which point they would try to raid the treasury. Fortunately, such fears never came to pass, although the defenses remained up regardless.
Pandora's Actor gave a salute upon taking the ring, an animation he replicated upon taking Ulbert's as well. The two opened the gates to the main treasury and began walking down the long hallway to the main storage room.
With a smug tone in his voice, Ulbert commented, "Familiar style… I swear I recognized it from somewhere…"
Momonga rolled his eyes. "It had nothing to do with WhiteSilver. I had a… phase…"
"I knew there was a bit of chuuni in you. Though for you to be chuuni in that way of all things… Makes you wonder."
"Well, you can stop wondering."
"Alright, alright, I concede," Ulbert responded, lifting his hands in the air briefly. As he lowered them, he stopped and turned, gazing up at a greyed out statue making a silhouette of his own avatar.
The statue was one of forty-one, each statue a model of the other players once part of the guild. He had seen them before, a small number of times in fact. Momonga had started working on the project when the guild had begun to lose players in larger numbers. With a tradition forming to hand off your gear to Momonga, he wanted some place to put it - in part in case they ever came back. Knowing the player and his hoarding tendencies, he probably would snap numerous screenshots of everyone's gear before the server went dark one last time, and that was good enough for him.
When the statues were finally created, most of the guild was completely gone. Glancing at the statue now, it looked a bit better than it originally did back then, though that was in part his own doing. At Momonga's request, he had put in some work refining the statues, making them ever so more detailed and accurate. He wasn't quite on the level of modeling as some of his former guildmates, but he had some experience with designing - even if it was mostly with architecture. Still, that translated well enough into statues that he was able to make some additional touches onto Momonga's fairly respectable work, even if Momonga would say it was shoddy.
He reached up, opening the NPC's armor UI and swapping his equipment from his own avatar into this one. Left with nothing but the default trousers on, he lowered the UI and let out a heavy sigh. He didn't hold quite the same attachment to this game as Momonga did, or hell even his sister, and he knew that. To him, it was just another game, one he enjoyed a lot more than others, but one he himself likely would've abandoned years ago if not for Tana. He had too much in life now, too much stress, too many problems. Yggdrasil reminded him of a simpler time. A time where, although he had problems, and quite a few of them at that, they all felt… manageable. Like he could push through them. Though that was no longer the case.
Yggdrasil's end was the end of a phase of his life — one that ended years ago, but one he still held onto hope that would return. It saddened him, but he knew it was time to move on. He couldn't linger on the past forever, that would only weigh his sister down. He needed to do what he could for her — if nothing else.
"It's… It was fun, Momonga," Ulbert muttered as he looked down from the statue now clad in his gear.
"Yes…" Momonga muttered, struggling to muster the proper words. "Well when the next game comes, I'll be sure to friend you on that too."
Ulbert sighed again, this time brief as he began walking towards the main treasury to deposit the rest of his loot. "I doubt I'll play it honestly."
"Oh? Why's that?" Momonga inquired, a tinge of sadness, or perhaps disappointment in his voice.
"Tana refuses to tell me, but rent's almost certainly gone up a few times in the last few years. She claims it's not changed and that I don't need to pay more of my half but…" His hands clenched into fists before finally slamming into the wall on his left as he stopped.
"It's not fair!" he screamed, voice filled with a rage Momonga didn't recognize from his friend. It was pure, unfiltered, genuine emotion. "She does so much for me, and I can't even do the bare fucking minimum! I'm working my ass off to try and financially keep up with my end of the rent and the bills, and she's out doing everything else for us! All the groceries, all our bills, hell, even keeping the house clean! I can't do anything for her! She's stretching her money thin, I know it. Hell, I'm stretching my money thin and I barely even buy anything!"
His breathing was heavier now, that much was obvious by audio alone, even though his avatar failed to show his own self-frustrations visibly. "I-It's not that bad…" Momonga muttered in an attempt to comfort the demon, "You helped Tana get the education she needed to have the job she has now, that's got to be worth something. You sacrificed your own career to give Tana one herself! She says so herself, her success was all because of your sacrifice. I think she considers it the least she could do."
Ulbert folded his arms and looked down. He remained standing in silence for a few moments, though it felt like it dragged on for hours. Finally releasing another sigh he continued, "Even still, I feel like I'm just holding her back. I can't keep being the dead weight. Tonight, at work, I'm going to my manager's office and demanding a better wage or hours or anything! I cannot let the rent go higher and higher while my sister is the only one shouldering the burden!"
"I-I see… If that's what you think is best. Then I wish you the best of luck. You have my number IRL I believe, please text me if you need anything."
"Thank you, Suzuki. Here," He quickly opened the trading menu and threw all of the items in his inventory into it. Momonga accepted without another question. "I'm really pushing how much time I have. I trust you and your excessive sorting will find a place for it all - or it will sit eternally in your black hole of an inventory, both are fine with me."
He then brought up another panel of his UI, his finger hovering over the log out button, "Been a blast, Momonga. To the end of the world!"
The demonic avatar vanished for the last time as Momonga stood there, standing still as a newfound silence once more returned to him.
'So that's it, then… Best of luck, Albert.'
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
WhiteSilver appeared within the halls of the ninth floor as she logged in. Looking around, she saw no immediate sign of Momonga, eventually casting the message spell to get in contact.
{ "Hey! Momonga, where are you?" }
{ "Oh! Yeah, I'm just hanging around the meeting room in case anyone comes online." }
{ "Anyone show yet?" } WhiteSilver asked, beginning to tap away to select the meeting room as her teleportation destination.
{ "Nobody new yet, but your brother was here a few hours ago. We did a bit of raiding before he had to leave for work." } Momonga answered as WhiteSilver appeared in a flash of light into the meeting hall.
"So… What's the plan? Last day after all," WhiteSilver asked, taking a seat in one of the forty-one chairs, now sitting nearly perfectly across from Momonga.
"Hmm… Truthfully, I had hoped more people would show… With just the two of us, well I suppose there's still some things we can do."
"I mean, I only just got off of work not too long ago, it's possible some of them might still get on but… Well, I don't want you getting your hopes up."
Momonga sighed in defeat, "I know… But like, c'mon! This is our guild! Our creation! We spent hours upon hours crafting it! Couldn't they spare a single hour! Hell, even just thirty minutes to say goodbye?! How hard is it to care for one day!"
WhiteSilver folded her arms and shook her head. "We both know why. Even you've acknowledged why yourself. They're busy. Your dedication to your past friendships and keeping their efforts in this game alive is respectable, but if I'm being honest, I'm not even sure how many of our friends are alive, let alone in any state to play a DIVE game."
Momonga lowered his head in defeat, he knew WhiteSilver was right — he had come to the same conclusion himself, of course, but it didn't make it hurt any less. "Yes, yes… Of course. Perhaps after this I could reach out, see what games some of them are playing. If Yggdrasil 2 doesn't come out, it might be fun to meet up with them in some other game."
"See, just let me know at work and I'll see if I can get the game. And after work tomorrow I'll take you to get a drink. I wouldn't want you going through the five stages of grief over a video game," WhiteSilver joked, arms moving behind her head as she leaned back.
"Yeah, I'd like that… Welp," Momonga stood up, Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown still in his hand from his prior expeditions, as he gave a determined nod. "It's as you said, no reason to sit here moping until the shutdown, let's do something fun!"
"We can fire Ragnarok," WhiteSilver said, tilting her head slightly.
"Lets… Not…" Momonga muttered, "Even if I'm willing to let this place go, I'd rather not destroy it by firing that spell."
"It would be quite the spectacle though, you gotta admit. Just imagine the look on people's faces when they're celebrating the end of the game then 'woosh' there goes Helheim!"
Momonga let out a brief laugh but shook his head dismissively. "They'd probably think it was scripted for the shutdown, honestly."
WhiteSilver shrugged, standing up. "Probably. Still, if we aren't gonna blow up Helheim for the fun of it, what do you want to do?"
"Hm… Well, Ulbert and I went and did some last minute touches on his NPCs, anything you want to touch on? Victoria maybe?"
WhiteSilver shook her head. "Nah, Victoria's fine, though I may go and grab her for the shutdown. Perhaps I can check out some of my creations on the eighth floor. Go to the eighth floor, I'll meet you there once I pick up Victoria."
"Sounds like a plan," Momonga replied, teleporting to the eighth floor.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Momonga waited for only a minute or so before WhiteSilver arrived next to him on the eighth floor, her personal guardian angel Victoria following closely behind her. Momonga had already spent his limited time there gazing at the various entities on the eighth floor, reminiscing on the time they had spent grinding to make them as well as having witnessed all of them decimating those 1500 invaders. Glorious times.
"So, what did you want to look at?" Momonga asked as WhiteSilver walked past him.
The pixie looked around, noticing various entities hiding within various caves and traps. The eighth floor defenses were different than they had been all those years ago — updated from the lessons they learned then, but never refined beyond that. Nobody made it past the sixth floor since then.
"Truthfully, it's hard to say really any of these NPCs are 'mine.' Sure, I orchestrated and planned for many of their creations, but they were the unified efforts of all of us. Most don't even have anything special in the way of visuals or personality settings. They all just… exist." WhiteSilver explained as she walked through the fields before stumbling upon a row of golems designed like Panzer IV tanks, with some magical alterations made to them. Surrounding them was a makeshift military base, with golems similarly appearing like pieces of artillery stationed in a long row behind the tanks.
They were all part of a 'fear and confusion' tactic by WhiteSilver — at least officially — but most were quick to recognize that they were just WhiteSilver indulging in her interests because she wanted to. Of course, she had all the power to do so, even on the eighth floor.
Standing above the makeshift military base was a single flag decorated with the insignia of Ainz Ooal Gown. It was one of the few flags within Ainz Ooal Gown at all, given their underground aesthetic, but many of the players had adopted it as AOG's "official" flag, to the point that some even brought a custom item bearing it to the battle of Asgard, planting it in Seraphim's guild base before it was annihilated by Ragnarok.
On the flag was the symbol of Ainz Ooal Gown in black with a golden shield shape behind it, surrounded by a black outline before swapping to a thicker yellow outline, then back to a thicker black, and then a lighter yellow. Behind the shield and its outlines was then a thick black line with rotating outlines of gold, then black, then gold once again.
WhiteSilver had called herself 'lazy' when she made the flag, but Momonga didn't see it. Was it perhaps referencing a country flag he didn't know? It partially reminded him of some old German flags that he saw those neo-whatever types flying around in the news, but it didn't seem close enough to say.
WhiteSilver approached one of the tanks, opening up a UI panel to view its settings. Very little of the code had been spared for any sort of personality writings, but that was mostly because she previously saw no need to add anything. Even now, it felt pointless. They were tanks, artificial ones at that, and ones that would soon be deleted. But with her brother refining his NPCs, and with nothing better to do, she decided to type something in.
She finally closed the UI and turned to Momonga, "Yeah, that's about all I can change there… Not much to add, but at least there's something there."
"Oh? What did you —" Momonga stopped as a notification appeared on his UI. "Oh? It appears we have some visitors."
"Invaders? Today? I suppose they might as well. How many?"
"Let me check," Momonga replied, teleporting away into the throne room. WhiteSilver followed, appearing near him as he sat on the Throne of Kings. With it, he began to observe the upper layers of the tomb as the players made their way through it. They seemed to avoid some of even the more well-hidden traps, so it was likely not their first attempt. After a bit of further analysis he explained, "There seems to be about ten of 'em." Not enough to worry about obviously, but still high enough to have a bit of fun with. They don't all seem to be max level, but they're well above 85 at the lowest. At least two of them are level 100."
"How skilled are they, do you think? Any guild affiliations?" WhiteSilver asked, walking around to look at the projected screens surrounding the throne.
"No affiliations as far as I can tell, but they don't strike me as meta players either. Possibly some people who have raided here in the past, likely recently. Nothing worth noting, but I imagine they didn't start this raid thinking they'd win. If someone's been here before, then they'd know just how much we have here."
WhiteSilver looked down at the screens portraying the invading party before turning to look at one on the sixth floor. "Activate Contingency Zeta, let's have a bit of fun with this."
Momonga nodded, already having pulled up the contingencies panel as he selected the sixth one on the list. Contingency Zeta was hardly a severe one; in fact, it actively had them LOWER security in many places. In short, its goal was to make it certain that any invaders made their way to the sixth floor, ideally without any needless expenditure of resources. Any teleportation traps and most teleport pads were also adjusted to send them to the sixth floor instead of their original destinations. The contingency was used largely just for messing with people, or in short, parties that weren't a threat.
Not long after the contingency was initiated, the invading players found themselves stepping where they shouldn't have, being transported immediately all the way to the colosseum on the sixth floor.
Teleporting to meet them there, Momong and WhiteSilver approached the edge of the VIP area where they watched as the party of players made their way to the central area. Despite their activation of Contingency Zeta, it appeared two had already died, unfortunate but inconsequential.
"Welcome, invaders, to the Great Tomb of Nazarick!" WhiteSilver cried out, turning her head to Momonga.
Nodding in acknowledgement, Momonga himself stepped forward and continued, "We are glad to have visitors on this final day, but it appears you have arrived uninvited, and without Visas."
WhiteSilver placed her arms behind her back as she spoke up once again, "And we don't take too kindly to trespassers…
"Naturally," Momonga began, "That includes you… All that said…"
"DAMNATIO AD BESTIAS!"
The two elf twin NPCs standing nearby leaped down onto the colosseum floor. Bukubukuchagama's creations, the two were the joint guardians of the Sixth floor, and the de facto orchestrators of the coliseum.
Aura Bella Fiora, the older of the two twins, was a tomboyish dark elf donned in a white vest and pants with a yellow-gold trim and a red-scaled undershirt with leather gloves covering her hands. She waved her hand, pointing it forward as various beasts emerged to fight. Among them were the likes of Fenrir, a mighty wolf of night-black fur and shining gold streaks, a giant black Iris Tyrannus Basileus, a dinosaur-like monster resembling the Kaiju of old, and no less than half a dozen other mythical creatures all heeding her call.
On the other side of the colosseum was Mare Bello Fiore, the younger brother of the two, donned in a more feminine outfit with a skirt, thigh-highs, silk gloves, a leaf-like cape, and a blue-scaled undershirt rather than a red one.
Much like WhiteSilver, he specialized in AOE attacks, raising his staff,the earth itself heeding his command as the entire enemy party was bombarded by the very ground beneath their feet. While Aura was a ranger and beastmaster, with her already pulling out her bow to take shots at the panicked party, Mare held the 'Disciple of Disaster' class, effectively a weaker and less limited version of WhiteSilver's own 'World Disaster.'
That said, much like World Disaster, which adapted to her gunner class, so too had Mare's class adapted more towards his druid classes, causing much of his AoE attacks to take on a more natural appearance.
Before long, a combination of these two NPCs in addition to some others dragged in from around brought the party's strength down to just three fairly exhausted members. Looking down with folded arms she muttered, "I think that's enough."
Momonga nodded, "Surprised you didn't call it off earlier." He raised his hand, shouting to the NPCs, "Fall back!"
WhiteSilver leaped down, wings fluttering as her cape flowed in the wind generated by them, lowering herself to the ground. On the opposite side of the arena, she stared with a still grin on her unchanging avatar's face as she slowly began to clap. Momonga teleported to her side a moment later as WhiteSilver spread her arms out in congratulations. "Great job! Truly remarkable show! Now, let us show you just how little of a chance you stood!"
The red amulet around her neck glowed a deep crimson color as she held open her hand, a black orb appearing within it, radiating a faint purple hue on its edges as it grew. She threw it forward as the trio that remained began charging at her. The ball landed on the ground, immediately expanding upon impact. As it did so, it gradually turned into a glowing white sphere that soon engulfed one of the players before managing to leap outwards.
The party seemed confused, now unmoving as WhiteSilver laughed, "Don't recognize it, do you? Doesn't matter, you don't need to!" Another orb appeared, this time slowly growing before shooting out a beam forward that grew larger with each second. Before long, the beam faded, but not before taking a giant chunk out of one player's health points.
Before the party could respond, Momonga appeared behind them, teleporting in an instant. A golden clock behind Momonga's head ticked to the 12 position as he instantly shouted, "[Widen Magic - Cry of the Banshee]!"
The health pools of the trio quickly fell to zero as their items dropped not long after. Momonga shook his head, half-disappointed. "Easily distracted, weren't they? Decided to use your World Item spells right? Smart. Definitely confused the hell out of em'."
WhiteSilver hummed her agreement. "Glad Tabula was able to help me make some spells before he stopped playing a while back. The system for making spells with this thing kinda sucks, it's like coding with blocks, but it's so limiting. Not that I have much more experience with programming than a basic computer science class."
"You got to have a computer science class?!"
"Education aside, their stuff doesn't seem all too impressive but… Why did their tank have a gun?" WhiteSilver wondered out loud before picking it up only to make a loud "Pffft!"
"Hm? What is it?"
"A fucking World Item!"
"Huh?!"
WhiteSilver held up the fairly basic-looking flintlock pistol, much to Momonga's confusion. Immediately, she explained, "Chekov's gun. According to its description, 'A pistol that shall only be used once at the most opportune moment'… What the hell does that even mean?!" She began to scroll through its info to find the actual item ability description. "Alright, so apparently it has the power to basically instant-kill someone regardless of any defenses or resistances. The death will be a permanent deletion, likely similar to Longinus, although there doesn't seem to be a downside to doing it. The only restriction, however, is that it cannot be done instantly. The ability only becomes available if you hold onto this World Item for a certain amount of time. And after using it, the gun is permanently deleted."
"Interesting… How long do you need to hold onto it for?" Momonga asked.
"It does not say."
"Ah… Definitely not using it today, then."
"Yeah, not that I would wanna be the guy that deletes someone's account a few hours before the shutdown," WhiteSilver muttered.
"Yeah, I'd be pissed, honestly," Momonga muttered.
"Welp… With this new World Item, it seems Ainz Ooal Gown is up to thirteen World Items, a World Record."
"It was already a World Record at twelve," Momonga corrected.
"Well it's an even better record now."
Momonga rolled his eyes, "You're just like your brother."
"Shut up. We don't have terribly long, let's go find something to do."
"Oh?" Momonga muttered, looking at his UI. "Herohero just got online." Without another word, Momonga teleported to the meeting hall alongside WhiteSilver.
It wasn't long before Herohero arrived himself. "Oh, Momonga, WhiteSilver. Nice to see I wasn't the only one who responded to Momonga's email."
"Eh, I was always somewhat active on Yggdrasil anyways," WhiteSilver corrected.
"Glad you have you, you missed Ulbert a few hours back, he was here for a bit."
"Ah, glad to hear there's been quite a few people still around. Honestly, I'm surprised Nazarick's still standing. I suppose I owe that to you two. I could only hop on for a short while, unfortunately. Mostly, I wanted to stop by and say hi if I could. Work has been hell, you know." The purple slime rubbed his forehead, or rather what would've been his forehead had his body not been a moving puddle of ooze. "Sorry, I shouldn't ramble about IRL things."
"It's no problem, really. It's the last day, who cares if the rules are bent a little?" Momonga replied, giving a hearty laugh thinking of how often he had said that phrase. "Anything you wanted to do before you log off? We only have an hour until the shutdown, that's probably enough time."
Herohero's slimy mass swayed from left to right, "Nah, I think I'm good. I don't quite have it in me to do a whole quest or raid or anything like that. I'm tired as it is, I don't think I'll even be able to stay until the shutdown. I just wanted to say hi mostly."
"That's understandable…" Momonga muttered. "How about a basic stroll through the tomb, take in the sights. I wanted to get a few more screenshots anyway. I doubt the devs will be nice enough to provide us a world download."
"Sure, why not," Herohero replied, climbing up from his seat at the table.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Time passed quickly, almost too quickly as far as Momonga was concerned. Their final tour, though enjoyable, was filled with an increasing feeling of anxiety within Momonga. With only minutes until the shutdown, Herohero unfortunately left, despite Momonga's hopes that he'd stay until the end.
'I can't blame them' had been his personal mantra of the day, it seemed, though he was growing tired of saying it. Still, he was glad he showed up at all. Four different players of Ainz Ooal Gown showing up in one day was practically unheard of over the last year, after all.
As Herohero logged off, Momonga fell silent, nothing left to distract himself from the impending end. WhiteSilver remained, much to his gratitude, as he walked his way to the throne room without making another word. If there was anywhere he should end the game, it was here, at the center of it all.
Momonga sat down once more upon the Throne of Kings as he looked up to the ceiling, gazing upon the rows of red and gold banners with the logos of each of his friends. He pointed at them, muttering their names in his head.
'Touch Me'
'Ulbert Alain Odle'
'Bukubukuchagama'
'Peroronocino'
'There's myself'
His finger then moved to one last symbol, forming an X-like shape out of two sets of wings with a small circle above it, White Silver called the symbol the 'Silver Wings'. 'WhiteSilver as well. Glad she stuck out this long. I do wish we could've gone on for longer but…'
"I've said this before, but it was truly fun, WhiteSilver. I am grateful you stuck it out this long."
"Eh, I spent so much time and money on this game, it felt like a waste to ditch it. Besides, the only reason I started playing this game was my brother, I have no motivation to try out a whole new MMO unless I get someone who wants me to try it."
"That's fair. Speaking of, had your eye on any games we could play once Yggdrasil shuts down?" Momonga asked.
"Not really, never looked much into the genre. But honestly, I should get you to try some real-time strategy games. I think you'll enjoy them, at least once you get the hang of it."
"I'll have to try it out then," Momonga responded.
"You gotta get to work first. I took tomorrow off specifically so I could stay up, the fact you were off today tells me that you didn't. So when the servers shut down, go to bed and get work done. I'm not covering your slack when I get back."
"O-Of course…" Momonga muttered.
'Jeez, she can get so intimidating when she's talking about work. Glad I'm not on her bad side there at least.'
Momonga leaned back on his throne, WhiteSilver to his left leaning against it and Albedo to his right standing politely as he gazed upon the in-game clock ticking up to the end.
23:59:50
23:59:51
23:59:52
23:59:53
23:59:54
23:59:55
23:59:56
23:59:57
23:59:58
23:59:59
'Been a blast, truly. But all things must end.'
24:00:00
24:00:01
But not today.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X–X-X-X
Next Chapter:
A Pixie's Plight
Le chapter is done! Also big thanks to both my Beta Readers and Assistants. I recently divided my former Beta Reader role into the direct Beta Readers, who only correct grammar — and the Assistants, who help with some of the more writing-adjacent aspects.
So please thank all the Beta Readers who worked on this chapter:
[There's uuh… not many beta readers yet — not that I gave them a lot of time either, so that's kinda on me.]
And also thank all the Assistants who helped:
Fish Tank - "Resistance is futile, at this point."
Dr. Rx - Time for isekai.
Yert - So when I first watched Overlord, what really drew me in was the intense nostalgia, since I played an MMO once upon a time. I wonder if anyone else had the same reaction?
And Join the Discord to receive notifications, hang out, or apply to be a Beta Reader or Assistant:
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Obel
Looking for something to eat.
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2022
- Messages
- 42
Watched, this shit is peak. Really want to see what happens when they finally get to the whole isekai part. Also curious if more than just Momonga and WhiteSilver will be transported as well.
Edit: Huh, I posted this the same time the new chapter dropped.
Edit: Huh, I posted this the same time the new chapter dropped.
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Anyu Maaka
Getting sticky.
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2021
- Messages
- 65
For the first time, I found myself not loving something in this story. Ulbert getting left behind. We got to see enough of him to get attached, and then he got left behind. Probably without the very sister he gave so much for (assuming the transfer to the New World didn't copy the soul)
ThedudeManBro
The Dudeliest Man on the block, Bro!
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2018
- Messages
- 10,262
This is extremely weird. Why make all that hullabaloo with her being his sister if you're gonna just... Plop poor Ulbert aside like that? ESPECIALLY after the intense dialogue he had just now?
grx1318
Getting out there.
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2023
- Messages
- 11
R.I.P. Albert, I honestly don't see things ending up well for him. Not only because he is going to demand to his boss. With a world as shity as this, he will probably lose his job and more. In addition to losing his sister and arguably one of his best friends.
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Ofofoltsa
Getting out there.
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2025
- Messages
- 14
When is the next update have you given up on this bodaciously awesome finger lickin good story my capitalist heart dies a little everyday I am not seeing Tanya take over the world through economics and money with a side dish of overwhelming power
Chapter 9 - A Pixie’s Plight
New
SwissChocolatess
Shalltear is all and all is Shalltear
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2023
- Messages
- 16
Momonga sat watching the seconds go by, waiting for the inevitable 'disconnected' screen to appear.
But it never came.
He opened his eyes, looking around to see himself still within the empty grand throne room, the silence remaining undisturbed as he waited, almost impatiently now, for the dreaded shutdown.
Sure, he was desperate for it to not end, but if it was going to end, could it at least do so on time? At the very least, he didn't want the devs to go 'oh sorry, we're pushing the shutdown back two hours' thereby making him unable to attend lest he completely fail to go to work from oversleeping. The wait began to annoy him, although before it could properly do so he began to notice… oddities.
For one, his UI was gone. A visual bug, maybe? Not impossible, he reckoned. He tried accessing the GM call feature to no avail. He even briefly attempted a Force Quit — this also failed.
'Disabling the force quit feature has gotta be highly illegal… I'm pretty sure it's classified as kidnapping, basically.'
But then it came; the smells. Smell was not one of the senses Yggdrasil or even any DIVE systems supported. Whether it was due to technical limitations or one of various laws made to prevent DIVE experiences from being too immersive, he couldn't remember, but he knew it was far beyond Yggdrasil's scope. And yet it was present.
The smells weren't strong, sure, but he could smell. Albedo in particular was radiating a particularly pleasant scent, even from this distance. Although before his mind could swirl with a plethora of new ideas and theories, he heard an unfamiliar voice speak up from his right.
"Is there something wrong, Lord Momonga?"
Momonga froze, his gaze turning back towards his left as he saw the eyes of the Guardian Overseer Albedo staring at him, glistening in a way he had never seen before. The once near-lifeless expression of the NPCs had vanished, now replaced with a face that held detailed emotion and expression in every inch, every polygon — no, were they even polygons anymore? It was practically like normal…
The consideration had entered his mind before, but now it struck him in full force. Was this real? Somehow, someway, had the devs turned the game into reality? Perhaps it wasn't even the devs at all, but if not, then just what was happening?
"Lord Momonga? If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know!" Albedo declared, her hands clenching firmly against her bountiful chest.
Part of him considered doing one final test, but recalling WhiteSilver's presence, he restrained himself, at least for now.
'Still a vital test… If I can do it then I'd be able to confirm whether this was real or not…' Momonga thought to himself.
"A-Ah well… Albedo…" Momonga briefly stammered his words. 'In the game you could only give them orders they were pre-programmed to do… Can I even give them more unique orders?' Covering his mouth with his hand, he made a fake cough, muttering, "A-Albedo, have some of the Pleiades check on the outside of the tomb. If they are attacked, they are to do what they can to retreat into the tomb with their intel."
"As you wish, my Lord." Albedo said with a bow before heading down to the end of the throne room at a brisk pace.
"NPCs shouldn't be able to be sent outside like that… Even ignoring the fact they wouldn't recognize such a specific command…" Momonga's head leaned against his hand as it sat on the armrest of the throne. Again the consideration of the reality of this world settled in, and as he ran through every theory, it became the only one with a solid bit of truth to it. Eliminate all other possibilities, and even the impossible becomes the truth.
His gaze fell upon his guildmate. However before he could mutter anything to her, he watched as she stumbled backwards. Her eyes were wide, shifting around every direction they could. Her hand grasped at her heart, grasping for something and only finding purchase on clothes. Although Mononga was unable to tell what was going on in her head, he could tell clearly that something was wrong.
He stood up as the angel standing behind WhiteSilver stepped to her side, looking with concern at her master's reaction. "Ma'am are you alright? Lady WhiteSilver?" The angel's hands gently rested on the pixie's arm as it clung tightly to her chest.
In an instant the pixie yanked her arm away, stumbling backwards several steps. "Get off me! You're—! You're not…" Her breathing increased in speed and intensity until the point she was practically hyperventilating. Her eyes shifted, frantically moving from object to object in her vision, but it focused on nothing.
"Tana—" Momonga muttered, reaching forward to help.
"I-Is something wrong lady WhiteSilver, please tell me I just—"
"Don't…" WhiteSilver's voice dropped low as she gazed forward at the angel with a blank stare. For a brief moment her eyes flickered a pure white, her wings twitching against her cape. "...Don't use that voice… How do you… HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT VOICE?!"
Victoria stepped back, startled by her master's change in tone, a worried expression growing on her face. "I-I am sorry if I upset you, i-if it shall repay my debts I'll gladly—"
"Shut up. Just… Just shut up! Everyone!" Tana stepped back again, back now pushing against the wall as her legs trembled beneath her. Before Momonga could attempt to help she vanished in a brief flash of light, teleporting away from their sight.
Momonga couldn't help but sigh. This situation was strange, and perhaps his undead form was altering his mentality somewhat, but he wasn't quite sure what brought on such a reaction so soon. However, the more he thought about it, the more he understood. His calm reaction was the abnormal one, perhaps. It'd be more reasonable to assume that anyone would panic.
Victoria fell to her knees on the throne room floor, head lowering as Momogna heard sobbing coming from her direction. Without hesitation Momonga stepped forward, leaning down and placing a hand on the angel's shoulder.
"I-I am sorry S-Sir Momonga… I-It was not my intention… t-to upset WhiteSilver… I know not what I have done b-but I will do whatever I must to repay it…" Victoria mumbled silently, looking up at the Overlord, tears in her eyes.
Momonga gently patted her on the shoulder. "Do not worry yourself over it too hard. An… event has occurred, you could say. It was a tad unexpected, so we were both thrown off-guard. She's in an emotional state right now, I shall speak with her. For now, simply assist Albedo in whatever she needs, alright?"
Victoria nodded, "A-As you wish, Sir M-Momonga…"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Momonga appeared within one of the many halls of the ninth floor of Nazarick. Looking down at the door before him he silently knocked and awaited a response he hoped was coming. The rooms in this hall were meant for players, and this one in particular was WhiteSilver's, or Tana's. However, as he heard no response he reluctantly peeked inside, only to see it completely unoccupied.
"Where could she be…? In the entire tomb of Nazarick…" As Momonga thought, a consideration entered his head. Seeking to confirm it, he teleported himself directly to the treasury.
As he materialized in the opening area of the treasury, he noticed his own NPC creation Pandora's Actor immediately rushing up to him and bowing. "Oh vater! I am so glad you are here! I must give you my sincerest apologies, for I have greatly offended Lady WhiteSilver!"
"Offended? How so?" Momonga asked, noticing just by his tone and posture that his fellow guildmate had done something to startle the doppelganger.
"W-Well when she arrived in the treasury, I naturally took an appearance I thought would be familiar to her — that being the appearance of the great Lord Ulbert Alain Odle! O-Of course it appeared that such a form has… offended Lady WhiteSilver… I apologize greatly for my transgressions vater!"
"It's… Fine, Pandora's Actor. Please be at ease, you couldn't have known," Momonga muttered, patting Pandora's actor gently on the shoulder before passing him his ring of Ainz Ooal Gown.
"Know what, if I may ask?" Pandora's Actor inquired, to which Momonga shook his head.
"It's not relevant for the time being. Just please avoid adopting Ulbert's form for the foreseeable future."
Pandora's actor gave a quick and exaggerated salute, "As you wish!"
"Good." Momonga muttered as he began to walk into the open treasury.
He sighed as he left Pandora's Actor 'So this is what it's about… I should've known. I don't quite understand why she snapped as she did with Victoria. Perhaps shocked that she's real now? Why did her voice of all things upset her? I guess they didn't really have voices before.'
As Momonga walked down the hall of statues, each detailing one of their former guildmates, he noticed the sound of banging getting louder and louder as he neared the end. Before long, the source was obvious. He watched as the pixie slammed her fists aggressively against the walls of the hallway, specifically doing so below the statue of her brother's player character, Ulbert.
Although hard to make out, Momonga watched as tears dripped from her face, a small puddle on the ground below where she was striking the wall. Little damage could be seen on the wall, though her hands looked somewhat bruised. Whether that was a testament to her lackluster Physical Attack stat or the wall's durability was unclear, more likely the latter. Regardless, Momonga felt no reason to hesitate as he stepped forward. "Tana, I… I apologize."
The pixie's fist stopped as it made one last impact into the wall. She looked up, her expression now looking more tired than anything, bags under her eyes and the wet remnants of tears down the sides of her face.
Continuing, Momonga muttered, "If I hadn't asked everyone to get on at midnight for the shutdown, we probably wouldn't have been trapped here. Even if I came alone, you wouldn't have been… well—"
"Do not blame yourself," Tana muttered, fists clenching even harder as her face turned to a snarl, "It's not your fault. It's his."
"Who? Ulbert's? I don't think—"
"No. Not Ulbert's…" Tana muttered, looking back up at the statue of her brother, her eyes flashing a pure white once again as her fists clenched even tighter.
She calmed briefly, her eyes returning to normal as a heavy sigh left her mouth. She turned back to face Momonga, her vibrant blue eyes now seemingly piercing directly into Momonga's soul. "I am going to tell you something… I do not expect you to believe me, but I do request that you at least listen. Under normal circumstances, it's not something I would admit, but… I believe I may have dragged you into this, so you deserve to know."
Tana looked to the side, fists clenched as she began, "This is not my first time being sent to 'another world' if you want to call this that. Hell, this wouldn't even be my second time. That's how I know everything is real, you… get a sense for it after multiple times. I was originally born in late 20th century Japan—although I have no means to prove for certain that it was the same Japan as our current one. In the early 21st century, I was pushed onto an oncoming train to my death. However before that death, I was met by an entity proclaiming himself as 'god' and 'the creator.'"
"So you've met… God?" Momonga questioned, placing a hand on his chin.
"No. Absolutely not!" she hissed, "That… That being is no god. Look at the world we came from! Look at that and tell me that there is a benevolent all-powerful god. Either God is blind, incapable, or blatantly malicious. In all cases, he is not God, he is something else. 21st century Earth was far from as bad as the one we just came from, but it still had several glaring flaws. Flaws that a benevolent god would not let stand. For that reason I refused to consider him as such, instead bestowing him the title of 'Being X.' He… did not take kindly to it."
Momonga was intrigued. It sounded insane, almost enough to make him think she was more chuunibyou than even her brother. But given their situation, it sounded less insane in perspective. It could explain why she seemed to panic, yet immediately knew how to use her abilities.
"He sent me to another world, one in the early 20th century and in a country you could equate to Germany on the path towards World War One. I was born with magic in that world, and given that fact and the inevitability of war being brought to the nation I lived in, I volunteered at a young age in hopes of securing an officer position away from the front lines. Unfortunately, I ran out of time, and the war started before I could secure such a role. Instead, although I was a commander, I served, fought, and eventually died on the front line."
"That sounds horrible…" Momonga commented with sympathy, even despite how outrageous it sounded.
Tana resumed, "Then, as if to spite me one last time, he declared he would send me to a world that was the 'culmination' of my beliefs, sending me to the Japan you're well familiar with — even if it is a sick perversion of what I believe in. From there, well… You know the rest. Now he's finally made his move again, and he…" She looked back up at the statue once more. "I'm sorry, but you were likely dragged along in his attempt to target me."
"I see… So you've lived three lives?" Momonga asked.
Tana nodded, "Four if you count this as a new 'life.' Though I should say even if that is the case it doesn't feel like it. With each new life I feel… detached from my old memories, even if I recall them normally. It feels like a different person, because to an extent it was, just another life. Puberty in particular also messed me up. I may have my memories, but my brain is still subject to hormones, apparently. I died early enough in my second life to be spared from it, so I wasn't prepared for it in my third. If this is a new 'life,' I at least don't feel that same disconnection yet, so who knows?"
Momonga nodded in acknowledgement, "I see… Well if we're facing a being such as that, then I'll have Albedo put the tomb on high alert. Fortunately, they seem to recognize us as their creators, or at least their superiors. I'll also have them group up with a meeting, it's probably a good idea to make sure they're all on our side…"
"So you believe me then? All of it?" Tana demanded, her gaze meeting up to match the Overlord's, her azure blue eyes peered into the abyss of his eye sockets, only small red flames gazing back. "He can use anything, from nutcrackers to stopping time itself, I suppose we should see what we can do."
Without hesitation, Momonga answered, "Of course. I have no reason not to… I suppose that explains why you were always so knowledgeable despite our equal education. I believe you, it's still just… hard to register, I suppose."
Tana placed her hand on her waist, shaking her head and chuckling, "So you're not upset you've been playing with like a 70 year old?"
"I don't really care who you are, you're my coworker, my guildmate, and most importantly, my friend. If you say that this Being X is the enemy, then I shall do whatever I can within my power to help you deal with them. And if you want to get back to Japan, even if only to get your brother, I will help you with that too."
"Back to…" Tana's gaze shifted for a moment, before her eyes widened as she turned away, "Right! Of course! I need the ring back!"
Momonga was curious as to what she wanted to test, stepping aside as she rushed past him towards Pandora's actor back near the entrance. Approaching the doppelganger, Tana slowed down to a walk as Pandora's Actor immediately bowed.
"Ah, my great Lord WhiteSilver! I understand now that I have wronged you deeply, bitte verzeihe mir!"
Momonga approached Tana from behind, his hand coming to cover his face as he mentally cringed from his creation speaking German. Trying to save face, he sent a [Message] spell quickly to his guildmate, { "S-Sorry, I forgot I programmed him to speak in German from time to ti–" }
"Es besteht kein Grund für eine Entschuldigung. I fühlte mich... schlecht. I sollte diejenige sein, die sich entschuldigt," Tana casually replied, nodding her head politely in Pandora's Actor's direction.
{ "Eh?" }
Pandora's actor immediately lit up, his tone changing to eagerness as he responded, "Ah! Ich bin Überglücklich. Es war mir nicht bewusst, dass Sie ebenfalls Deutsch sprechen. Aber natürlich, ich hätte wissen sollen, das Sie Deutsch können!"
{ "You speak German?" } Momonga asked.
{ "I told you, I was German in my second life," } Tana replied.
{ "A-Ah…" } Momonga muttered. { "I suppose I didn't think about that. I always found it strange that you spoke with the slightest German accent despite being born in Japan." }
Tana forced out a cough, "Lets tone down on the German for the time being. Not all of your peers understand it."
"As you wish, mein Führer!" Pandora's Actor proclaimed with an exaggerated bow.
"Please don't call me that."
"O-Of course."
Tana held out her hand towards Pandora's Actor. "If you don't mind, I require the ring again."
"Naturally," Pandora's Actor responded with a nod, gently placing the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown into Tana's hand before similarly placing the other into Momonga's.
Momonga gave a respectful nod towards his creation, "Good work, Pandora's Actor. We must be going."
{ "Head to the throne room" } Tana ordered in his mind, her body vanishing again before him as he followed suit.
Once more in the now empty throne room, Tana's gaze immediately fell towards the end of the hallway, facing away from the throne as she raised her hand forward. Immediately a deep violet void began to swirl around in a growing circle flat in front of the two. Momonga immediately recognized it as the [Gate] spell, a top tier teleportation magic. As it reached its full size, it began to fizzle before dispersing into clouds of purple smoke.
"It failed…"
"Was that directed towards Earth? Smart idea, though… I am sorry it didn't work," Momonga muttered, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"No, no, no… It failed! It failed Momonga!" Tana's voice raised as she took a step away, turning towards him with her hand once outstretched now bundled into a fist inches in front of her face. After a few seconds she lowered it, eyes gazing downwards aimlessly in thought. "When you cast [Gate] one of three things happen. One, the spell casts successfully, opening a portal to your targeted destination. Second, the target is invalid and it cancels. And the third, the target is blocked by some sort of anti-teleportation magic, like a guild-base or someone simply casting dimension lock or something. In this third case, the spell fails."
Momonga immediately got it. "When the spell is targeting an invalid target, as you said, it cancels and nothing appears at all… The spell doesn't even use MP or make any visuals when it cancels. When the spell is blocked, however, it will only fail after it has formed and the MP has been used…" Momonga reached his own hand out, casting his own [Gate] spell. He thought of a made-up place that didn't exist; the Netherlands. Instead of manifesting a void-like portal before him, nothing happened. Not even his MP drained. "It cancelled…"
"So Earth is a valid target… But something's blocking us from teleporting."
"Do you think it's that Being X's doing?" Momonga asked.
Tana shook her head, "I can't say for certain, but it's not unlikely."
Momonga nodded. "For now let's gather the NPCs, if this Being X is going to be a problem, then we need to make use of everything we have. Even if he's the one who sent us here, he either knowingly or unknowingly left us with one of the best weapons we could've asked for; Nazarick."
Before Tana could respond she turned to see Albedo and Victoria quietly approaching from the end of the throne room. Stopping before them, the two knelt before Tana and Momonga. "My Lords," Albedo began, "The Pleiades have returned with intel on the outside, it would appear that Nazarick is surrounded by open fields and hills in all directions."
"Fields? Not the swamps of Hellheim?" Momonga asked, his monotone voice suppressing his shock.
Albedo shook her head, "It would appear not, my Lord."
"We may not be in Yggdrasil anymore…" Tana suggested.
"Tell all Floor Guardians to meet at the sixth floor in an hour, excluding Gargantua and the guardian of the eighth floor. The eighth floor is to be considered off limits for the time being," Momonga commanded, his arm extending out dramatically.
Albedo nodded before standing, "As you command, my Lord."
As Albedo turned and began to leave, another voice stammered out, "L-Lady WhiteSilver… I-I apologize for my wrongdoings, and I will gladly atone for my-"
"Stop," Tana ordered with a heavy sigh. "I… I should be the one apologizing. You were designed out of the image of an old friend. Designed… too well, it seems. Whatever has brought us to this new world has… changed things. I was not expecting to hear her voice again. It is not your fault. For now, just… work with Albedo, I shall give you a proper assignment later. Consider this your newest order until future notice."
Victoria quickly stood with a salute. "As you command, my lady!" With a quick turn she hastily walked out of the room to join up with Albedo, once again leaving Momonga and Tana alone.
"I had thought you were just startled from coming here. But if that's the case, it makes a lot more sense… I'm sorry, Tan-"
"Don't remind me," Tana ordered, turning her head away, her wings instinctively lowering. "She was my adjutant in the army during my last life. She… died. I… I got over it… I didn't… I wasn't…"
"Look, if you want to–," Momonga began.
A [Gate] appeared as Tana stretched out her hand, interrupting, "Let's get to the sixth floor, best if we meet the other NPCs there."
Tana walked through the portal in silence, Momonga simply looking on for a few moments before following suit. He couldn't blame her reactions, loss was abundant in his world. She had lost her parents, her past friend, and now even her brother. And that wasn't even including who knew how many other people from each world that she had never mentioned; if she had truly fought in a war, she may have had numerous other comrades by her side too. The fact she was able to be so casual otherwise showed her strength, or perhaps it was her suppression. He couldn't tell, but he couldn't blame her either. He had been the same, he felt nothing but acknowledgement when his own mother died. It was just a fact of life in his old world.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
As Momonga stepped through the portal, he immediately took notice of the glimmering stars above him. Tana had teleported them right into the middle of the Amphitheatre, a colosseum in the middle of the sixth floor. It was here not too long ago that they had defeated Nazarick's last invaders, crushing them with their great might. As the [Gate] spell ended and the portal closed behind him, Momonga couldn't help but stare in awe at the night sky above him. Each star shimmered in a radiant glow unlike anything he had ever seen before, far better than anything even the best technology could replicate.
Of course, it was all artificial, the results of countless sleepless nights endured by his guildmate BluePlanet, but the view was mesmerizing nonetheless, brought to life by this transition. In his old world, he had only seen a star once; a brief glimmer when he was a child when he saw the clouds thin up, even just slightly. Just enough to make out a single star in the night sky for an instant. Or a plane… It was impossible to know for sure, but his friend BluePlanet had always told him there were millions out there. Of stars, that is. If this was how the night sky truly looked behind those clouds, he was willing to believe it. Perhaps if this world was free of his old world's pollution, then maybe he could finally see some real ones for himself. But even still, just these artificial ones were a beauty in their own right, and something about them being real now made them all the prettier.
Tana, on the other hand, didn't appear fazed at all. Even as Momonga took in the natural odors and smells of the forest surrounding the Amphitheatre, further lost in a warm embrace of senses he had never experienced, Tana didn't seem to even flinch. Perhaps it was her pixie nature showing, but if her prior stories were true, this may not have been as new to her as it was to him.
"Smells nice in here, huh? I don't think I've ever smelled a real tree before. It's… unique. I like it," Momonga commented as he walked up to Tana's side.
The pixie, however, merely grimaced slightly, "I suppose… Far better than the streets but… Reminds me too much of my last life, especially all the worst parts of it. Add the stench of blood and smoke and you get the last thing I smelt before I died."
"Ah… I'm… Sorry I brought it up," Momonga apologized. He felt like cowering away, he didn't know how to comfort someone who had lived through so much already. Someone who had lost so much. He wished he knew what it felt like, if only to help her out, just a little.
Tana scoffed, "It's fine. I need to get over it, it was a lifetime ago."
Momonga couldn't help but feel unsatisfied with that response. It doesn't matter if it was a lifetime ago, it clearly still upset her, and he wanted to help her with it however he could. But if she insisted it was fine, there was nothing more he felt he could do.
"I take it you've never seen the sky, then?" Tana asked, now looking back at the Overlord.
Momonga shook his head, "No, you knew what our world was like. I never had the chance to go to any of the few places where you still could."
Tana rolled her eyes, "Meh, light pollution probably made those views not all that impressive. I gotta give it to BluePlanet, he got it pretty spot on."
"So I take it you have seen it before?"
"Indeed. I'm intimately familiar with it. Mages in my last life flew through the skies, not much unlike my current build. My combat style is built purely off of my past life's experience, that's why I was so quick to master it," Tana explained, wings fluttering.
Momonga let out a hum of intrigue, "That must also be why you so often went in for physical combat, and managed to still win despite how… unique of a strategy it was."
Tana chuckled, "You can call it a stupid strategy, Momonga. For most people, it is. In my last life, Mages were primarily long-range casters. In fact, imagine an entire fighting force of individuals with my build, all flying glass cannons. They're all built to attack from a long distance, and since there's no cover in the sky, your best bet is hoping they miss in a volley or dogfight. However, because of this, most mages were woefully unprepared for direct physical combat. Due to circumstances granted to me by Being X, I had the power to get up close and personal. My speed and smaller stature helped me evade attacks before I got close. Once there, my enemies were not prepared for a fistfight or a shovelfight."
"Fascinating… If you don't mind, once this chaos is over, I'd love to hear more of your last life. I-If you wouldn't mind sharing," Momonga requested. He didn't want to push it, but he would be lying if his natural curiosity didn't drive him to want to hear more.
Tana seemed to think for a moment before forming a faint smile, "You know what, sure. I'll tell you a bit about my world. But we gotta make sure everything's secure here. We don't know what we're up against, so we don't know if we have the privilege of downtime."
"Of course," Momonga agreed. They could be fighting a god here, they can't let their guard down.
Before their conversation could continue, Momonga's attention was dragged onto the sound of trotting footsteps approaching rapidly towards them. Scurrying to a stop, the young elf quickly stood with a casual salute, "Welcome, Lord Momonga and Lady WhiteSilver to the floor that I guard!"
"Ah, Aura. Apologies, but I thought we'd intrude for a while. Nice work on the invaders, earlier," Momonga praised. It was a test, of course. They were real now, sure, but did they have memories beyond what they were programmed. Could they remember Yggdrasil? And if so, how vividly, to what degree, and how far back does their memory go?
The elf quickly raised their arm to scratch the back of their head. "Aw, it was nothing! Thank you for sending them straight our way, I love the action!"
"It was no problem, we simply wished to indulge ourselves as well. On the subject of earlier, where is your brother?"
Aura quickly perked up, looking back to the stands of the Amphitheatre and shouting out, "Mare! Get down here! You're being rude to the Supreme Ones!"
As Aura rushed off to get her brother to finally come down, Momonga silently raised his hand to his ear, sending a [Message] spell to Tana, { "They seem to remember Yggdrasil." }
{ "I noticed." } Tana responded, { "Is that a good or bad thing, though?" }
{ "Hard to say… They seem to follow their programming, at least as a priority. But it reckons that anything said to them before they became real may have been remembered. Not to mention any deaths they incurred." }
{ "And do you recall anything we've said around the NPCs?" }
{ "You think I can remember something specific like that?! Outside of when we were making them, most player discussions happened in more casual areas with little to no NPCs, so perhaps they don't know too much. I wonder if they know they were once NPCs in a video game…" }
{ "Best not to push it." } Tana suggested.
{ "Agreed." }
Finally Aura returned, Mare quickly hurrying behind. His base speed paled in comparison to his sister's as he finally rushed up to them, briefly panting as he grasped onto his staff firmly. "S-Sorry to keep you waiting, my Lords."
"Not to worry, Mare, I take no offense. I should warn, the other Floor Guardians will be gathering here in about an hour, I thought I should let you know," Momonga explained.
"The other Floor Guardians?" Aura asked, her face turning to a slight grimace, "Does that mean Shalltear will be there."
"I've called all of the Floor Guardians," Momonga explained, "Still though, we have some time before they arrive. If you don't mind indulging us a bit, there are some things me and WhiteSilver would like to test."
"Of course, Lord Momonga! We'll do as you command!" Aura proudly declared.
{ "So, what do we test first? } Momonga asked his partner through a silent [Message] spell.
{ "Let's see how they fight. In Yggdrasil their fighting style was built largely on the game's AI systems wherever the players didn't fill in their own code. I doubt Bukubukuchagama did such with Aura and Mare, so the game mechanics warrant that they should act like the base AI. However, now that they're real, they may have small microadjustments to their fighting style due to their personality, or it may become wholly different. Part of me wishes I still had Victoria on hand to test how her extensive combat programming was translated into this world. It may be improper to make them fight each other, so I would use a summon. And seeing as summons are your thing, I'll let you decide which." }
{ "As analytical as ever, but I'd be lying if I wasn't also curious on the same subjects." } Momonga tapped his staff against the ground for a few moments as he thought of what to summon. As he tapped he looked up at the staff itself, realizing he had the perfect test subject right in his hand.
Stepping forward he raised up the staff, beginning to cast a summoning spell from one of its gemstones before he was interrupted by the 'oohs' and 'ahhs' of the elf twins.
"I-I-Is that the legendary y-you know…"
"The Guild Weapon? Ah yes, I suppose you haven't seen it before. This is the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, a powerful weapon that rivals World Class items in terms of power, created through the countless hours put in by all members of Ainz Ooal Gown and–" A cough from Tana set him back on track. Faking his own cough, he continued, "Right, I will use this to summon a Primal Fire Elemental through this red gemstone at the top. If you do not mind, I would like to see the two of you fight it. It should be no trouble for you."
"Of course, Lord Momonga! We would be honored!" Aura quickly pulled out her whip as Mare slowly began inching away.
"I-I-I uhm just remembered I forgot to–"
"Oh no you're not!" Aura commanded, yanking the boy closer.
Momonga couldn't help but smile – at least mentally, given his skeletal face – at the similarities between the two's dynamic and that of their creator Bukubukuchagama's own dynamic with her brother Peroronocino. Pero was hardly as timid as Mare, but Buku acted much the same way to her brother as Aura did. Was that programmed into their code? It wouldn't surprise him, but he was curious how the other NPCs without personality data would inherit the nothing they were given.
With a glow of his staff, the giant flaming elemental erupted from the ground in a swirling inferno. The vaguely humanoid monstrosity of flames roared, its shout echoing across the otherwise empty Amphitheatre. Aura and Mare immediately went to work with attacking it, Mare only doing so upon being actively dragged towards it.
As the twins engaged in combat with the elemental, Momonga silently reached back out to Tana, { "You've been awfully quiet this whole time. At least outwardly." }
{ "Sorry, I have a lot on my mind. I'm trying to think on how to move forward. It's quite hard to play chess when you can't see the enemy's pieces, let alone know the rules of the game." }
{ "Still worried about that 'Being X' then, I take it?" } Momonga continued.
{ "Naturally…" } Tana replied.
{ "Well we can at least confirm a few things here. For starters, friendly fire seems to be possible. In Yggdrasil, they would not have been able to attack that golem as it is under my control. Secondly, I have a vague sense of connection to the golem, and I can issue it orders without concern of its loyalty or obedience. It will obey me, no matter what. At least so long as that connection isn't usurped by some means like a World Item or something." } Momonga surmised, lightly tapping his staff with his finger as the twins had their way with the golem. It was too low level to be a serious threat to them, but a high enough level for it to be an at least somewhat coherent challenge.
{ "Indeed… They also don't quite fight like the base NPC combat systems. It seems a tad more sophisticated and competent, in fact it seems greatly so. However, that may just be the difference between being a standard combat algorithm made to try and adapt to a near infinite combination of builds, and an actual sapient being who, in their own mind, has been using their skills for years." } Tana suggested.
{ "Indeed, though it stands to reason, we should test our own skills, too. We've tried [Gate], but there's a lot more at our disposal. I can sense all my spells and abilities intrinsically, even beyond the fact I already had them memorized. Hell, there's a handful here that I kinda forgot I had. Why do I even have a spell for 'summoning a giant potato over someone's head?' What purpose does that serve?" }
{ "I don't know if there was a player left in Yggdrasil with your number of spells. Why are you surprised? Also, don't you remember when you and Pero pranked a bunch of guild members by running around and dropping giant potatoes on their heads all day for Saint Patrick's Day?" }
Momonga laughed at the memory, { "Hah! Right, how could I have forgotten. So that's where that's from… Well, when I get the chance, I'll be sure to drop a potato on Being X." }
{ "Great thinking, we can kill a god with blight. Maybe you could drop a giant peanut on him instead. He loved to be a nutcracker for some reason." }
Momonga suddenly remembered a few hours earlier, { "Nutcracker? Huh… Guess that explains the seventh floor…" }
{ "Explains what?" } Tana questioned.
{ "Don't worry about it," } Momonga urged.
As Momonga shifted his focus back towards the fight, he watched the duo continue to pelt the elemental with various attacks and spells. Mare was actually doing a lot of the heavy lifting, as without using her various beast summons and 'pets,' Aura paled in comparison to Mare's sheer firepower. Still, she was a brilliant distraction, keeping the monster focused on her more agile self while Mare, the real heavyhitter, could strike without fear. An agile aggro.
However, something went wrong. Aura overstepped her abilities' ranges and lost the beast's aggro. Before Mare could respond, a giant flaming fist was swinging down onto him. It wouldn't kill, far from it, but it would certainly hurt. Momonga winced in anticipation but was startled by a gust of wind coming from his left. Looking he saw Tana having zipped away, standing between Mare and the summon in an instant. It was examples like this that reminded Momonga of just how ludicrously high Tana's speed stat was, high enough that even he struggled to keep up without extensive preparations beforehand.
He watched as Tana raised an arm instinctively upwards. As the elemental's fist came down, it struck against a glowing blue barrier of hexagons. The golem bounced back, partially damaged from the strike as the barrier fizzled away.
Momonga approached, subconsciously telling the golem to finally stand down – something in hindsight he realized he should've done before. As he did, Aura quickly rushed over, bowing rapidly, "I'm so sorry! I misjudged my jump and he got out of range!"
"It's fine," Tana explained. "You can make mistakes, it's natural. You just need to learn to recognize and learn from them. Do not let yourself repeat them, but always keep them in mind. It may be good to recognize when your enemy makes the same mistakes."
Momonga nodded along as he approached. He agreed with the advice, it being likely taken from Punitto Moe, a fellow guildmember. Although, given Tana's own apparent military history, it was possible it was entirely her own advice. His focus was not on the advice, however, but rather the spell Tana had used to protect Mara. "That's an interesting barrier spell you casted, I don't recognize it off the top of my head, what was it?"
Tana's gaze widened as she froze. She didn't respond to his question, only slowly looking down at her hands as her eyes wandered around them in shock and confusion. Slowly, however, a smirk began to grow on her face, her eyes beginning to glitter with glee.
In an instant her cape fluttered behind her, lifted up by the gust of wind generated by her now flapping wings. Slowly raising off the ground she hovered a few feet in the air, now looking down at the confused Momonga. "What… exactly are you doing? Did I say something?"
"You said nothing, I'm just checking something," Tana explained, her wings slowly stopping until they were no longer flapping at all. Her cape lowered, flowing only slightly now as she remained hovering in the air. Momonga was left somewhat confused, as by all means her wings should've always been flapping if she was flying. In fact, covering the wings was one of the major reasons why flying classes were so limited in terms of armor, since they had to be unimpeded for proper movement.
Before Momonga could deduce an answer, Tana simply devolved into a gradually amplifying maniacal laugh, shrieking a cacophonous cackle. Her laugh only got louder and more intense before she suddenly swung her arm out, palm flat and fingers pointed straight as a blue glow emanated from it like a blade from its hilt. In a second her body lowered to the ground, slamming down as if she pushed herself to do so. Her body turned, arm raising before slashing down on the Primal Fire Elemental. As she landed with a loud thud, the beast was split in two, dissolving into a burst of flame that quietly returned to the gemstone it came from.
Again, Tana looked at her hands before her eyes widened once more, "Of course!" Again she hovered in the air, her wings not flapping even remotely. Then she grabbed onto the World Item around her neck, pulling it off before tossing it to Momogna, "Catch!"
Momonga barely managed to catch it as in that instant Tana began to fall once more, only stopped by the sudden flapping of her wings helping her regain her flight. "So that's how it is."
"That's how what is?" Momonga asked.
Tana shook her head, "Nothing important." She stated, although the real answer she discreetly sent via [Message], { "Remember how I said my second life had magic?" }
{ "Vaguely, yeah…?" }
{ "Well for some reason, that World Item lets me use it!" }
Momonga was glad he didn't have eyes, as they would've been falling out by now. Before his excitement got too extreme, a strange calming presence rushed over him, restoring him to a mostly 'default' state, { "Wait, so you can use a whole other system of magic?!" }
{ "I need more time to experiment with it… but it seems so! I seemed to have used it off of pure muscle memory. It seems after over 20 years it's still somewhere in there. But I'll have to experiment with this later, we don't have time for this today." }
{ "Of course," } Momonga agreed, although he was already itching at the idea of learning a whole new system of magic – even if Tana was the only one with access to it.
"Well then, with the fighting over, I think you all deserve a bit of refreshment," Momonga said, reaching into his inventory and pulling out a Bottomless Pitcher. It was an item purely used for keeping mounts maintained with all the water they could need, but in this case it had a particularly useful purpose. Pulling out a random cup set he found in the deeper pits of his inventory, he began to pour out two cups that he promptly gave to each of the twins.
"A-Are you sure, Lord Momonga?" Aura asked, staring deeply into the clear water contained in the glass she now held.
"Of course, trust me, it's no hassle to me. It's an infinite water source anyways, and as an undead I don't need to drink regardless," Momonga reassured them.
Tana, left standing in thought for a few moments, finally spoke up as she looked down at the male elf twin, "Mare, going forward you should hold off on casting your bigger spells until Aura has finished off with her debuffs. Until then, you should be playing the stalling game with your enemies, using your druidic abilities to help keep them in place until the debuffs are applied, all while conserving your mana. Your class has a lot of firepower, but you don't have the mana generation of a full World Disaster, so you've got to make your big hits count. For a pairing of two, being more aggressive naturally makes sense, especially with Aura not using her pets, but in a larger team you should definitely be willing to hold off, and even do nothing until the time is right to land a singular devastating blow."
Mare nervously stammered as he finished her drink, practically trembling, "I-I am truly sorry L-Lady WhiteSilver i-it won't happen again…"
"There's no need to apologize, I was merely offering advice."
"A-Advice..?"
Tana nodded, "Your Disciple of Disaster is quite literally just a weaker version of my own World Disaster skill. I've been playing this class since before you were created. You were created with intrinsic knowledge of your skills, abilities, and how to use them, but it seems that your team knowledge is limited. You know when to use your abilities on your own, but you need to learn a bit more about team dynamics and what role you should fill. It's fine that you don't know, and if you can learn, that means you, Aura, and all of the Floor Guardians can grow, adapt, and become even stronger. That's something we need more than ever."
Mare rapidly nodded his head, nearly reaching mach speeds with the speed of his nods, "O-Of course, Lady WhiteSilver! I-I shall do my best! D-Do you think you could t-tell me more about this from time to time…?"
Tana nodded with a smile, "Certainly, though my work load may be quite heavy depending on how things go, but I'll try to make time."
"Hey! I want to learn too!" Aura pouted, raising her hand eagerly.
Tana folded her arms and tilted her head back. "Hmm… Admittedly, your combat style as a beast tamer aligns more with Momonga's own summoner classes than it does with my glass cannon build. You'd be better off speaking to Momonga about things like that."
"Well can I talk to you about it then, Lord Momonga? Can I? Please? Please?" Aura turned around, practically begging with puppy-dog eyes, not that Momonga needed any convincing.
"Of course, you need but ask."
"Yes!" Aura shouted in triumph.
"Oh? Am I the first?" A new voice interrupted Aura's triumph as her cheerful face immediately turned sour.
The source of the voice was what appeared to be a young girl with pale white skin and luxurious purple-silver hair styled into a long ponytail swaying down her back. Dressed in a purple-pink gothic dress, with fangs to match the almost stereotypical 'vampire' aesthetic to boot. Her face and appearance balanced childish cuteness with mature beauty, although the sizable breasts on her chest skewed this out of balance.
The girl stepped out of a giant purple portal, a [Gate] spell of her own. She approached the group, although it wasn't long that she was met with hostility, particularly from Aura. "Teleportation within Nazarick is restricted for a reason! You can't just come here with a Gate! You can walk here the normal way just like you walked over here from that portal! Besides, you reek! With all the time saved from using [Gate], don't you think you could've at least taken a shower?!"
"Now, now, you can't go saying things like that – Lord Momonga is an undead as well."
"Lord Momonga doesn't count," Aura declared, "He's like above undead. He's like, super ultra undead or something. Unlike you, he doesn't have any rotting flesh on his bones to stink up the room!"
Mare immediately began to tremble, cowering and inching away, now hiding behind Tana, although she was about the same size.
"I… Well I suppose you have a point," Shalltear relented, instead walking over to Momonga and quickly embraced Momonga, "Ahh my master, the only being I cannot conquer…"
Tana squinted from the side, staring Shalltear down until she finally noticed, practically jumping on Momonga like a startled cat.
{ "He put necrophilia in there… didn't he?" } Tana muttered through [Message].
{ "He put? What are you – Oh… Pero… Fuck he did didn't he? Ugh, why did it have to be Albedo we changed instead of Shalltear…" }
{ "You changed Albedo? What did you change?" } Tana asked.
{ "Shit." }
{ "Momonga… What. Did. You. Change." }
{ "I-It's nothing important! I swear, it was just a minor change, it probably won't come up and… Look, I'll explain it later. It's Ulbert's doing." } Momonga sighed, he knew he couldn't hide it forever. They fucked up and now they'll have to live with that fuck up indefinitely.
{ "Momonga…" }
"Had enough yet?" Aura grumbled, forcing Momonga's attention back at the vampire below him.
"Ah, pipsqueak, I didn't notice you there," Shalltear proclaimed, ignoring the fact they had just been speaking. Shalltear's gaze fell on Mare who simply hid further behind Tana. "I apologize, Mare, it must be such a pain to deal with such an odd elder sister. Best if you keep your distance, don't want to end up like her."
Aura's eyebrow twitched as her hands clenched against her crossed arms. She stared angered at Shalltear, anger growing with each successive word out of the vampire's mouth until finally she spat out a single-sentence knife to the gut, "Shut up, fake tits!"
"UWAAH?!" The regal Shalltear suddenly broke character, crossing her arms over her breasts defensively and backing away.
"You only need a single glance to tell! That's why you used a Gate, isn't it? You overstuffed your bra and didn't want to mess it up further by running here!"
"S-S-Shut it! At least I have some, you don't have any!" Shalltear retorted defensively.
"Yeah, but I'm still young, I'll grow more, you're undead, you're stuck like that!"
"Is this really something to fight over?" Tana groaned, causing the bickering duo to freeze in silence, bowing with immediate apologies. "I just don't get why either of you care… I couldn't care less if I had large breasts, in fact it'd probably be a hindrance more than anything…"
Shalltear proudly laughed, "Fuhu! See, soon you'll grow giant heavy disgusting lumps while I'll be pristinely flat!"
Aura shrugged, "I dunno, I may be young, but this might still be all I get!"
Tana appeared confused, messaging Momonga, { "Are they… fighting over how small they are now… How the hell did this happen?" }
{ "They remind me a lot of Buku and Pero. And if I know them, they'll be back fighting over who's bigger by tomorrow, or at least something else." }
{ "Try not to get too mesmerized in nostalgia when our NPCs start a civil war because it's 'just like old times.'" }
{ "Huh? What makes you think that's what I'm doing?" }
{ "Momonga, I've been playing with you almost alone for the last several years. I can tell when you're lost in nostalgia." }
{ "Right…" }
As the vampire and elf continued bickering, a loud voice suddenly cut through the noise with sheer volume, "WHAT A RACKET." Approaching was a giant walking pale-blue insectoid of ice. Sheer frost emanated from his body alongside two giant ice spikes from his back. He similarly walked up to Momonga, planting his halberd firmly against the ground as it rested in one of his four clawed hands. "YOU MAKE A FOOL OF YOURSELVES BEFORE THE SUPREME ONES," he declared before turning his attention towards the two players.
"Thank you for arriving, Cocytus," Momonga greeted.
"I SHALL ALWAYS ANSWER WHEN YOU CALL, MY LORD."
"I'm glad, how are things faring on the fifth floor? I do hope things are not too boring with the lack of raiders coming by."
"THERE HAS CERTAINLY NOT BEEN TOO MUCH GOING ON, BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN I AM BORED. I HAVE CONTINUED TO TRAIN IN CASE I AM NEEDED TO SERVE."
"Your commitment is greatly appreciated, Cocytus, thank you."
"JUST HEARING THAT MAKES IT ALL WORTH IT, I OWE MY ALL TO YOU, SUPREME ONES."
Finally the last three arrived, Albedo in the front with Demiurge and Victoria behind, the latter two seemingly chatting away and even laughing. Momonga found it fascinating how well the demon and angel got along. Could it be similar to how Shalltear and Aura inherited their creators' habits? Were Victoria and Demiurge mimicking Tana and Albert? These questions Momonga could not answer, but he was glad they weren't at each others' throats. It would've been a major headache to say the least.
"That's everyone then…" Momonga commented.
Albedo nodded, stepping forward before all the other Floor Guardians. "Then let us perform the ritual of allegiance."
In an instant the guardians moved themselves behind Albedo in a line in order of their own floors with the exception of Victoria who, not technically a guardian, took a post besides Tana. At the furthest end was Shalltear, who took a step forward, "Guardian of the First, Second, and Third Floors, Shalltear Bloodfallen. I bow before the Supreme Ones." Shalltear promptly lowered herself, bowing before the next in the line stepped forward.
"GUARDIAN OF THE FIFTH LEVEL, COCYTUS. I BOW BEFORE THE SUPREME ONES." Cocytus was next, stepping forward and bowing in kind.
Following him, the two dark elf twins stepped forward. "Guardian of the Sixth Floor, Aura Bella Fiora. I bow before the Supreme Ones."
"G-Guardian of the same, Mare Bello Fiore. I b-bow before the Supreme Ones." Similarly the twins bowed in unison, Demiurge stepping forward next.
"Guardian of the Seventh Floor, Demiurge. I bow before the Supreme Ones," Demiurge declared as he himself bowed as well.
Albedo was last, proudly proclaiming, "Overseer of the Floor Guardians, Albedo. I bow before the Supreme Ones." Now bowing, she continued, "With the exception of Gargantua, Guardian of the Fourth Floor, and Victim, Guardian of the Eighth Floor, the Floor Guardians have gathered to prostrate ourselves before you… We await your orders, Supreme Ones."
Momonga immediately froze under pressure. He wasn't prepared for… any of this. Still, he felt a need to do something, to say something. He was in charge now, he needed to learn how to act like it. He just wished he had a bit more time to prepare.
Almost as if she sensed this anxiety, Tana stepped forward, arms behind her back as a new look appeared in her eyes. One he hadn't seen in her before, but one that looked on with near absolute confidence, or at least lied about it very well. "Brilliant work, Guardians. You have made us very satisfied!"
He may not have recognized the look in her eyes, but as she spoke, it was a tone of voice he did remember, one from all the way back in the Ragnarok war. The voice of a true commander, a leader who, while perhaps not perfectly suited to lead a guild of equals, could most certainly command an army of subordinates. Momonga needed to learn to act like a superior, and fortunately, he had the perfect example right there with him. Likely another thing from her past life fighting in a war, since she had apparently risen partially up the chain of command.
"Please save your gratitude – we offer not just our devotion but our very selves, you must simply give the command and we will follow it."
"It has become apparent that the Great Tomb of Nazarick has found itself in a crisis we have not faced since the Ragnarok War. However, there is a clear difference. Back then, we had at least some sense of who we were facing. Even if that massive raid on Nazarick was not anticipated, it was well prepared for. We knew in large part the capabilities and potential power that could be mustered within the rules and knowledge we had of Yggdrasil. However! If the limited intel we have gained from the surface holds true, we are no longer in Helheim, and may not be in Yggdrasil whatsoever anymore," Tana declared, pacing slowly back and forth as she explained.
It was in moments like these that, in hindsight, her being a former military officer explained a whole lot to Momonga. Her habits before battle like checking her weapons made all the more sense now.
"We are in an unknown land facing an unknown enemy. An enemy who may or may not know we exist yet. We don't know their powers, their capabilities, their goals, their ambitions, nothing. We are blind to the world, and we can only hope that they are blind to us. We must prepare for the worst, but be prepared to take advantage of the best." Tana stopped and turned, fixating her gaze on Mare, "The outside world around Nazarick is no longer the swamps of Helheim but rather a series of grassy fields and hills. It stands to reason that if the outside world does not yet know of our existence that we should hide ourselves until we are properly ready. To that end, Mare, I want you to use your earth magic to cover up the walls to make it blend in with the surrounding hills, then use illusion magic to cover above. Understood?"
"Y-Yes my Lady, it shall be done," Mare quickly declared.
"Albedo, I want you to coordinate with the other Floor Guardians, create a temporary internal surveillance network. Make sure that everything is operating normally. Report any and all suspicious activity. If you suspect an element of Nazarick has gone rouge, you have my permission to detain – and if necessary – exterminate the threat. If anything out of the ordinary is found, quarantine and report it immediately to me."
"As you wish, Lady WhiteSilver," Albedo proudly affirmed, a faint blush on her face reminding Momonga again of his mistake.
Momonga stepped forward, placing his hand on Tana's shoulder as he nodded to her before she backed away, giving Momonga center stage once more. Gathering his will he finally spoke, "Now then, I trust you all can handle your duties to the utmost, however, I would like to ask one thing of all of you. I want each of you to give your personal thoughts on how you view me and WhiteSilver. Be honest with your answers, I shall know if you are lying, no answer you give will displease us." He was, of course, lying. He had no way to tell if they were lying, but better to scare them into honesty. He wanted their genuine opinions, even if they weren't as universally positive as they seemed to make it out to be. If they had an issue with him, he wanted to know. "We will begin with Shalltear," Momonga declared, pointing towards the vampire.
Shalltear lifted her head and replied hastily without hesitation, "Lord Momonga is the manifestation of beauty, all the jewelry in the world could not compare to your beauty. Lady WhiteSilver is power manifested into an elegant dance of sheer destruction and might."
"Cocytus?" Momonga asked next, hand moving towards the giant insectoid.
"YOU TWO ARE THE STRONGEST OF THE SUPREME ONES AND BRILLIANT WARRIORS WHO BROUGHT NAZARICK TO MANY GLORIOUS VICTORIES."
"Aura?"
"You're both merciful, considerate, and smart!"
"Mare?"
"I-I think you're both n-nice and v-very strong…"
"Demiurge?"
"Lord Momonga is wise in judgement beyond our comprehension, and Lady WhiteSilver holds the strategic prowess to bring one of the nine realms to their knees."
Momonga turned his head to face the angel standing firmly behind Tana, "Victoria."
"Beings of absolute commitment and determination. You are resolute in your ambitions and firm in your beliefs. You yield to no one and remain with Nazarick even as your fellow Supreme Beings left."
Momonga turned back towards the Guardians in front of him. "And lastly, Albedo."
"Lord Momonga is the highest rank among the Supreme Beings, the leader of our sworn masters. Lady WhiteSilver is the chief strategist and the true organizer of the tomb's defense, as well as the woman I love!"
Momonga felt the tension in the air grow as he stared down at Albedo. He was glad his skeletal face didn't show expressions, but even still he had no doubt that Tana could smell his fear.
'Don't look don't look don't look don't look don't look don't look don't look don't look don't look don't look'
Slowly he finally relented, turning his face to see the unblinking gaze of a very angry pixie staring him down. Just a single glimpse into those eyes told him that she had committed atrocities the likes of which he did not understand, and that he was next in line. He practically jumped, however was soon met with a wave of calm much like he had felt earlier. It was strange how his body reacted to extreme emotion, but that was something to look into later.
{ "Momonga…" } Tana messaged him, her voice more tense than he had ever heard before. Again his emotions were forcibly calmed by whatever natural force his undead body had upon his mind.
{ "I-I'll explain everything later, I promise." }
{ "It better be good." }
'I'm sorry!' Momonga thought, yet another calming rush coming over him before speaking out again towards the crowd of guardians.
"I see. I have a sufficient understanding of everyone's thoughts. Thank you for your everlasting dedication. We are trusting part of my friends' duties to you, strive to be ever loyal!"
Tana stepped forward once more, prompting Momonga to take a step back. She waved her arm to the side, causing her cape to wave as if a gust of wind blew by. Whether it was part of her cape's data, sheer coincidence, or Tana's own doing, Momonga couldn't tell. "One last thing. From this moment on you shall not refer to me as WhiteSilver!" Momonga's attention jolted back from his own thoughts at the announcement. "From now on, my name is Tanya Alain Odle! However, you may address me merely as Tanya. Continue to serve the Great Tomb faithfully in the great name of Ainz Ooal Gown!"
{ "Meet me in my room." } Tanya messaged Momonga, who responded with a nod.
Tanya briefly turned towards Victoria, "Help them with securing Nazarick. I'll message you when you're needed."
Victoria gave a firm salute. "As you wish, ma'am!"
As Tanya teleported away, so too did Momonga follow.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
In an instant the pressure keeping them down vanished. After a few seconds, the floor guardians all rose to their feet, left alone in the now silenced emptier Amphitheatre.
Cocytus was the first to speak, eagerly declaring, "WHAT A POWERFUL PRESENCE. I KNEW THEY WERE STRONGER THAN US, BUT WAS NOT AWARE OF JUST HOW MUCH."
Demiurge hummed through an approving smirk. "Naturally, they are among the smartest and most powerful of the Supreme Beings. Although it does sadden me that more have not remained. And to think we were so close…"
"What do you mean by that?" Aura asked, her hands casually coming to rest behind her head.
"My own creator, Lord Ulbert Alain Odle, was here earlier today. However I fear he may not be returning."
Aura's face was now filled with a level of concern, "He's not? I remember him being one of the few that still showed up from time to time."
Demiurge's arms crossed behind his back as he gazed into the artificial sky in thought, "The last words I heard from him seemed to have a hint of finality. Furthermore, it stands to reason that if we are no longer in Yggdrasil that the other Supreme Beings may not have a way back to us, or at the very least may not be aware of where we are."
"Do you think it's possible the Supreme Ones deliberately brought Nazarick here to get away from them? And that their ignorance in what's going on is a test for us?" Albedo asked, turning towards Demiurge.
Demiurge nodded. "I cannot deny the possibility that this is a test, but I don't know of any reason they would want to hide from the fellow Supreme Ones. From what I remember hearing, it may have been the last 'day' of Yggdrasil. It's possible they brought Nazarick here to escape its destruction."
Albedo didn't seem completely satisfied, but was forced to accept his answer. "I see, well we should do our best to prove ourselves, lest they decide to move on as well."
Demiurge turned his gaze towards Shalltear, who remained kneeling, practically trembling exactly where she had originally been standing. "Shaltear, is something wrong?" He asked, tilting his head.
"A-Apologies…" She stammered out, finally lifting her head after a moment, "L-Lord M-Momonga's presence was so thrilling I may have put my underwear in a bit of a crisis…"
The guardians all stood frozen in silence, most slowly coming to facepalm as they remembered the twisted fetishes Shalltear never bothered to hide, chiefly, her necrophilia.
Albedo seemed mildly annoyed, scoffing, "That is no way for a guardian to act in the presence of the Supreme Ones!"
"Eh? Lord Momonga is one of the Forty-One Supreme Beings, not to mention extremely beautiful. It's a reward to be in his presence! You're insane if you don't get wet!" Shalltear aggressively defended herself, only further burying herself in the process.
Albedo grimaced slightly but ultimately shook her head, conceding, "You do have a point to some extent. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have to hold my composure around Lady Tanya. But there is still no way to act around the Supreme Ones. Learn to control yourself."
Shalltear sighed, "I suppose I have no choice until I can become Lord Momonga's wife."
"Quite ambitious there, although I hold similar aspirations myself, albeit for Lady Tanya," Albedo admitted.
Shalltear let out a pleasant chuckle, "Fuhuhu, seems we have similar ambitions, Guardian Overseer."
"It's only natural that we seek to please the Supreme Ones, after all," Albedo agreed.
"They seem to get along well…" Victoria muttered as she walked up to the group.
"Indeed," Demiurge began, "Although have they considered the possibility that Lady Tanya and Lord Momonga are already together?"
The two over-eager bachelorettes froze in their discussion, immediately turning to gaze at Demiurge with a slight panic. "Y-You don't really think they are, right?!" Shalltear frantically asked.
"W-Well it only makes sense that the Supreme Ones would be with fellow Supreme Ones…" Albedo admitted.
Demiurge silently adjusted his glasses with his pointer finger, commenting, "Well it stands to reason that either of the Supreme Beings could take on multiple spouses. I just wouldn't get your hopes up for the main position."
Victoria seemed skeptical, asking, "Are they really together?"
Demiurge smirked and replied, "It's only natural that they would be. Even ignoring the obvious political benefits, my creator thought it was inevitable that they would, so he must certainly be correct."
"Well if Lord Ulbert said so…" Victoria mumbled.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Tanya appeared in her room on the ninth floor before slowly stumbling over to her bed and promptly collapsing onto it face-first. She let out a loud groan to herself moments before Momonga teleported in behind her.
Momonga silently walked over to a nearby cushioned chair and took a seat, a sigh exiting his own mouth as he muttered, "Such high expectations of us. I don't know if I can live up to that."
Tanya slowly turned over and sat up on her bed, using her wings to give her a slight lift upwards. It came almost instinctively to her. It was weird, but natural. All of this power at her fingertips, it felt too good to be true. She was waiting for the twist, for the big reveal that Being X had sent her to some kind of new hell world. It hadn't come yet, but she was waiting. It was only a matter of time, now.
"I think we can start with what you and my brother did to Albedo," Tanya commanded, her gaze falling upon Momonga.
"A-Ah… right…" Momonga stammered nervously. "W-Well when we were in the throne room, your brother and I read Albedo's code, and after seeing that Tabula tied her to Victoria, he got pissed that Tabula then went to say 'she's a slut' at the end of her code. So, despite my objections that it broke the rules, he suggested we change it since it was the last day. I removed the code, but it was his decision to add that she was 'deeply in love with WhiteSilver' there."
Tanya let out a deep sigh. It was the first of possibly many inconveniences Being X would throw her way, but it was at least a more manageable one. It was also something her brother would totally do. In fact, this one in particular may not have been Being X at all, just Albert fucking around as usual. Although she really didn't want to think of him right now.
"Alright… Whatever. It can't be dealt with. I take it you can't just change their code around again, right?"
"No, now that they're real people, I don't really think I can. Even if I could, it raises some… ethical questions. Even if I'm surprisingly okay with them somehow, I hesitate to think the Floor Guardians would be perfectly okay with it."
Tanya shrugged, pulling out a cup of coffee from her inventory as she explained, "Honestly it seems like they praise us pretty hard. It's possible they're lying, but with everything I've seen, I'm inclined to think they view us as the god-like entities they act like we are."
"That's exactly what I'm worried about!" Momonga exclaimed, looking down and curling his long skeletal fingers in his hand, "I barely was able to be guildmaster, and that position was a leader among equals! How the hell am I supposed to become a 'god' to them? If they think I'm not up to their expectations, what then?"
"I think you were doing fine," Tanya commented, "Don't worry, I'll help you out, just like I did with the guild. And just like with the guild, once you get the hang of it, I'm sure you'll be a natural."
"I… Thank you, Tana – I mean Tanya… Sorry, the slight difference confuses me. Why didn't you just go for Tana anyways?"
Tanya shrugged, "In my second life my name was Tanya. When I was reborn into my third life, I was born as 'Tana,' it always felt like Being X was mocking me. So even though it's been over twenty years since my second life, I've always thought Tanya was a better name than Tana. Besides, it just sounds better in my opinion. Rolls of the tongue."
"I suppose that makes sense…" Momonga muttered.
Tanya finally took a sip of her coffee. "Mmmph! It's been so long since I've had actual drinkable coffee! To think something that's just meant to give a slight speed buff would actually be of high quality. Or maybe I'm just used to the sewage they sold as 'coffee' back in our old world… Here, want some?"
"Ah, I'm fine… I… can't exactly eat."
"Ah shit, right! Huh… With how much food and even restaurants we built here in the tomb, you'll be seriously missing out… Well… I guess it wouldn't be a bad time to test…"
Tanya pulled a ring out of her inventory, placing it on her finger as she clenched her hand and raised it up. It was only then that Momonga saw what ring she had equipped, Shooting Star. She could practically see his jaw drop as he saw her casually pull it out. Equipped with three uses of the super-tier spell [Wish Upon a Star] it was one of the rarest cash shop items Momonga owned, and he only got it through Yamaiko. Tanya had gotten one around the same time, but they only had the two between them. After that, there was no more. "W-Wait Tanya, you really shouldn't–" Momonga began.
"I know, I know. But we have two of these things, and we need to know if and how it works. It's arguably one of our best trump cards, we can't afford to fuck up when we need to use it for a genuine reason."
In the game, [Wish Upon a Star] only granted a series of pre-set options for wishes. However in this world where everything was real, it remained to be seen if that was still the case. If she could wish for Momonga to have the ability to eat, it could open the door for potential uses later and confirm that it was far more flexible now, opening the door to nigh-unlimited possibilities.
One of the three comets detailed on the ring glowed before shattering, a glowing complex set of circles appearing beneath her as they glowed brightly before the room was engulfed in a bright light. As it faded, Tanya slowly took off the ring and stored it away, grabbing a random apple from her inventory and passing it over.
Nervously, Momonga caught it and held it up to his face. He opened his mouth and bit down on it. As he bit, the part inside his mouth slowly dissolved away into nothing, very slightly increasing his MP, or rather it would've if it wasn't already full. Despite his lack of a tongue or anything of the sort, he could taste every bit of it as it dissolved. He didn't quite have the pleasures of chewing or the ability to properly sense the texture, but this was more than enough for him.
"Fascinating… If Wish Upon a Star can do that…"
"It's even more powerful than in Yggdrasil. Glad we knew that before we actually needed to use it. It may be powerful against whatever Being X throws at us."
Momonga finally stood up from his chair and walked towards the center of the room. "I… think I want to get some fresh air. All this stuff dumped on me, being a leader to a bunch of NPCs made real who worship me and a self-proclaimed god we may need to face… It's… Well I just want to go for a stroll outside. See this new world for myself. Want to come?"
Tanya raised an eyebrow before tossing away her coffee into her inventory, "Well I don't see why not, I suppose. It has been a while since I've flown in a real sky."
The two teleported instantly to a hallway filled with long narrow stone platforms meant for laying out corpses. Below their feet was polished white stone with a staircase behind them leading deeper into the tomb and a large in front of them a large open passageway outside, lit only by faint moonlight seeping inside.
Momonga led the way, the two walking silently towards the exit before footsteps appeared behind them. As the footsteps reached the top, the voice of Demiurge rang out, "Ah, Lord Momonga and Lady Tanya, I am honored to be in your presence." The two stopped and turned to look at Demiurge as he quickly bowed before them. "Although I must inquire as to the location of your escorts."
"Escorts? We're more than capable of defending ourselves," Tanya commented, although being one always flying around with Victoria she knew she was not one to talk. "What are you doing on the first floor anyways?"
"I was assigned to relocate some of my demons to the first floor to aid in defense. I have only just arrived myself, and my demons are naturally a bit behind me. As for your escort, of course I understand there is none within Nazarick who can compare to you. That being said, I would be remiss in my duties if I allowed the two of you to venture into unknown territories without an escort."
Momonga faintly grumbled but relented, "Very well, we shall allow you and you alone to escort us."
"I would be honored, my Lords."
'It's going to be hard to get some private time anymore, isn't it?' Tanya grumbled to herself.
She and Momonga continued outside, stopping as they finally got to see the full night sky before them. Tanya gazed up in a nostalgic awe at the sight. She never thought she'd miss something so taken for granted as the sky itself. Years of grey smog blocking her view had all but burned the color grey into her retinas. She had almost forgotten how much natural color the world truly had.
Without hesitation she lifted herself up, using her wings on newfound instinct as Momonga quietly equipped a flight necklace to follow her.
Demiurge followed suit, warping his body until his face appeared like that of a frog and wings warped and stretched out of his back, granting him flight. He stood a well enough distance behind, clearly recognizing the Supreme Ones had intended to have some degree of privacy.
"It's… beautiful, isn't it?" Momonga commented, staring up at the stars in awe.
"It's certainly been a while… But yeah, you take it for granted when you actually get to look at it every day."
"Part of me is jealous of you. But part of me also recognizes that you've been through a lot because of that Being X. He… well if he is truly as you say he is, surely he could've done something to help our world. To prevent the skies themselves from hiding away," Momonga commented with melancholy.
"You see now why I refused to recognize him as a 'god,'" Tanya muttered.
"Of course, but… I've been thinking…" Momonga began, "This world, these forms, the lives we've been thrust into… Are you… Well, are you sure Being X did this?"
Tanya raised an eyebrow, turning to stare Momonga up and down as if he was crazy. "What? Of course he–"
"Just… Hear me out," Momonga interrupted, "Our world was awful. We lived paycheck to paycheck with only a slight bit to spend on ourselves. The food was awful, the air was poison, the water was toxic. There was nothing to look forward to beyond Yggdrasil. Now… We have Nazarick. While that may come with the expectations of the NPCs, and who knows what exists out there to threaten us, we still have… all of this! The luxury, the companionship, the loyalty. Hell, we even have both of us here together. All of this, everything here… How can this be in any way worse than the world we came from? Why would Being X spare you the suffering of that world?"
Tanya froze, not out of the absurdity of the proposal as she did before, but rather out of the logic of it. She thought it over time and time again, and although she couldn't prove definitively if he was right or wrong, she suddenly realized the possibility was there.
Momonga resumed, "And… If he didn't do this, it's possible he didn't anticipate this, these forms and this power. It's possible, even if incredibly unlikely, that maybe, just maybe… we could kill him. We are now beyond at least part of his control if he couldn't stop us from having … all this."
Tanya's eyes widened, her mind swirling with thoughts and desires, hopes and dreams. The goal she had long forgotten, deeming it a sisyphean task, was suddenly possible. The chances were low, hell maybe even near zero, but compared to the zero that it was before, that was an infinitely large improvement in comparison.
Slowly a smile twisted onto her face, a small chuckle resonating out of it before evolving into a wild laughter. "Yes, yes, YES! Of course! That idiot Being X is not omnipotent after all! I knew it! An omnipotent being would've known I would never convert. He can blink, so he can go blind! I'll admit, I'm not convinced entirely. But… if you are right… if I can fight and kill Being X…"
Momonga interrupted, "Then I will do everything in my power to help you."
Tanya looked up at Momonga. Part of her naturally wanted to use every asset at her disposal, her old salaryman and military officer speaking. But another part of her refused. It was not Momonga's fight, it was hers. That part of her didn't want to get him involved, it was too dangerous, and he had no obligation.
Momonga, as if sensing Tanya's hesitation, reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. "This… Being X… He seems to have caused you more pain than you deserve. Besides, he had the power to fix our world, to prevent it from being as bad as it was, to prevent the deaths of so many… Yet he didn't. From the looks of it, he didn't even try, all the while he tortured one of my friends, my guildmates. I may not share the same hatred you have, but let me join you. Let's take down this threat forever, the grandest conquest Ainz Ooal Gown has ever seen! I don't care what it takes, even if we have to conquer the whole damn world to find a way to him!"
Tanya chuckled, "Alright, alright. I get it. We still aren't sure if your theory's correct. If not, we're in a lot of trouble. But… If Being X didn't bring me here… Then let's show him hell!"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
"Look boss, I'm sorry, but I can't keep working with such little pay. I don't care if you need to give me more hours or what, I can't live with the income you've given me!" Albert exclaimed, voice getting louder and more rage filled with each word bouncing off his boss' ears.
"What I'm hearing is that you need to downgrade your living quarters or learn to be more conservative with your money. Neither of which I see as my problem." The old businessman stated, not even bothering to look him in the eyes as he dismissed his desperate, albeit angered request.
"Oh come on! At this rate you're gonna start losing workers to starvation if you don't consider at least giving out more hours. I don't even care if you're gonna take em' away from someone else, I just need more!"
"What, so that I can have more people whining in my ears about their hours?" The boss scoffed, "Here if you want more hours, go look for them elsewhere. Clearly you don't value your hours here at all. I'm certain your next job will be far more generous," he exclaimed with a chuckle.
"Wait… wha–?" Albert stammered.
"I'm saying you're fired. Now get out before I call the cops," the boss declared.
"But wait! You can't–"
"OUT!" He screamed.
Albert stammered backwards, barely holding his composure together as he hurried out the door, slamming it behind him.
His footsteps heavy, he trotted through the gooey sidewalk leading home from his now former workplace. Barely having put on his protective gear on his way out, the world around him was toxic, both in the environment and in the corporations. Part of him wanted to just let it finally consume him, to put him out of the misery of it all. But one thing kept him going, one person kept him pushing forward, and now he had let her down.
How was he gonna tell Tana..?
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
"Ah Demiurge, you appear to be a tad late," Albedo commented, arms crossed with a slight air of annoyance.
"My sincerest apologies, Albedo," Demiurge proclaimed with a slight bow, "However I had been given the privilege to escort Lady Tanya and Lord Momonga while they stepped outside a few moments ago."
"Huh?! Lady Tanya was here?! And nobody told me?!"
"I'm afraid it appeared they wanted some level of privacy. I'm certain Lady Tanya will call for you if she needs you."
"O-Of course…" Albedo grumbled.
"Regardless, I come bearing great news of Nazarick's long term goals."
"Oh? I presume you were told from the Supreme Ones?"
"I did not hear all of their conversation, but I did hear enough," Demiurge explained, "Although they have not ordered us directly, the directive Nazarick must follow is clear. There exists an entity who dares think they can challenge the Supreme Ones, who have ruined the realm which they hail from, and may very well be the reason the other Supreme Ones left us. Such crimes naturally cannot go unpunished. As servants of the great ones, our new directive is clear…"
"Kill Being X."
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA (Sorry this is late for yall. Kinda forgot I posted this fic on this page too. Translations also work for yall, enjoy.) AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Also big thanks to both my Beta Readers and Assistants. I recently divided my former Beta Reader role into the direct Beta Readers, who only correct grammar — and the Assistants, who help with some of the more writing-adjacent aspects.
So please thank all the Beta Readers who worked on this chapter:
Ariel - Er ist wieder da!
And also thank all the Assistants who helped:
Dr. Rx - WE ARE SO BACK!
Yert - Demiurge will finish the mission his creator couldn't.
And Join the Discord to receive notifications, hang out, or apply to be a Beta Reader or Assistant:
discord.gg
But it never came.
He opened his eyes, looking around to see himself still within the empty grand throne room, the silence remaining undisturbed as he waited, almost impatiently now, for the dreaded shutdown.
Sure, he was desperate for it to not end, but if it was going to end, could it at least do so on time? At the very least, he didn't want the devs to go 'oh sorry, we're pushing the shutdown back two hours' thereby making him unable to attend lest he completely fail to go to work from oversleeping. The wait began to annoy him, although before it could properly do so he began to notice… oddities.
For one, his UI was gone. A visual bug, maybe? Not impossible, he reckoned. He tried accessing the GM call feature to no avail. He even briefly attempted a Force Quit — this also failed.
'Disabling the force quit feature has gotta be highly illegal… I'm pretty sure it's classified as kidnapping, basically.'
But then it came; the smells. Smell was not one of the senses Yggdrasil or even any DIVE systems supported. Whether it was due to technical limitations or one of various laws made to prevent DIVE experiences from being too immersive, he couldn't remember, but he knew it was far beyond Yggdrasil's scope. And yet it was present.
The smells weren't strong, sure, but he could smell. Albedo in particular was radiating a particularly pleasant scent, even from this distance. Although before his mind could swirl with a plethora of new ideas and theories, he heard an unfamiliar voice speak up from his right.
"Is there something wrong, Lord Momonga?"
Momonga froze, his gaze turning back towards his left as he saw the eyes of the Guardian Overseer Albedo staring at him, glistening in a way he had never seen before. The once near-lifeless expression of the NPCs had vanished, now replaced with a face that held detailed emotion and expression in every inch, every polygon — no, were they even polygons anymore? It was practically like normal…
The consideration had entered his mind before, but now it struck him in full force. Was this real? Somehow, someway, had the devs turned the game into reality? Perhaps it wasn't even the devs at all, but if not, then just what was happening?
"Lord Momonga? If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know!" Albedo declared, her hands clenching firmly against her bountiful chest.
Part of him considered doing one final test, but recalling WhiteSilver's presence, he restrained himself, at least for now.
'Still a vital test… If I can do it then I'd be able to confirm whether this was real or not…' Momonga thought to himself.
"A-Ah well… Albedo…" Momonga briefly stammered his words. 'In the game you could only give them orders they were pre-programmed to do… Can I even give them more unique orders?' Covering his mouth with his hand, he made a fake cough, muttering, "A-Albedo, have some of the Pleiades check on the outside of the tomb. If they are attacked, they are to do what they can to retreat into the tomb with their intel."
"As you wish, my Lord." Albedo said with a bow before heading down to the end of the throne room at a brisk pace.
"NPCs shouldn't be able to be sent outside like that… Even ignoring the fact they wouldn't recognize such a specific command…" Momonga's head leaned against his hand as it sat on the armrest of the throne. Again the consideration of the reality of this world settled in, and as he ran through every theory, it became the only one with a solid bit of truth to it. Eliminate all other possibilities, and even the impossible becomes the truth.
His gaze fell upon his guildmate. However before he could mutter anything to her, he watched as she stumbled backwards. Her eyes were wide, shifting around every direction they could. Her hand grasped at her heart, grasping for something and only finding purchase on clothes. Although Mononga was unable to tell what was going on in her head, he could tell clearly that something was wrong.
He stood up as the angel standing behind WhiteSilver stepped to her side, looking with concern at her master's reaction. "Ma'am are you alright? Lady WhiteSilver?" The angel's hands gently rested on the pixie's arm as it clung tightly to her chest.
In an instant the pixie yanked her arm away, stumbling backwards several steps. "Get off me! You're—! You're not…" Her breathing increased in speed and intensity until the point she was practically hyperventilating. Her eyes shifted, frantically moving from object to object in her vision, but it focused on nothing.
"Tana—" Momonga muttered, reaching forward to help.
"I-Is something wrong lady WhiteSilver, please tell me I just—"
"Don't…" WhiteSilver's voice dropped low as she gazed forward at the angel with a blank stare. For a brief moment her eyes flickered a pure white, her wings twitching against her cape. "...Don't use that voice… How do you… HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT VOICE?!"
Victoria stepped back, startled by her master's change in tone, a worried expression growing on her face. "I-I am sorry if I upset you, i-if it shall repay my debts I'll gladly—"
"Shut up. Just… Just shut up! Everyone!" Tana stepped back again, back now pushing against the wall as her legs trembled beneath her. Before Momonga could attempt to help she vanished in a brief flash of light, teleporting away from their sight.
Momonga couldn't help but sigh. This situation was strange, and perhaps his undead form was altering his mentality somewhat, but he wasn't quite sure what brought on such a reaction so soon. However, the more he thought about it, the more he understood. His calm reaction was the abnormal one, perhaps. It'd be more reasonable to assume that anyone would panic.
Victoria fell to her knees on the throne room floor, head lowering as Momogna heard sobbing coming from her direction. Without hesitation Momonga stepped forward, leaning down and placing a hand on the angel's shoulder.
"I-I am sorry S-Sir Momonga… I-It was not my intention… t-to upset WhiteSilver… I know not what I have done b-but I will do whatever I must to repay it…" Victoria mumbled silently, looking up at the Overlord, tears in her eyes.
Momonga gently patted her on the shoulder. "Do not worry yourself over it too hard. An… event has occurred, you could say. It was a tad unexpected, so we were both thrown off-guard. She's in an emotional state right now, I shall speak with her. For now, simply assist Albedo in whatever she needs, alright?"
Victoria nodded, "A-As you wish, Sir M-Momonga…"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Momonga appeared within one of the many halls of the ninth floor of Nazarick. Looking down at the door before him he silently knocked and awaited a response he hoped was coming. The rooms in this hall were meant for players, and this one in particular was WhiteSilver's, or Tana's. However, as he heard no response he reluctantly peeked inside, only to see it completely unoccupied.
"Where could she be…? In the entire tomb of Nazarick…" As Momonga thought, a consideration entered his head. Seeking to confirm it, he teleported himself directly to the treasury.
As he materialized in the opening area of the treasury, he noticed his own NPC creation Pandora's Actor immediately rushing up to him and bowing. "Oh vater! I am so glad you are here! I must give you my sincerest apologies, for I have greatly offended Lady WhiteSilver!"
"Offended? How so?" Momonga asked, noticing just by his tone and posture that his fellow guildmate had done something to startle the doppelganger.
"W-Well when she arrived in the treasury, I naturally took an appearance I thought would be familiar to her — that being the appearance of the great Lord Ulbert Alain Odle! O-Of course it appeared that such a form has… offended Lady WhiteSilver… I apologize greatly for my transgressions vater!"
"It's… Fine, Pandora's Actor. Please be at ease, you couldn't have known," Momonga muttered, patting Pandora's actor gently on the shoulder before passing him his ring of Ainz Ooal Gown.
"Know what, if I may ask?" Pandora's Actor inquired, to which Momonga shook his head.
"It's not relevant for the time being. Just please avoid adopting Ulbert's form for the foreseeable future."
Pandora's actor gave a quick and exaggerated salute, "As you wish!"
"Good." Momonga muttered as he began to walk into the open treasury.
He sighed as he left Pandora's Actor 'So this is what it's about… I should've known. I don't quite understand why she snapped as she did with Victoria. Perhaps shocked that she's real now? Why did her voice of all things upset her? I guess they didn't really have voices before.'
As Momonga walked down the hall of statues, each detailing one of their former guildmates, he noticed the sound of banging getting louder and louder as he neared the end. Before long, the source was obvious. He watched as the pixie slammed her fists aggressively against the walls of the hallway, specifically doing so below the statue of her brother's player character, Ulbert.
Although hard to make out, Momonga watched as tears dripped from her face, a small puddle on the ground below where she was striking the wall. Little damage could be seen on the wall, though her hands looked somewhat bruised. Whether that was a testament to her lackluster Physical Attack stat or the wall's durability was unclear, more likely the latter. Regardless, Momonga felt no reason to hesitate as he stepped forward. "Tana, I… I apologize."
The pixie's fist stopped as it made one last impact into the wall. She looked up, her expression now looking more tired than anything, bags under her eyes and the wet remnants of tears down the sides of her face.
Continuing, Momonga muttered, "If I hadn't asked everyone to get on at midnight for the shutdown, we probably wouldn't have been trapped here. Even if I came alone, you wouldn't have been… well—"
"Do not blame yourself," Tana muttered, fists clenching even harder as her face turned to a snarl, "It's not your fault. It's his."
"Who? Ulbert's? I don't think—"
"No. Not Ulbert's…" Tana muttered, looking back up at the statue of her brother, her eyes flashing a pure white once again as her fists clenched even tighter.
She calmed briefly, her eyes returning to normal as a heavy sigh left her mouth. She turned back to face Momonga, her vibrant blue eyes now seemingly piercing directly into Momonga's soul. "I am going to tell you something… I do not expect you to believe me, but I do request that you at least listen. Under normal circumstances, it's not something I would admit, but… I believe I may have dragged you into this, so you deserve to know."
Tana looked to the side, fists clenched as she began, "This is not my first time being sent to 'another world' if you want to call this that. Hell, this wouldn't even be my second time. That's how I know everything is real, you… get a sense for it after multiple times. I was originally born in late 20th century Japan—although I have no means to prove for certain that it was the same Japan as our current one. In the early 21st century, I was pushed onto an oncoming train to my death. However before that death, I was met by an entity proclaiming himself as 'god' and 'the creator.'"
"So you've met… God?" Momonga questioned, placing a hand on his chin.
"No. Absolutely not!" she hissed, "That… That being is no god. Look at the world we came from! Look at that and tell me that there is a benevolent all-powerful god. Either God is blind, incapable, or blatantly malicious. In all cases, he is not God, he is something else. 21st century Earth was far from as bad as the one we just came from, but it still had several glaring flaws. Flaws that a benevolent god would not let stand. For that reason I refused to consider him as such, instead bestowing him the title of 'Being X.' He… did not take kindly to it."
Momonga was intrigued. It sounded insane, almost enough to make him think she was more chuunibyou than even her brother. But given their situation, it sounded less insane in perspective. It could explain why she seemed to panic, yet immediately knew how to use her abilities.
"He sent me to another world, one in the early 20th century and in a country you could equate to Germany on the path towards World War One. I was born with magic in that world, and given that fact and the inevitability of war being brought to the nation I lived in, I volunteered at a young age in hopes of securing an officer position away from the front lines. Unfortunately, I ran out of time, and the war started before I could secure such a role. Instead, although I was a commander, I served, fought, and eventually died on the front line."
"That sounds horrible…" Momonga commented with sympathy, even despite how outrageous it sounded.
Tana resumed, "Then, as if to spite me one last time, he declared he would send me to a world that was the 'culmination' of my beliefs, sending me to the Japan you're well familiar with — even if it is a sick perversion of what I believe in. From there, well… You know the rest. Now he's finally made his move again, and he…" She looked back up at the statue once more. "I'm sorry, but you were likely dragged along in his attempt to target me."
"I see… So you've lived three lives?" Momonga asked.
Tana nodded, "Four if you count this as a new 'life.' Though I should say even if that is the case it doesn't feel like it. With each new life I feel… detached from my old memories, even if I recall them normally. It feels like a different person, because to an extent it was, just another life. Puberty in particular also messed me up. I may have my memories, but my brain is still subject to hormones, apparently. I died early enough in my second life to be spared from it, so I wasn't prepared for it in my third. If this is a new 'life,' I at least don't feel that same disconnection yet, so who knows?"
Momonga nodded in acknowledgement, "I see… Well if we're facing a being such as that, then I'll have Albedo put the tomb on high alert. Fortunately, they seem to recognize us as their creators, or at least their superiors. I'll also have them group up with a meeting, it's probably a good idea to make sure they're all on our side…"
"So you believe me then? All of it?" Tana demanded, her gaze meeting up to match the Overlord's, her azure blue eyes peered into the abyss of his eye sockets, only small red flames gazing back. "He can use anything, from nutcrackers to stopping time itself, I suppose we should see what we can do."
Without hesitation, Momonga answered, "Of course. I have no reason not to… I suppose that explains why you were always so knowledgeable despite our equal education. I believe you, it's still just… hard to register, I suppose."
Tana placed her hand on her waist, shaking her head and chuckling, "So you're not upset you've been playing with like a 70 year old?"
"I don't really care who you are, you're my coworker, my guildmate, and most importantly, my friend. If you say that this Being X is the enemy, then I shall do whatever I can within my power to help you deal with them. And if you want to get back to Japan, even if only to get your brother, I will help you with that too."
"Back to…" Tana's gaze shifted for a moment, before her eyes widened as she turned away, "Right! Of course! I need the ring back!"
Momonga was curious as to what she wanted to test, stepping aside as she rushed past him towards Pandora's actor back near the entrance. Approaching the doppelganger, Tana slowed down to a walk as Pandora's Actor immediately bowed.
"Ah, my great Lord WhiteSilver! I understand now that I have wronged you deeply, bitte verzeihe mir!"
Momonga approached Tana from behind, his hand coming to cover his face as he mentally cringed from his creation speaking German. Trying to save face, he sent a [Message] spell quickly to his guildmate, { "S-Sorry, I forgot I programmed him to speak in German from time to ti–" }
"Es besteht kein Grund für eine Entschuldigung. I fühlte mich... schlecht. I sollte diejenige sein, die sich entschuldigt," Tana casually replied, nodding her head politely in Pandora's Actor's direction.
{ "Eh?" }
Pandora's actor immediately lit up, his tone changing to eagerness as he responded, "Ah! Ich bin Überglücklich. Es war mir nicht bewusst, dass Sie ebenfalls Deutsch sprechen. Aber natürlich, ich hätte wissen sollen, das Sie Deutsch können!"
{ "You speak German?" } Momonga asked.
{ "I told you, I was German in my second life," } Tana replied.
{ "A-Ah…" } Momonga muttered. { "I suppose I didn't think about that. I always found it strange that you spoke with the slightest German accent despite being born in Japan." }
Tana forced out a cough, "Lets tone down on the German for the time being. Not all of your peers understand it."
"As you wish, mein Führer!" Pandora's Actor proclaimed with an exaggerated bow.
"Please don't call me that."
"O-Of course."
Tana held out her hand towards Pandora's Actor. "If you don't mind, I require the ring again."
"Naturally," Pandora's Actor responded with a nod, gently placing the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown into Tana's hand before similarly placing the other into Momonga's.
Momonga gave a respectful nod towards his creation, "Good work, Pandora's Actor. We must be going."
{ "Head to the throne room" } Tana ordered in his mind, her body vanishing again before him as he followed suit.
Once more in the now empty throne room, Tana's gaze immediately fell towards the end of the hallway, facing away from the throne as she raised her hand forward. Immediately a deep violet void began to swirl around in a growing circle flat in front of the two. Momonga immediately recognized it as the [Gate] spell, a top tier teleportation magic. As it reached its full size, it began to fizzle before dispersing into clouds of purple smoke.
"It failed…"
"Was that directed towards Earth? Smart idea, though… I am sorry it didn't work," Momonga muttered, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"No, no, no… It failed! It failed Momonga!" Tana's voice raised as she took a step away, turning towards him with her hand once outstretched now bundled into a fist inches in front of her face. After a few seconds she lowered it, eyes gazing downwards aimlessly in thought. "When you cast [Gate] one of three things happen. One, the spell casts successfully, opening a portal to your targeted destination. Second, the target is invalid and it cancels. And the third, the target is blocked by some sort of anti-teleportation magic, like a guild-base or someone simply casting dimension lock or something. In this third case, the spell fails."
Momonga immediately got it. "When the spell is targeting an invalid target, as you said, it cancels and nothing appears at all… The spell doesn't even use MP or make any visuals when it cancels. When the spell is blocked, however, it will only fail after it has formed and the MP has been used…" Momonga reached his own hand out, casting his own [Gate] spell. He thought of a made-up place that didn't exist; the Netherlands. Instead of manifesting a void-like portal before him, nothing happened. Not even his MP drained. "It cancelled…"
"So Earth is a valid target… But something's blocking us from teleporting."
"Do you think it's that Being X's doing?" Momonga asked.
Tana shook her head, "I can't say for certain, but it's not unlikely."
Momonga nodded. "For now let's gather the NPCs, if this Being X is going to be a problem, then we need to make use of everything we have. Even if he's the one who sent us here, he either knowingly or unknowingly left us with one of the best weapons we could've asked for; Nazarick."
Before Tana could respond she turned to see Albedo and Victoria quietly approaching from the end of the throne room. Stopping before them, the two knelt before Tana and Momonga. "My Lords," Albedo began, "The Pleiades have returned with intel on the outside, it would appear that Nazarick is surrounded by open fields and hills in all directions."
"Fields? Not the swamps of Hellheim?" Momonga asked, his monotone voice suppressing his shock.
Albedo shook her head, "It would appear not, my Lord."
"We may not be in Yggdrasil anymore…" Tana suggested.
"Tell all Floor Guardians to meet at the sixth floor in an hour, excluding Gargantua and the guardian of the eighth floor. The eighth floor is to be considered off limits for the time being," Momonga commanded, his arm extending out dramatically.
Albedo nodded before standing, "As you command, my Lord."
As Albedo turned and began to leave, another voice stammered out, "L-Lady WhiteSilver… I-I apologize for my wrongdoings, and I will gladly atone for my-"
"Stop," Tana ordered with a heavy sigh. "I… I should be the one apologizing. You were designed out of the image of an old friend. Designed… too well, it seems. Whatever has brought us to this new world has… changed things. I was not expecting to hear her voice again. It is not your fault. For now, just… work with Albedo, I shall give you a proper assignment later. Consider this your newest order until future notice."
Victoria quickly stood with a salute. "As you command, my lady!" With a quick turn she hastily walked out of the room to join up with Albedo, once again leaving Momonga and Tana alone.
"I had thought you were just startled from coming here. But if that's the case, it makes a lot more sense… I'm sorry, Tan-"
"Don't remind me," Tana ordered, turning her head away, her wings instinctively lowering. "She was my adjutant in the army during my last life. She… died. I… I got over it… I didn't… I wasn't…"
"Look, if you want to–," Momonga began.
A [Gate] appeared as Tana stretched out her hand, interrupting, "Let's get to the sixth floor, best if we meet the other NPCs there."
Tana walked through the portal in silence, Momonga simply looking on for a few moments before following suit. He couldn't blame her reactions, loss was abundant in his world. She had lost her parents, her past friend, and now even her brother. And that wasn't even including who knew how many other people from each world that she had never mentioned; if she had truly fought in a war, she may have had numerous other comrades by her side too. The fact she was able to be so casual otherwise showed her strength, or perhaps it was her suppression. He couldn't tell, but he couldn't blame her either. He had been the same, he felt nothing but acknowledgement when his own mother died. It was just a fact of life in his old world.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
As Momonga stepped through the portal, he immediately took notice of the glimmering stars above him. Tana had teleported them right into the middle of the Amphitheatre, a colosseum in the middle of the sixth floor. It was here not too long ago that they had defeated Nazarick's last invaders, crushing them with their great might. As the [Gate] spell ended and the portal closed behind him, Momonga couldn't help but stare in awe at the night sky above him. Each star shimmered in a radiant glow unlike anything he had ever seen before, far better than anything even the best technology could replicate.
Of course, it was all artificial, the results of countless sleepless nights endured by his guildmate BluePlanet, but the view was mesmerizing nonetheless, brought to life by this transition. In his old world, he had only seen a star once; a brief glimmer when he was a child when he saw the clouds thin up, even just slightly. Just enough to make out a single star in the night sky for an instant. Or a plane… It was impossible to know for sure, but his friend BluePlanet had always told him there were millions out there. Of stars, that is. If this was how the night sky truly looked behind those clouds, he was willing to believe it. Perhaps if this world was free of his old world's pollution, then maybe he could finally see some real ones for himself. But even still, just these artificial ones were a beauty in their own right, and something about them being real now made them all the prettier.
Tana, on the other hand, didn't appear fazed at all. Even as Momonga took in the natural odors and smells of the forest surrounding the Amphitheatre, further lost in a warm embrace of senses he had never experienced, Tana didn't seem to even flinch. Perhaps it was her pixie nature showing, but if her prior stories were true, this may not have been as new to her as it was to him.
"Smells nice in here, huh? I don't think I've ever smelled a real tree before. It's… unique. I like it," Momonga commented as he walked up to Tana's side.
The pixie, however, merely grimaced slightly, "I suppose… Far better than the streets but… Reminds me too much of my last life, especially all the worst parts of it. Add the stench of blood and smoke and you get the last thing I smelt before I died."
"Ah… I'm… Sorry I brought it up," Momonga apologized. He felt like cowering away, he didn't know how to comfort someone who had lived through so much already. Someone who had lost so much. He wished he knew what it felt like, if only to help her out, just a little.
Tana scoffed, "It's fine. I need to get over it, it was a lifetime ago."
Momonga couldn't help but feel unsatisfied with that response. It doesn't matter if it was a lifetime ago, it clearly still upset her, and he wanted to help her with it however he could. But if she insisted it was fine, there was nothing more he felt he could do.
"I take it you've never seen the sky, then?" Tana asked, now looking back at the Overlord.
Momonga shook his head, "No, you knew what our world was like. I never had the chance to go to any of the few places where you still could."
Tana rolled her eyes, "Meh, light pollution probably made those views not all that impressive. I gotta give it to BluePlanet, he got it pretty spot on."
"So I take it you have seen it before?"
"Indeed. I'm intimately familiar with it. Mages in my last life flew through the skies, not much unlike my current build. My combat style is built purely off of my past life's experience, that's why I was so quick to master it," Tana explained, wings fluttering.
Momonga let out a hum of intrigue, "That must also be why you so often went in for physical combat, and managed to still win despite how… unique of a strategy it was."
Tana chuckled, "You can call it a stupid strategy, Momonga. For most people, it is. In my last life, Mages were primarily long-range casters. In fact, imagine an entire fighting force of individuals with my build, all flying glass cannons. They're all built to attack from a long distance, and since there's no cover in the sky, your best bet is hoping they miss in a volley or dogfight. However, because of this, most mages were woefully unprepared for direct physical combat. Due to circumstances granted to me by Being X, I had the power to get up close and personal. My speed and smaller stature helped me evade attacks before I got close. Once there, my enemies were not prepared for a fistfight or a shovelfight."
"Fascinating… If you don't mind, once this chaos is over, I'd love to hear more of your last life. I-If you wouldn't mind sharing," Momonga requested. He didn't want to push it, but he would be lying if his natural curiosity didn't drive him to want to hear more.
Tana seemed to think for a moment before forming a faint smile, "You know what, sure. I'll tell you a bit about my world. But we gotta make sure everything's secure here. We don't know what we're up against, so we don't know if we have the privilege of downtime."
"Of course," Momonga agreed. They could be fighting a god here, they can't let their guard down.
Before their conversation could continue, Momonga's attention was dragged onto the sound of trotting footsteps approaching rapidly towards them. Scurrying to a stop, the young elf quickly stood with a casual salute, "Welcome, Lord Momonga and Lady WhiteSilver to the floor that I guard!"
"Ah, Aura. Apologies, but I thought we'd intrude for a while. Nice work on the invaders, earlier," Momonga praised. It was a test, of course. They were real now, sure, but did they have memories beyond what they were programmed. Could they remember Yggdrasil? And if so, how vividly, to what degree, and how far back does their memory go?
The elf quickly raised their arm to scratch the back of their head. "Aw, it was nothing! Thank you for sending them straight our way, I love the action!"
"It was no problem, we simply wished to indulge ourselves as well. On the subject of earlier, where is your brother?"
Aura quickly perked up, looking back to the stands of the Amphitheatre and shouting out, "Mare! Get down here! You're being rude to the Supreme Ones!"
As Aura rushed off to get her brother to finally come down, Momonga silently raised his hand to his ear, sending a [Message] spell to Tana, { "They seem to remember Yggdrasil." }
{ "I noticed." } Tana responded, { "Is that a good or bad thing, though?" }
{ "Hard to say… They seem to follow their programming, at least as a priority. But it reckons that anything said to them before they became real may have been remembered. Not to mention any deaths they incurred." }
{ "And do you recall anything we've said around the NPCs?" }
{ "You think I can remember something specific like that?! Outside of when we were making them, most player discussions happened in more casual areas with little to no NPCs, so perhaps they don't know too much. I wonder if they know they were once NPCs in a video game…" }
{ "Best not to push it." } Tana suggested.
{ "Agreed." }
Finally Aura returned, Mare quickly hurrying behind. His base speed paled in comparison to his sister's as he finally rushed up to them, briefly panting as he grasped onto his staff firmly. "S-Sorry to keep you waiting, my Lords."
"Not to worry, Mare, I take no offense. I should warn, the other Floor Guardians will be gathering here in about an hour, I thought I should let you know," Momonga explained.
"The other Floor Guardians?" Aura asked, her face turning to a slight grimace, "Does that mean Shalltear will be there."
"I've called all of the Floor Guardians," Momonga explained, "Still though, we have some time before they arrive. If you don't mind indulging us a bit, there are some things me and WhiteSilver would like to test."
"Of course, Lord Momonga! We'll do as you command!" Aura proudly declared.
{ "So, what do we test first? } Momonga asked his partner through a silent [Message] spell.
{ "Let's see how they fight. In Yggdrasil their fighting style was built largely on the game's AI systems wherever the players didn't fill in their own code. I doubt Bukubukuchagama did such with Aura and Mare, so the game mechanics warrant that they should act like the base AI. However, now that they're real, they may have small microadjustments to their fighting style due to their personality, or it may become wholly different. Part of me wishes I still had Victoria on hand to test how her extensive combat programming was translated into this world. It may be improper to make them fight each other, so I would use a summon. And seeing as summons are your thing, I'll let you decide which." }
{ "As analytical as ever, but I'd be lying if I wasn't also curious on the same subjects." } Momonga tapped his staff against the ground for a few moments as he thought of what to summon. As he tapped he looked up at the staff itself, realizing he had the perfect test subject right in his hand.
Stepping forward he raised up the staff, beginning to cast a summoning spell from one of its gemstones before he was interrupted by the 'oohs' and 'ahhs' of the elf twins.
"I-I-Is that the legendary y-you know…"
"The Guild Weapon? Ah yes, I suppose you haven't seen it before. This is the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, a powerful weapon that rivals World Class items in terms of power, created through the countless hours put in by all members of Ainz Ooal Gown and–" A cough from Tana set him back on track. Faking his own cough, he continued, "Right, I will use this to summon a Primal Fire Elemental through this red gemstone at the top. If you do not mind, I would like to see the two of you fight it. It should be no trouble for you."
"Of course, Lord Momonga! We would be honored!" Aura quickly pulled out her whip as Mare slowly began inching away.
"I-I-I uhm just remembered I forgot to–"
"Oh no you're not!" Aura commanded, yanking the boy closer.
Momonga couldn't help but smile – at least mentally, given his skeletal face – at the similarities between the two's dynamic and that of their creator Bukubukuchagama's own dynamic with her brother Peroronocino. Pero was hardly as timid as Mare, but Buku acted much the same way to her brother as Aura did. Was that programmed into their code? It wouldn't surprise him, but he was curious how the other NPCs without personality data would inherit the nothing they were given.
With a glow of his staff, the giant flaming elemental erupted from the ground in a swirling inferno. The vaguely humanoid monstrosity of flames roared, its shout echoing across the otherwise empty Amphitheatre. Aura and Mare immediately went to work with attacking it, Mare only doing so upon being actively dragged towards it.
As the twins engaged in combat with the elemental, Momonga silently reached back out to Tana, { "You've been awfully quiet this whole time. At least outwardly." }
{ "Sorry, I have a lot on my mind. I'm trying to think on how to move forward. It's quite hard to play chess when you can't see the enemy's pieces, let alone know the rules of the game." }
{ "Still worried about that 'Being X' then, I take it?" } Momonga continued.
{ "Naturally…" } Tana replied.
{ "Well we can at least confirm a few things here. For starters, friendly fire seems to be possible. In Yggdrasil, they would not have been able to attack that golem as it is under my control. Secondly, I have a vague sense of connection to the golem, and I can issue it orders without concern of its loyalty or obedience. It will obey me, no matter what. At least so long as that connection isn't usurped by some means like a World Item or something." } Momonga surmised, lightly tapping his staff with his finger as the twins had their way with the golem. It was too low level to be a serious threat to them, but a high enough level for it to be an at least somewhat coherent challenge.
{ "Indeed… They also don't quite fight like the base NPC combat systems. It seems a tad more sophisticated and competent, in fact it seems greatly so. However, that may just be the difference between being a standard combat algorithm made to try and adapt to a near infinite combination of builds, and an actual sapient being who, in their own mind, has been using their skills for years." } Tana suggested.
{ "Indeed, though it stands to reason, we should test our own skills, too. We've tried [Gate], but there's a lot more at our disposal. I can sense all my spells and abilities intrinsically, even beyond the fact I already had them memorized. Hell, there's a handful here that I kinda forgot I had. Why do I even have a spell for 'summoning a giant potato over someone's head?' What purpose does that serve?" }
{ "I don't know if there was a player left in Yggdrasil with your number of spells. Why are you surprised? Also, don't you remember when you and Pero pranked a bunch of guild members by running around and dropping giant potatoes on their heads all day for Saint Patrick's Day?" }
Momonga laughed at the memory, { "Hah! Right, how could I have forgotten. So that's where that's from… Well, when I get the chance, I'll be sure to drop a potato on Being X." }
{ "Great thinking, we can kill a god with blight. Maybe you could drop a giant peanut on him instead. He loved to be a nutcracker for some reason." }
Momonga suddenly remembered a few hours earlier, { "Nutcracker? Huh… Guess that explains the seventh floor…" }
{ "Explains what?" } Tana questioned.
{ "Don't worry about it," } Momonga urged.
As Momonga shifted his focus back towards the fight, he watched the duo continue to pelt the elemental with various attacks and spells. Mare was actually doing a lot of the heavy lifting, as without using her various beast summons and 'pets,' Aura paled in comparison to Mare's sheer firepower. Still, she was a brilliant distraction, keeping the monster focused on her more agile self while Mare, the real heavyhitter, could strike without fear. An agile aggro.
However, something went wrong. Aura overstepped her abilities' ranges and lost the beast's aggro. Before Mare could respond, a giant flaming fist was swinging down onto him. It wouldn't kill, far from it, but it would certainly hurt. Momonga winced in anticipation but was startled by a gust of wind coming from his left. Looking he saw Tana having zipped away, standing between Mare and the summon in an instant. It was examples like this that reminded Momonga of just how ludicrously high Tana's speed stat was, high enough that even he struggled to keep up without extensive preparations beforehand.
He watched as Tana raised an arm instinctively upwards. As the elemental's fist came down, it struck against a glowing blue barrier of hexagons. The golem bounced back, partially damaged from the strike as the barrier fizzled away.
Momonga approached, subconsciously telling the golem to finally stand down – something in hindsight he realized he should've done before. As he did, Aura quickly rushed over, bowing rapidly, "I'm so sorry! I misjudged my jump and he got out of range!"
"It's fine," Tana explained. "You can make mistakes, it's natural. You just need to learn to recognize and learn from them. Do not let yourself repeat them, but always keep them in mind. It may be good to recognize when your enemy makes the same mistakes."
Momonga nodded along as he approached. He agreed with the advice, it being likely taken from Punitto Moe, a fellow guildmember. Although, given Tana's own apparent military history, it was possible it was entirely her own advice. His focus was not on the advice, however, but rather the spell Tana had used to protect Mara. "That's an interesting barrier spell you casted, I don't recognize it off the top of my head, what was it?"
Tana's gaze widened as she froze. She didn't respond to his question, only slowly looking down at her hands as her eyes wandered around them in shock and confusion. Slowly, however, a smirk began to grow on her face, her eyes beginning to glitter with glee.
In an instant her cape fluttered behind her, lifted up by the gust of wind generated by her now flapping wings. Slowly raising off the ground she hovered a few feet in the air, now looking down at the confused Momonga. "What… exactly are you doing? Did I say something?"
"You said nothing, I'm just checking something," Tana explained, her wings slowly stopping until they were no longer flapping at all. Her cape lowered, flowing only slightly now as she remained hovering in the air. Momonga was left somewhat confused, as by all means her wings should've always been flapping if she was flying. In fact, covering the wings was one of the major reasons why flying classes were so limited in terms of armor, since they had to be unimpeded for proper movement.
Before Momonga could deduce an answer, Tana simply devolved into a gradually amplifying maniacal laugh, shrieking a cacophonous cackle. Her laugh only got louder and more intense before she suddenly swung her arm out, palm flat and fingers pointed straight as a blue glow emanated from it like a blade from its hilt. In a second her body lowered to the ground, slamming down as if she pushed herself to do so. Her body turned, arm raising before slashing down on the Primal Fire Elemental. As she landed with a loud thud, the beast was split in two, dissolving into a burst of flame that quietly returned to the gemstone it came from.
Again, Tana looked at her hands before her eyes widened once more, "Of course!" Again she hovered in the air, her wings not flapping even remotely. Then she grabbed onto the World Item around her neck, pulling it off before tossing it to Momogna, "Catch!"
Momonga barely managed to catch it as in that instant Tana began to fall once more, only stopped by the sudden flapping of her wings helping her regain her flight. "So that's how it is."
"That's how what is?" Momonga asked.
Tana shook her head, "Nothing important." She stated, although the real answer she discreetly sent via [Message], { "Remember how I said my second life had magic?" }
{ "Vaguely, yeah…?" }
{ "Well for some reason, that World Item lets me use it!" }
Momonga was glad he didn't have eyes, as they would've been falling out by now. Before his excitement got too extreme, a strange calming presence rushed over him, restoring him to a mostly 'default' state, { "Wait, so you can use a whole other system of magic?!" }
{ "I need more time to experiment with it… but it seems so! I seemed to have used it off of pure muscle memory. It seems after over 20 years it's still somewhere in there. But I'll have to experiment with this later, we don't have time for this today." }
{ "Of course," } Momonga agreed, although he was already itching at the idea of learning a whole new system of magic – even if Tana was the only one with access to it.
"Well then, with the fighting over, I think you all deserve a bit of refreshment," Momonga said, reaching into his inventory and pulling out a Bottomless Pitcher. It was an item purely used for keeping mounts maintained with all the water they could need, but in this case it had a particularly useful purpose. Pulling out a random cup set he found in the deeper pits of his inventory, he began to pour out two cups that he promptly gave to each of the twins.
"A-Are you sure, Lord Momonga?" Aura asked, staring deeply into the clear water contained in the glass she now held.
"Of course, trust me, it's no hassle to me. It's an infinite water source anyways, and as an undead I don't need to drink regardless," Momonga reassured them.
Tana, left standing in thought for a few moments, finally spoke up as she looked down at the male elf twin, "Mare, going forward you should hold off on casting your bigger spells until Aura has finished off with her debuffs. Until then, you should be playing the stalling game with your enemies, using your druidic abilities to help keep them in place until the debuffs are applied, all while conserving your mana. Your class has a lot of firepower, but you don't have the mana generation of a full World Disaster, so you've got to make your big hits count. For a pairing of two, being more aggressive naturally makes sense, especially with Aura not using her pets, but in a larger team you should definitely be willing to hold off, and even do nothing until the time is right to land a singular devastating blow."
Mare nervously stammered as he finished her drink, practically trembling, "I-I am truly sorry L-Lady WhiteSilver i-it won't happen again…"
"There's no need to apologize, I was merely offering advice."
"A-Advice..?"
Tana nodded, "Your Disciple of Disaster is quite literally just a weaker version of my own World Disaster skill. I've been playing this class since before you were created. You were created with intrinsic knowledge of your skills, abilities, and how to use them, but it seems that your team knowledge is limited. You know when to use your abilities on your own, but you need to learn a bit more about team dynamics and what role you should fill. It's fine that you don't know, and if you can learn, that means you, Aura, and all of the Floor Guardians can grow, adapt, and become even stronger. That's something we need more than ever."
Mare rapidly nodded his head, nearly reaching mach speeds with the speed of his nods, "O-Of course, Lady WhiteSilver! I-I shall do my best! D-Do you think you could t-tell me more about this from time to time…?"
Tana nodded with a smile, "Certainly, though my work load may be quite heavy depending on how things go, but I'll try to make time."
"Hey! I want to learn too!" Aura pouted, raising her hand eagerly.
Tana folded her arms and tilted her head back. "Hmm… Admittedly, your combat style as a beast tamer aligns more with Momonga's own summoner classes than it does with my glass cannon build. You'd be better off speaking to Momonga about things like that."
"Well can I talk to you about it then, Lord Momonga? Can I? Please? Please?" Aura turned around, practically begging with puppy-dog eyes, not that Momonga needed any convincing.
"Of course, you need but ask."
"Yes!" Aura shouted in triumph.
"Oh? Am I the first?" A new voice interrupted Aura's triumph as her cheerful face immediately turned sour.
The source of the voice was what appeared to be a young girl with pale white skin and luxurious purple-silver hair styled into a long ponytail swaying down her back. Dressed in a purple-pink gothic dress, with fangs to match the almost stereotypical 'vampire' aesthetic to boot. Her face and appearance balanced childish cuteness with mature beauty, although the sizable breasts on her chest skewed this out of balance.
The girl stepped out of a giant purple portal, a [Gate] spell of her own. She approached the group, although it wasn't long that she was met with hostility, particularly from Aura. "Teleportation within Nazarick is restricted for a reason! You can't just come here with a Gate! You can walk here the normal way just like you walked over here from that portal! Besides, you reek! With all the time saved from using [Gate], don't you think you could've at least taken a shower?!"
"Now, now, you can't go saying things like that – Lord Momonga is an undead as well."
"Lord Momonga doesn't count," Aura declared, "He's like above undead. He's like, super ultra undead or something. Unlike you, he doesn't have any rotting flesh on his bones to stink up the room!"
Mare immediately began to tremble, cowering and inching away, now hiding behind Tana, although she was about the same size.
"I… Well I suppose you have a point," Shalltear relented, instead walking over to Momonga and quickly embraced Momonga, "Ahh my master, the only being I cannot conquer…"
Tana squinted from the side, staring Shalltear down until she finally noticed, practically jumping on Momonga like a startled cat.
{ "He put necrophilia in there… didn't he?" } Tana muttered through [Message].
{ "He put? What are you – Oh… Pero… Fuck he did didn't he? Ugh, why did it have to be Albedo we changed instead of Shalltear…" }
{ "You changed Albedo? What did you change?" } Tana asked.
{ "Shit." }
{ "Momonga… What. Did. You. Change." }
{ "I-It's nothing important! I swear, it was just a minor change, it probably won't come up and… Look, I'll explain it later. It's Ulbert's doing." } Momonga sighed, he knew he couldn't hide it forever. They fucked up and now they'll have to live with that fuck up indefinitely.
{ "Momonga…" }
"Had enough yet?" Aura grumbled, forcing Momonga's attention back at the vampire below him.
"Ah, pipsqueak, I didn't notice you there," Shalltear proclaimed, ignoring the fact they had just been speaking. Shalltear's gaze fell on Mare who simply hid further behind Tana. "I apologize, Mare, it must be such a pain to deal with such an odd elder sister. Best if you keep your distance, don't want to end up like her."
Aura's eyebrow twitched as her hands clenched against her crossed arms. She stared angered at Shalltear, anger growing with each successive word out of the vampire's mouth until finally she spat out a single-sentence knife to the gut, "Shut up, fake tits!"
"UWAAH?!" The regal Shalltear suddenly broke character, crossing her arms over her breasts defensively and backing away.
"You only need a single glance to tell! That's why you used a Gate, isn't it? You overstuffed your bra and didn't want to mess it up further by running here!"
"S-S-Shut it! At least I have some, you don't have any!" Shalltear retorted defensively.
"Yeah, but I'm still young, I'll grow more, you're undead, you're stuck like that!"
"Is this really something to fight over?" Tana groaned, causing the bickering duo to freeze in silence, bowing with immediate apologies. "I just don't get why either of you care… I couldn't care less if I had large breasts, in fact it'd probably be a hindrance more than anything…"
Shalltear proudly laughed, "Fuhu! See, soon you'll grow giant heavy disgusting lumps while I'll be pristinely flat!"
Aura shrugged, "I dunno, I may be young, but this might still be all I get!"
Tana appeared confused, messaging Momonga, { "Are they… fighting over how small they are now… How the hell did this happen?" }
{ "They remind me a lot of Buku and Pero. And if I know them, they'll be back fighting over who's bigger by tomorrow, or at least something else." }
{ "Try not to get too mesmerized in nostalgia when our NPCs start a civil war because it's 'just like old times.'" }
{ "Huh? What makes you think that's what I'm doing?" }
{ "Momonga, I've been playing with you almost alone for the last several years. I can tell when you're lost in nostalgia." }
{ "Right…" }
As the vampire and elf continued bickering, a loud voice suddenly cut through the noise with sheer volume, "WHAT A RACKET." Approaching was a giant walking pale-blue insectoid of ice. Sheer frost emanated from his body alongside two giant ice spikes from his back. He similarly walked up to Momonga, planting his halberd firmly against the ground as it rested in one of his four clawed hands. "YOU MAKE A FOOL OF YOURSELVES BEFORE THE SUPREME ONES," he declared before turning his attention towards the two players.
"Thank you for arriving, Cocytus," Momonga greeted.
"I SHALL ALWAYS ANSWER WHEN YOU CALL, MY LORD."
"I'm glad, how are things faring on the fifth floor? I do hope things are not too boring with the lack of raiders coming by."
"THERE HAS CERTAINLY NOT BEEN TOO MUCH GOING ON, BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN I AM BORED. I HAVE CONTINUED TO TRAIN IN CASE I AM NEEDED TO SERVE."
"Your commitment is greatly appreciated, Cocytus, thank you."
"JUST HEARING THAT MAKES IT ALL WORTH IT, I OWE MY ALL TO YOU, SUPREME ONES."
Finally the last three arrived, Albedo in the front with Demiurge and Victoria behind, the latter two seemingly chatting away and even laughing. Momonga found it fascinating how well the demon and angel got along. Could it be similar to how Shalltear and Aura inherited their creators' habits? Were Victoria and Demiurge mimicking Tana and Albert? These questions Momonga could not answer, but he was glad they weren't at each others' throats. It would've been a major headache to say the least.
"That's everyone then…" Momonga commented.
Albedo nodded, stepping forward before all the other Floor Guardians. "Then let us perform the ritual of allegiance."
In an instant the guardians moved themselves behind Albedo in a line in order of their own floors with the exception of Victoria who, not technically a guardian, took a post besides Tana. At the furthest end was Shalltear, who took a step forward, "Guardian of the First, Second, and Third Floors, Shalltear Bloodfallen. I bow before the Supreme Ones." Shalltear promptly lowered herself, bowing before the next in the line stepped forward.
"GUARDIAN OF THE FIFTH LEVEL, COCYTUS. I BOW BEFORE THE SUPREME ONES." Cocytus was next, stepping forward and bowing in kind.
Following him, the two dark elf twins stepped forward. "Guardian of the Sixth Floor, Aura Bella Fiora. I bow before the Supreme Ones."
"G-Guardian of the same, Mare Bello Fiore. I b-bow before the Supreme Ones." Similarly the twins bowed in unison, Demiurge stepping forward next.
"Guardian of the Seventh Floor, Demiurge. I bow before the Supreme Ones," Demiurge declared as he himself bowed as well.
Albedo was last, proudly proclaiming, "Overseer of the Floor Guardians, Albedo. I bow before the Supreme Ones." Now bowing, she continued, "With the exception of Gargantua, Guardian of the Fourth Floor, and Victim, Guardian of the Eighth Floor, the Floor Guardians have gathered to prostrate ourselves before you… We await your orders, Supreme Ones."
Momonga immediately froze under pressure. He wasn't prepared for… any of this. Still, he felt a need to do something, to say something. He was in charge now, he needed to learn how to act like it. He just wished he had a bit more time to prepare.
Almost as if she sensed this anxiety, Tana stepped forward, arms behind her back as a new look appeared in her eyes. One he hadn't seen in her before, but one that looked on with near absolute confidence, or at least lied about it very well. "Brilliant work, Guardians. You have made us very satisfied!"
He may not have recognized the look in her eyes, but as she spoke, it was a tone of voice he did remember, one from all the way back in the Ragnarok war. The voice of a true commander, a leader who, while perhaps not perfectly suited to lead a guild of equals, could most certainly command an army of subordinates. Momonga needed to learn to act like a superior, and fortunately, he had the perfect example right there with him. Likely another thing from her past life fighting in a war, since she had apparently risen partially up the chain of command.
"Please save your gratitude – we offer not just our devotion but our very selves, you must simply give the command and we will follow it."
"It has become apparent that the Great Tomb of Nazarick has found itself in a crisis we have not faced since the Ragnarok War. However, there is a clear difference. Back then, we had at least some sense of who we were facing. Even if that massive raid on Nazarick was not anticipated, it was well prepared for. We knew in large part the capabilities and potential power that could be mustered within the rules and knowledge we had of Yggdrasil. However! If the limited intel we have gained from the surface holds true, we are no longer in Helheim, and may not be in Yggdrasil whatsoever anymore," Tana declared, pacing slowly back and forth as she explained.
It was in moments like these that, in hindsight, her being a former military officer explained a whole lot to Momonga. Her habits before battle like checking her weapons made all the more sense now.
"We are in an unknown land facing an unknown enemy. An enemy who may or may not know we exist yet. We don't know their powers, their capabilities, their goals, their ambitions, nothing. We are blind to the world, and we can only hope that they are blind to us. We must prepare for the worst, but be prepared to take advantage of the best." Tana stopped and turned, fixating her gaze on Mare, "The outside world around Nazarick is no longer the swamps of Helheim but rather a series of grassy fields and hills. It stands to reason that if the outside world does not yet know of our existence that we should hide ourselves until we are properly ready. To that end, Mare, I want you to use your earth magic to cover up the walls to make it blend in with the surrounding hills, then use illusion magic to cover above. Understood?"
"Y-Yes my Lady, it shall be done," Mare quickly declared.
"Albedo, I want you to coordinate with the other Floor Guardians, create a temporary internal surveillance network. Make sure that everything is operating normally. Report any and all suspicious activity. If you suspect an element of Nazarick has gone rouge, you have my permission to detain – and if necessary – exterminate the threat. If anything out of the ordinary is found, quarantine and report it immediately to me."
"As you wish, Lady WhiteSilver," Albedo proudly affirmed, a faint blush on her face reminding Momonga again of his mistake.
Momonga stepped forward, placing his hand on Tana's shoulder as he nodded to her before she backed away, giving Momonga center stage once more. Gathering his will he finally spoke, "Now then, I trust you all can handle your duties to the utmost, however, I would like to ask one thing of all of you. I want each of you to give your personal thoughts on how you view me and WhiteSilver. Be honest with your answers, I shall know if you are lying, no answer you give will displease us." He was, of course, lying. He had no way to tell if they were lying, but better to scare them into honesty. He wanted their genuine opinions, even if they weren't as universally positive as they seemed to make it out to be. If they had an issue with him, he wanted to know. "We will begin with Shalltear," Momonga declared, pointing towards the vampire.
Shalltear lifted her head and replied hastily without hesitation, "Lord Momonga is the manifestation of beauty, all the jewelry in the world could not compare to your beauty. Lady WhiteSilver is power manifested into an elegant dance of sheer destruction and might."
"Cocytus?" Momonga asked next, hand moving towards the giant insectoid.
"YOU TWO ARE THE STRONGEST OF THE SUPREME ONES AND BRILLIANT WARRIORS WHO BROUGHT NAZARICK TO MANY GLORIOUS VICTORIES."
"Aura?"
"You're both merciful, considerate, and smart!"
"Mare?"
"I-I think you're both n-nice and v-very strong…"
"Demiurge?"
"Lord Momonga is wise in judgement beyond our comprehension, and Lady WhiteSilver holds the strategic prowess to bring one of the nine realms to their knees."
Momonga turned his head to face the angel standing firmly behind Tana, "Victoria."
"Beings of absolute commitment and determination. You are resolute in your ambitions and firm in your beliefs. You yield to no one and remain with Nazarick even as your fellow Supreme Beings left."
Momonga turned back towards the Guardians in front of him. "And lastly, Albedo."
"Lord Momonga is the highest rank among the Supreme Beings, the leader of our sworn masters. Lady WhiteSilver is the chief strategist and the true organizer of the tomb's defense, as well as the woman I love!"
Momonga felt the tension in the air grow as he stared down at Albedo. He was glad his skeletal face didn't show expressions, but even still he had no doubt that Tana could smell his fear.
'Don't look don't look don't look don't look don't look don't look don't look don't look don't look don't look'
Slowly he finally relented, turning his face to see the unblinking gaze of a very angry pixie staring him down. Just a single glimpse into those eyes told him that she had committed atrocities the likes of which he did not understand, and that he was next in line. He practically jumped, however was soon met with a wave of calm much like he had felt earlier. It was strange how his body reacted to extreme emotion, but that was something to look into later.
{ "Momonga…" } Tana messaged him, her voice more tense than he had ever heard before. Again his emotions were forcibly calmed by whatever natural force his undead body had upon his mind.
{ "I-I'll explain everything later, I promise." }
{ "It better be good." }
'I'm sorry!' Momonga thought, yet another calming rush coming over him before speaking out again towards the crowd of guardians.
"I see. I have a sufficient understanding of everyone's thoughts. Thank you for your everlasting dedication. We are trusting part of my friends' duties to you, strive to be ever loyal!"
Tana stepped forward once more, prompting Momonga to take a step back. She waved her arm to the side, causing her cape to wave as if a gust of wind blew by. Whether it was part of her cape's data, sheer coincidence, or Tana's own doing, Momonga couldn't tell. "One last thing. From this moment on you shall not refer to me as WhiteSilver!" Momonga's attention jolted back from his own thoughts at the announcement. "From now on, my name is Tanya Alain Odle! However, you may address me merely as Tanya. Continue to serve the Great Tomb faithfully in the great name of Ainz Ooal Gown!"
{ "Meet me in my room." } Tanya messaged Momonga, who responded with a nod.
Tanya briefly turned towards Victoria, "Help them with securing Nazarick. I'll message you when you're needed."
Victoria gave a firm salute. "As you wish, ma'am!"
As Tanya teleported away, so too did Momonga follow.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
In an instant the pressure keeping them down vanished. After a few seconds, the floor guardians all rose to their feet, left alone in the now silenced emptier Amphitheatre.
Cocytus was the first to speak, eagerly declaring, "WHAT A POWERFUL PRESENCE. I KNEW THEY WERE STRONGER THAN US, BUT WAS NOT AWARE OF JUST HOW MUCH."
Demiurge hummed through an approving smirk. "Naturally, they are among the smartest and most powerful of the Supreme Beings. Although it does sadden me that more have not remained. And to think we were so close…"
"What do you mean by that?" Aura asked, her hands casually coming to rest behind her head.
"My own creator, Lord Ulbert Alain Odle, was here earlier today. However I fear he may not be returning."
Aura's face was now filled with a level of concern, "He's not? I remember him being one of the few that still showed up from time to time."
Demiurge's arms crossed behind his back as he gazed into the artificial sky in thought, "The last words I heard from him seemed to have a hint of finality. Furthermore, it stands to reason that if we are no longer in Yggdrasil that the other Supreme Beings may not have a way back to us, or at the very least may not be aware of where we are."
"Do you think it's possible the Supreme Ones deliberately brought Nazarick here to get away from them? And that their ignorance in what's going on is a test for us?" Albedo asked, turning towards Demiurge.
Demiurge nodded. "I cannot deny the possibility that this is a test, but I don't know of any reason they would want to hide from the fellow Supreme Ones. From what I remember hearing, it may have been the last 'day' of Yggdrasil. It's possible they brought Nazarick here to escape its destruction."
Albedo didn't seem completely satisfied, but was forced to accept his answer. "I see, well we should do our best to prove ourselves, lest they decide to move on as well."
Demiurge turned his gaze towards Shalltear, who remained kneeling, practically trembling exactly where she had originally been standing. "Shaltear, is something wrong?" He asked, tilting his head.
"A-Apologies…" She stammered out, finally lifting her head after a moment, "L-Lord M-Momonga's presence was so thrilling I may have put my underwear in a bit of a crisis…"
The guardians all stood frozen in silence, most slowly coming to facepalm as they remembered the twisted fetishes Shalltear never bothered to hide, chiefly, her necrophilia.
Albedo seemed mildly annoyed, scoffing, "That is no way for a guardian to act in the presence of the Supreme Ones!"
"Eh? Lord Momonga is one of the Forty-One Supreme Beings, not to mention extremely beautiful. It's a reward to be in his presence! You're insane if you don't get wet!" Shalltear aggressively defended herself, only further burying herself in the process.
Albedo grimaced slightly but ultimately shook her head, conceding, "You do have a point to some extent. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have to hold my composure around Lady Tanya. But there is still no way to act around the Supreme Ones. Learn to control yourself."
Shalltear sighed, "I suppose I have no choice until I can become Lord Momonga's wife."
"Quite ambitious there, although I hold similar aspirations myself, albeit for Lady Tanya," Albedo admitted.
Shalltear let out a pleasant chuckle, "Fuhuhu, seems we have similar ambitions, Guardian Overseer."
"It's only natural that we seek to please the Supreme Ones, after all," Albedo agreed.
"They seem to get along well…" Victoria muttered as she walked up to the group.
"Indeed," Demiurge began, "Although have they considered the possibility that Lady Tanya and Lord Momonga are already together?"
The two over-eager bachelorettes froze in their discussion, immediately turning to gaze at Demiurge with a slight panic. "Y-You don't really think they are, right?!" Shalltear frantically asked.
"W-Well it only makes sense that the Supreme Ones would be with fellow Supreme Ones…" Albedo admitted.
Demiurge silently adjusted his glasses with his pointer finger, commenting, "Well it stands to reason that either of the Supreme Beings could take on multiple spouses. I just wouldn't get your hopes up for the main position."
Victoria seemed skeptical, asking, "Are they really together?"
Demiurge smirked and replied, "It's only natural that they would be. Even ignoring the obvious political benefits, my creator thought it was inevitable that they would, so he must certainly be correct."
"Well if Lord Ulbert said so…" Victoria mumbled.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Tanya appeared in her room on the ninth floor before slowly stumbling over to her bed and promptly collapsing onto it face-first. She let out a loud groan to herself moments before Momonga teleported in behind her.
Momonga silently walked over to a nearby cushioned chair and took a seat, a sigh exiting his own mouth as he muttered, "Such high expectations of us. I don't know if I can live up to that."
Tanya slowly turned over and sat up on her bed, using her wings to give her a slight lift upwards. It came almost instinctively to her. It was weird, but natural. All of this power at her fingertips, it felt too good to be true. She was waiting for the twist, for the big reveal that Being X had sent her to some kind of new hell world. It hadn't come yet, but she was waiting. It was only a matter of time, now.
"I think we can start with what you and my brother did to Albedo," Tanya commanded, her gaze falling upon Momonga.
"A-Ah… right…" Momonga stammered nervously. "W-Well when we were in the throne room, your brother and I read Albedo's code, and after seeing that Tabula tied her to Victoria, he got pissed that Tabula then went to say 'she's a slut' at the end of her code. So, despite my objections that it broke the rules, he suggested we change it since it was the last day. I removed the code, but it was his decision to add that she was 'deeply in love with WhiteSilver' there."
Tanya let out a deep sigh. It was the first of possibly many inconveniences Being X would throw her way, but it was at least a more manageable one. It was also something her brother would totally do. In fact, this one in particular may not have been Being X at all, just Albert fucking around as usual. Although she really didn't want to think of him right now.
"Alright… Whatever. It can't be dealt with. I take it you can't just change their code around again, right?"
"No, now that they're real people, I don't really think I can. Even if I could, it raises some… ethical questions. Even if I'm surprisingly okay with them somehow, I hesitate to think the Floor Guardians would be perfectly okay with it."
Tanya shrugged, pulling out a cup of coffee from her inventory as she explained, "Honestly it seems like they praise us pretty hard. It's possible they're lying, but with everything I've seen, I'm inclined to think they view us as the god-like entities they act like we are."
"That's exactly what I'm worried about!" Momonga exclaimed, looking down and curling his long skeletal fingers in his hand, "I barely was able to be guildmaster, and that position was a leader among equals! How the hell am I supposed to become a 'god' to them? If they think I'm not up to their expectations, what then?"
"I think you were doing fine," Tanya commented, "Don't worry, I'll help you out, just like I did with the guild. And just like with the guild, once you get the hang of it, I'm sure you'll be a natural."
"I… Thank you, Tana – I mean Tanya… Sorry, the slight difference confuses me. Why didn't you just go for Tana anyways?"
Tanya shrugged, "In my second life my name was Tanya. When I was reborn into my third life, I was born as 'Tana,' it always felt like Being X was mocking me. So even though it's been over twenty years since my second life, I've always thought Tanya was a better name than Tana. Besides, it just sounds better in my opinion. Rolls of the tongue."
"I suppose that makes sense…" Momonga muttered.
Tanya finally took a sip of her coffee. "Mmmph! It's been so long since I've had actual drinkable coffee! To think something that's just meant to give a slight speed buff would actually be of high quality. Or maybe I'm just used to the sewage they sold as 'coffee' back in our old world… Here, want some?"
"Ah, I'm fine… I… can't exactly eat."
"Ah shit, right! Huh… With how much food and even restaurants we built here in the tomb, you'll be seriously missing out… Well… I guess it wouldn't be a bad time to test…"
Tanya pulled a ring out of her inventory, placing it on her finger as she clenched her hand and raised it up. It was only then that Momonga saw what ring she had equipped, Shooting Star. She could practically see his jaw drop as he saw her casually pull it out. Equipped with three uses of the super-tier spell [Wish Upon a Star] it was one of the rarest cash shop items Momonga owned, and he only got it through Yamaiko. Tanya had gotten one around the same time, but they only had the two between them. After that, there was no more. "W-Wait Tanya, you really shouldn't–" Momonga began.
"I know, I know. But we have two of these things, and we need to know if and how it works. It's arguably one of our best trump cards, we can't afford to fuck up when we need to use it for a genuine reason."
In the game, [Wish Upon a Star] only granted a series of pre-set options for wishes. However in this world where everything was real, it remained to be seen if that was still the case. If she could wish for Momonga to have the ability to eat, it could open the door for potential uses later and confirm that it was far more flexible now, opening the door to nigh-unlimited possibilities.
One of the three comets detailed on the ring glowed before shattering, a glowing complex set of circles appearing beneath her as they glowed brightly before the room was engulfed in a bright light. As it faded, Tanya slowly took off the ring and stored it away, grabbing a random apple from her inventory and passing it over.
Nervously, Momonga caught it and held it up to his face. He opened his mouth and bit down on it. As he bit, the part inside his mouth slowly dissolved away into nothing, very slightly increasing his MP, or rather it would've if it wasn't already full. Despite his lack of a tongue or anything of the sort, he could taste every bit of it as it dissolved. He didn't quite have the pleasures of chewing or the ability to properly sense the texture, but this was more than enough for him.
"Fascinating… If Wish Upon a Star can do that…"
"It's even more powerful than in Yggdrasil. Glad we knew that before we actually needed to use it. It may be powerful against whatever Being X throws at us."
Momonga finally stood up from his chair and walked towards the center of the room. "I… think I want to get some fresh air. All this stuff dumped on me, being a leader to a bunch of NPCs made real who worship me and a self-proclaimed god we may need to face… It's… Well I just want to go for a stroll outside. See this new world for myself. Want to come?"
Tanya raised an eyebrow before tossing away her coffee into her inventory, "Well I don't see why not, I suppose. It has been a while since I've flown in a real sky."
The two teleported instantly to a hallway filled with long narrow stone platforms meant for laying out corpses. Below their feet was polished white stone with a staircase behind them leading deeper into the tomb and a large in front of them a large open passageway outside, lit only by faint moonlight seeping inside.
Momonga led the way, the two walking silently towards the exit before footsteps appeared behind them. As the footsteps reached the top, the voice of Demiurge rang out, "Ah, Lord Momonga and Lady Tanya, I am honored to be in your presence." The two stopped and turned to look at Demiurge as he quickly bowed before them. "Although I must inquire as to the location of your escorts."
"Escorts? We're more than capable of defending ourselves," Tanya commented, although being one always flying around with Victoria she knew she was not one to talk. "What are you doing on the first floor anyways?"
"I was assigned to relocate some of my demons to the first floor to aid in defense. I have only just arrived myself, and my demons are naturally a bit behind me. As for your escort, of course I understand there is none within Nazarick who can compare to you. That being said, I would be remiss in my duties if I allowed the two of you to venture into unknown territories without an escort."
Momonga faintly grumbled but relented, "Very well, we shall allow you and you alone to escort us."
"I would be honored, my Lords."
'It's going to be hard to get some private time anymore, isn't it?' Tanya grumbled to herself.
She and Momonga continued outside, stopping as they finally got to see the full night sky before them. Tanya gazed up in a nostalgic awe at the sight. She never thought she'd miss something so taken for granted as the sky itself. Years of grey smog blocking her view had all but burned the color grey into her retinas. She had almost forgotten how much natural color the world truly had.
Without hesitation she lifted herself up, using her wings on newfound instinct as Momonga quietly equipped a flight necklace to follow her.
Demiurge followed suit, warping his body until his face appeared like that of a frog and wings warped and stretched out of his back, granting him flight. He stood a well enough distance behind, clearly recognizing the Supreme Ones had intended to have some degree of privacy.
"It's… beautiful, isn't it?" Momonga commented, staring up at the stars in awe.
"It's certainly been a while… But yeah, you take it for granted when you actually get to look at it every day."
"Part of me is jealous of you. But part of me also recognizes that you've been through a lot because of that Being X. He… well if he is truly as you say he is, surely he could've done something to help our world. To prevent the skies themselves from hiding away," Momonga commented with melancholy.
"You see now why I refused to recognize him as a 'god,'" Tanya muttered.
"Of course, but… I've been thinking…" Momonga began, "This world, these forms, the lives we've been thrust into… Are you… Well, are you sure Being X did this?"
Tanya raised an eyebrow, turning to stare Momonga up and down as if he was crazy. "What? Of course he–"
"Just… Hear me out," Momonga interrupted, "Our world was awful. We lived paycheck to paycheck with only a slight bit to spend on ourselves. The food was awful, the air was poison, the water was toxic. There was nothing to look forward to beyond Yggdrasil. Now… We have Nazarick. While that may come with the expectations of the NPCs, and who knows what exists out there to threaten us, we still have… all of this! The luxury, the companionship, the loyalty. Hell, we even have both of us here together. All of this, everything here… How can this be in any way worse than the world we came from? Why would Being X spare you the suffering of that world?"
Tanya froze, not out of the absurdity of the proposal as she did before, but rather out of the logic of it. She thought it over time and time again, and although she couldn't prove definitively if he was right or wrong, she suddenly realized the possibility was there.
Momonga resumed, "And… If he didn't do this, it's possible he didn't anticipate this, these forms and this power. It's possible, even if incredibly unlikely, that maybe, just maybe… we could kill him. We are now beyond at least part of his control if he couldn't stop us from having … all this."
Tanya's eyes widened, her mind swirling with thoughts and desires, hopes and dreams. The goal she had long forgotten, deeming it a sisyphean task, was suddenly possible. The chances were low, hell maybe even near zero, but compared to the zero that it was before, that was an infinitely large improvement in comparison.
Slowly a smile twisted onto her face, a small chuckle resonating out of it before evolving into a wild laughter. "Yes, yes, YES! Of course! That idiot Being X is not omnipotent after all! I knew it! An omnipotent being would've known I would never convert. He can blink, so he can go blind! I'll admit, I'm not convinced entirely. But… if you are right… if I can fight and kill Being X…"
Momonga interrupted, "Then I will do everything in my power to help you."
Tanya looked up at Momonga. Part of her naturally wanted to use every asset at her disposal, her old salaryman and military officer speaking. But another part of her refused. It was not Momonga's fight, it was hers. That part of her didn't want to get him involved, it was too dangerous, and he had no obligation.
Momonga, as if sensing Tanya's hesitation, reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. "This… Being X… He seems to have caused you more pain than you deserve. Besides, he had the power to fix our world, to prevent it from being as bad as it was, to prevent the deaths of so many… Yet he didn't. From the looks of it, he didn't even try, all the while he tortured one of my friends, my guildmates. I may not share the same hatred you have, but let me join you. Let's take down this threat forever, the grandest conquest Ainz Ooal Gown has ever seen! I don't care what it takes, even if we have to conquer the whole damn world to find a way to him!"
Tanya chuckled, "Alright, alright. I get it. We still aren't sure if your theory's correct. If not, we're in a lot of trouble. But… If Being X didn't bring me here… Then let's show him hell!"
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
"Look boss, I'm sorry, but I can't keep working with such little pay. I don't care if you need to give me more hours or what, I can't live with the income you've given me!" Albert exclaimed, voice getting louder and more rage filled with each word bouncing off his boss' ears.
"What I'm hearing is that you need to downgrade your living quarters or learn to be more conservative with your money. Neither of which I see as my problem." The old businessman stated, not even bothering to look him in the eyes as he dismissed his desperate, albeit angered request.
"Oh come on! At this rate you're gonna start losing workers to starvation if you don't consider at least giving out more hours. I don't even care if you're gonna take em' away from someone else, I just need more!"
"What, so that I can have more people whining in my ears about their hours?" The boss scoffed, "Here if you want more hours, go look for them elsewhere. Clearly you don't value your hours here at all. I'm certain your next job will be far more generous," he exclaimed with a chuckle.
"Wait… wha–?" Albert stammered.
"I'm saying you're fired. Now get out before I call the cops," the boss declared.
"But wait! You can't–"
"OUT!" He screamed.
Albert stammered backwards, barely holding his composure together as he hurried out the door, slamming it behind him.
His footsteps heavy, he trotted through the gooey sidewalk leading home from his now former workplace. Barely having put on his protective gear on his way out, the world around him was toxic, both in the environment and in the corporations. Part of him wanted to just let it finally consume him, to put him out of the misery of it all. But one thing kept him going, one person kept him pushing forward, and now he had let her down.
How was he gonna tell Tana..?
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
"Ah Demiurge, you appear to be a tad late," Albedo commented, arms crossed with a slight air of annoyance.
"My sincerest apologies, Albedo," Demiurge proclaimed with a slight bow, "However I had been given the privilege to escort Lady Tanya and Lord Momonga while they stepped outside a few moments ago."
"Huh?! Lady Tanya was here?! And nobody told me?!"
"I'm afraid it appeared they wanted some level of privacy. I'm certain Lady Tanya will call for you if she needs you."
"O-Of course…" Albedo grumbled.
"Regardless, I come bearing great news of Nazarick's long term goals."
"Oh? I presume you were told from the Supreme Ones?"
"I did not hear all of their conversation, but I did hear enough," Demiurge explained, "Although they have not ordered us directly, the directive Nazarick must follow is clear. There exists an entity who dares think they can challenge the Supreme Ones, who have ruined the realm which they hail from, and may very well be the reason the other Supreme Ones left us. Such crimes naturally cannot go unpunished. As servants of the great ones, our new directive is clear…"
"Kill Being X."
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA (Sorry this is late for yall. Kinda forgot I posted this fic on this page too. Translations also work for yall, enjoy.) AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Also big thanks to both my Beta Readers and Assistants. I recently divided my former Beta Reader role into the direct Beta Readers, who only correct grammar — and the Assistants, who help with some of the more writing-adjacent aspects.
So please thank all the Beta Readers who worked on this chapter:
Ariel - Er ist wieder da!
And also thank all the Assistants who helped:
Dr. Rx - WE ARE SO BACK!
Yert - Demiurge will finish the mission his creator couldn't.
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Anyu Maaka
Getting sticky.
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2021
- Messages
- 65
We might get Ulbert back!?!?
SwissChocolatess
Shalltear is all and all is Shalltear
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2023
- Messages
- 16
*very sad incorrect buzzer*
Anyu Maaka
Getting sticky.
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2021
- Messages
- 65
NOOO!! Why must you dig in my wound!? Him being left behind was one of the most heartbreaking moments I've ever read in fanfiction, and now you let us see him get fired too? *ugly crying / screaming / sobbing*
Nickballas
I wish I had more Pride.
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2017
- Messages
- 2,960
Welp at least Albedo and the other Guardians have a more deserving target to hate and rail against. So even IF they go behind Momonga and Tanya's back it will likely be resource aquisition more than any true treachery. So I guess that's kinda good?
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Lewascan2
A lone skeleton having a ton of skelefun.
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2021
- Messages
- 519
It's liiiiiiiiiiiivvvvvveeessssss!!!!
Mmm, yes, and I'm more than glad for it, considering that in recent memory, this fic as probably the main catalyst for getting me working on writing some Overlord fanfic of my own. Looking forward to seeing how things go... better(? XD) with Tanya around. It does make a certain amount of sense that she would be the one to rename herself instead of Momonga, so that she can honor her brother that she's probably already determined she may never see again.
I wonder though, lol, just how much Tanya's usual "misunderstanding field" might end up combining with the worship-tinted glasses Nazarick's NPCs generally (always) wear, never mind once they actually start meeting denizens of the New World. Or perhaps, to the contrary, Tanya will actually be savvy enough to notice when the NPCs are misunderstanding things and actively correct them, potentially cutting down on ones like Demiurge going so comically off the rails.
Mmm, yes, and I'm more than glad for it, considering that in recent memory, this fic as probably the main catalyst for getting me working on writing some Overlord fanfic of my own. Looking forward to seeing how things go... better(? XD) with Tanya around. It does make a certain amount of sense that she would be the one to rename herself instead of Momonga, so that she can honor her brother that she's probably already determined she may never see again.
I wonder though, lol, just how much Tanya's usual "misunderstanding field" might end up combining with the worship-tinted glasses Nazarick's NPCs generally (always) wear, never mind once they actually start meeting denizens of the New World. Or perhaps, to the contrary, Tanya will actually be savvy enough to notice when the NPCs are misunderstanding things and actively correct them, potentially cutting down on ones like Demiurge going so comically off the rails.
grx1318
Getting out there.
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2023
- Messages
- 11
Let me start by saying it's great that this is back. It's a great story.
That being said, unless Albert gets a genuinely happy ending and not the "sweet release of death", I might skip his sections. I already expected him to get fired; I don't need to see him finding Tana permanently stuck to the VR headset, or gone entirely. It's already sad enough that he didn't go with them. I don't need to add more depression to my coffee.
I'll save that for an extremely sunny day.
That being said, unless Albert gets a genuinely happy ending and not the "sweet release of death", I might skip his sections. I already expected him to get fired; I don't need to see him finding Tana permanently stuck to the VR headset, or gone entirely. It's already sad enough that he didn't go with them. I don't need to add more depression to my coffee.
I'll save that for an extremely sunny day.
SwissChocolatess
Shalltear is all and all is Shalltear
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2023
- Messages
- 16
Oh there won't be any more Albert sections. that's it for a good long while. It was meant to be at the end of last chapter, but I forgot; hence why its here.
Akuma-Heika
The Devil Exists Within
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2016
- Messages
- 15,314
Looking for omniscient not omnipotent.
With Swiss's comment, I expect we will be seeing Ulbert's suicide when he finds his sisters corpse.
QuickStick
Your first time is always over so quickly, isn't it?
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2026
- Messages
- 1
Thanks for writing this I really enjoyed reading it, I hope to see more chapters in the future now we have gotten into the original story proper and I am interested to see where you take it. With both changes to a few characters and the introduction of Tanya.
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