358Small note, it has come to my attention that some characters didn't appear in the last chapter, namely the 'greater than symbol' and the 'less than symbol'. So some things didn't come out as they originally should have, but that's fixed now.
A second note, normally I don't do this but enough people brought up the same issue, and enough of them were guests and therefore could not be replied to, that I feel the need to address it here. Several people were complaining about the honorifics used by Momonga and Herohero, and how they kept referring to everyone as –sama. I just copied what they did in the light novel at that point in time. For some reason Momonga and Herohero referred to each other as –sama during their last conversation at the beginning of volume one. My guess is that they were clowning around and that this was perhaps a semi-regular thing among Ainz Ooal Gown members. I would like to point out to everyone to try and keep in mind whether it is an author screwing up or a character deliberately using the language improperly.
Regardless, don't expect that particular bit of language to last. With all of that said, on with the show.
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Chapter Two
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The remaining members of Ainz Ooal Gown looked on, stunned, as Albedo repeated her question. "Is there anything wrong Masters? If there is anything that I can do, please give the order."
Momonga dumbly stood up, entranced by the bizarre situation. Albedo knelt on one knee before the dais, her head raised and carefully inspecting the four figures before her. He was unsure what to think, what to say, how to react to this situation.
Before he could say or do anything however, one of his allies overcame their stupor.
Lucifer stepped forward, standing next to Momonga. "No, there is nothing wrong Albedo."
Seeing their friend stepping forward and taking action started to break the spell that had engulfed them all until that moment. Before anyone could do anything, Lucifer continued. "Albedo, Sebastian, Pleiades!"
The eight NPCs, were they NPCs now, roared back "Yes, Lucifer-sama!"
"The four of us need to have a private conversation, leave the room and ensure that no eavesdropping takes place, now!"
"Immediately my lord!" The eight of them immediately stood up, turned, and made their way out of the room.
The four of them watched on in silence as they made their way down the red carpet and out the door.
When the massive doors closed behind them, Tigris Euphrates finally regained himself. "W-what the hell is going on? That was Albedo, those were the NPCs right? They were actually talking. More than that, their lips moved too, when they talked. And your lips moved too!" He swung a hand to point at their floating ally. "What the hell is going on!?"
Lucifer sighed "Good question and I wish I had an answer for you. I saw one of the NPCs actually talking of all things, figured something weird was going on, and acted. The most important thing was to get them out of the way while we figure this out. Just from that we know a few things. It's not just Albedo, the butler and the maids acted the same way, they all spoke, and they all obeyed instructions other than the ones on the basic little list of recognized commands. Furthermore, so far they seem to be obedient to us despite these changes. Although that might not mean anything."
Momonga finally came to his senses and started paying attention to the world around him. "The HUD is gone, I can't see anything. Also…." He quickly tried to use a number of game functions, accessing the chat, logging out, calling the game master, none of it worked. "None of the game functions seem to be working."
"Could, could this be YGGDRASIL 2?" Lucifer and Momonga both looked over to Tigris Euphrates. "Could they have activated the new game immediately after ending the old one?"
"Don't be absurd." Lucifer's indictment was swift and cold. "Things like that don't happen without any prior warning, and furthermore the game company was in no condition to be managing something like that. I'm more worried about being hacked and having our minds held captive somehow."
Momonga accepted the logic without question. As nice as it would be if it was true and YGGDRASIL 2 was launched, Lucifer's comments made sense. Furthermore, another sensation finally registered. "Do any of you smell that?" It was a husky, exotic, spicy sort of smell. Something not easily placed but reminded one of heat, the wind, and the unknown. Momonga looked to his left, at Tigris Euphrates.
"This makes no sense. By the laws behind dive technology, the sense of smell and the sense of taste cannot be replicated. Hell, I don't think they've even figured out HOW to accurately replicate the complicated nuances behind taste and smell. This makes no sense."
Momonga ignored Lucifer's continued muttering as he gave voice to a queer idea that had been building in the back of his mind. "Could… could the game have become real?"
Tigris Euphrates and Lucifer both looked at him. "I thought the sequel comment was absurd, but this is ridiculous. Momonga, come to your senses and help us figure this out. The idea that this is reality is just crazy." Tigris Euphrates was quick to agree. "Momonga-san, this isn't the time for idle fantasies, we're in serious trouble here."
Lucifer's head popped up. "Actually, hang on. Tigris, give me your hand."
The red man, looking thoroughly confused, presented his right hand palm up as Lucifer swooped through the air to grab it with both hands, his golden trident floating beside him. Momonga looked on as Lucifer felt something for one moment, two, and then his arms dropped to his sides as he looked at Tigris' hand in shock. "That can't be…."
"What, what is it Lucifer-san?"
Lucifer was still dumbfounded as he answered "You've got a pulse."
Before Momonga and Tigris Euphrates could comprehend the meaning of that statement, their friend brought one hand over to the opposite arm and pinched, hard, letting out a small hiss. "Okay, I can feel pain." Then he did something even more strange, jerking up the hem of his toga and looking down beneath the garment. "Holy shit."
He looked up at the two of them and stated, with an expression of utmost shock "I'm equipped."
It was too much, things were happening too quickly, Momonga couldn't make heads of tails of it, and the look on his friend's face was too much, he started to laugh, Tigris Euphrates started to crack up too.
Lucifer's features darkened with anger. "Listen to me you nimrods!" He spoke quickly, his voice low, smooth, and carrying arctic cold. "Think about it, when the hell did YGGDRASIL ever let that kind of detail slip? You both know as well as I do that any kind of sexual material, in ANY capacity, is completely prohibited by the programming for fear of violating public decency laws. I sure as hell didn't design genitalia when I created my character, and I'm sure you didn't either. No character could ever strip themselves naked, and if you happened to look down your pants all you ever saw was darkness. What the fuck is happening!?"
Momonga calmed down in the face of Lucifer's anger, and his blood ran cold when his comments about public decency laws struck home. Lucifer was right, that kind of detail would never be allowed in the game. Even if armor got damaged or destroyed characters always had enough scraps left in just the right places to protect their decency even if it didn't count toward their defenses anymore. If that kind of thing got added in then they could say for certain that they were not involved in anything publically sanctioned.
His heart started pounding again, which made no sense but that was how he felt, the likelihood of them being victims of something nefarious kept growing. And a voice in the back of his mind whispered that the odds of the impossible coming true were higher too. But how to verify it?
"What's the situation outside like?"
Lucifer and Tigris Euphrates both looked sharply at Momonga's comment. "That's… actually a good question."
Tigris Euphrates nodded "I'll take care of it, wait here." Then he more or less blurred down the hall, opened the door, and slipped outside.
Momonga turned to Lucifer, who was currently looking behind one shoulder, his face filled with surprise and confusion as his wings twitched behind him. "What is it Lucifer-san? Are you alright?"
Lucifer glanced back at him. "I am currently feeling muscles in my back move whenever I move one of my wings. Muscles that I can guarantee do not exist in a human body. I… cannot easily describe just how strange that feels. I'm currently getting more sensation than I ever have before, which suggests that the usual limitations on the sense of touch have been released somehow. How about you? You were panicking a few seconds ago, and you don't even have the sorts of things you'd need to actually talk. No larynx, no lungs, no tongue, no lips, nothing. You're telling me you feel just fine?"
Momonga raised one hand to his face, his hand was all bones, no flesh, no skin, and no sinew, although to his touch it felt like he had a layer of skin. Looking at his hand made it clear that that was not the case however, regardless of what his senses reported. But strangely enough he felt none of the panic or fear that he was gripped by not so long ago. It was strange, but somehow he didn't feel like it was strange and he told his comrade so.
Before Lucifer could respond, the door opened again and Tigris Euphrates zipped back up to the dais. "Okay, Sebas and the Pleiades are going to scout the outside and report back. I told them to keep relatively close, but are they even going to be able to leave? NPCs created to guard an area aren't supposed to be able to leave that area."
Lucifer shrugged "All kinds of rules are being broken tonight Tigris, we'll find out soon enough whether that's another one. And I think that will be the final test as well. If there's nothing waiting outside but the swamps of Helheim then who knows what kind of trouble we're in. If there's something else out there, then…."
He looked Momonga dead in the eye. "If you eliminate the impossible then whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."
It took a moment before the meaning of that statement hit home. Lucifer was actually saying that the idea of the game becoming real might have some merit. That invoked a strange feeling in Momonga, fear, but also an unusual excitement.
Tigris Euphrates looked over to their fourth comrade. "Herohero-san, you've been pretty quiet. Don't you have anything to add?"
They looked over to Herohero, he had slipped out of his fighting stance and was simply slumped beside the throne in a thick puddle of pitch black sludge. Herohero gave no answer.
Momonga began to feel concerned and stepped closer to investigate, the other two right behind him. "Herohero-san?"
Still no answer.
The undead Overlord started to feel panic rise up inside of him. Herohero couldn't be dead, right? Could it be that whatever weird process had happened didn't work with an extremely inhuman body? Was Herohero not caught up in it, did he log out normally? Or was his mind fried because whatever happened didn't work properly?
Before anyone could take any further action, the sludge twitched. Several bubbles emerged from the surface of the ooze, popping loudly and scattering bits of slime with a bizarre sound.
The three stepped back, uncertain of what to make of it when it happened again, the slime scattering farther and the sound louder, but somewhat different.
"Oh, I think I get it."
Momonga and Tigris Euphrates looked over to Lucifer. "What do you mean?"
Lucifer rose up in the air and came down right next to the toxic puddle. "Think about it, we've all apparently taken on the forms of our YGGDRASIL characters right? If that's true, then right now Herohero is an Ooze." Lucifer looked over at the two of them. "Herohero is used to working a human body, as we all are, but his new body is a quite a bit different from the human norm whereas ours…" He gestured to himself and the two of them with one hand "… are not." He peered down at the bubbling goop beneath him and said "If I remember the common Ooze Traits correctly, they can hear and smell just fine, better than fine actually, but many of them are blind. Moreover they don't really have eyes or mouths. Right now, I think, Herohero can hear us, but he cannot see us, and I think these bubbles and these weird sounds…." He paused as another strange noise burst forth from the ooze with another small eruption of slime "… I think that all of this is Herohero trying to talk to us."
Another eruption of sound and slime, larger than ever, punctuated Lucifer's words. The dark ooze splattered all over the floor, driving Momonga and Tigris Euphrates back. Lucifer stood, well hovered, unmoved.
"Okay Herohero, if you can hear me, stop that. I have no problem with acid but if you hit Momonga or Tigris Euphrates with that stuff you could hurt them. To say nothing of what you're doing to the floor." He spared a glance at the numerous droplets of ooze that had fallen to the floor. They were starting to smoke.
The three waited, expectantly, and after a few moments the bubbling, the eruptions, and the noises ceased.
Lucifer nodded. "Well, that's one thing settled. He can hear us. Now how do we actually establish communications?"
Momonga tried to come up with something, but he found it difficult. The closest thing he could come up with was the sign language used by the deaf and the mute, but he didn't know how to use it, nor did he expect Herohero to be able to use it either. Before he could come up with any other ideas however, Lucifer shrugged and said. "I suppose we'll have to try the big experiment now."
Both Momonga and Tigris Euphrates perked up at that. "Big experiment?" "You'll have to explain what you mean by that, Lucifer-san."
The floating figure looked over at the two and said one word. "Magic"
Momonga looked down at the puddle of ooze, currently twitching spasmodically. "You think something like 'Telepathy' or a 'Telepathic Bond' spell will let him communicate with us Lucifer-san?"
Tigris Euphrates shrugged. "It can't hurt to try. Actually, I think I have…." He stopped in mid motion. "Here's another experiment actually, can we open our item boxes? Let's see, maybe this will work…." He closed his eyes and reached a hand forward. Both Lucifer and Momonga watched carefully as his hand sunk into a dark circle that appeared in the air. Tigris' eyes popped open. "Well whatta ya know! That did work! Now, let's see." He seemed to grasp around for a moment or two before he emerged with a necklace made of many interwoven strands of different colored metals. "Here, this should work. I hope."
Lucifer immediately asked "How exactly did you do that?" Momonga nodded in silent agreement, equally curious.
The red giant shrugged. "All you have to do is imagine a box opening when you reach out your hand. That's how I did it anyway."
As Lucifer and Momonga experimented with the mechanics of this, Tigris Euphrates tossed the necklace into the twitching pile of sludge on the ground. "Here, Herohero-san. Try using this, if you can."
All three of them carefully watched as the ooze stopped moving. Then, without warning, sound blasted into their minds "HEY! CAN YOU GUYS HEAR ME!?"
They clapped their hands over their ears as the voice continued to blare into their heads "THIS FEELS REALLY WEIRD! LIKE, NOTHING WORKS OR MOVES THE WAY IT'S SUPPOSED TO! WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!?"
"Herohero! I understand that you are scared but quiet down! We hear you just fine so please, for goodness' sake…."
It was a few moments before the voice returned, at much reduced volume "How's this?"
Everyone sighed in relief. "Better. Now, you should have been listening to everything so far. How much did you hear?"
They continued to hear the voice in their heads "Yeah, I could hear you. You guys mentioned something about the NPC's talking and sending some of them outside right? How the heck is that supposed to work? More importantly, I can't see you guys! And nothing moves the way it should! Am I a slime now?! What the hell am I supposed to do!?" As Herohero's voice grew more panicked, the pile of sludge started twitching again, this way and that.
Momonga stepped closer, trying to think of some way to help his friend. "Calm down, Herohero-san, panicking won't help-"
"WON'T HELP!? You try being calm when YOU can't see or move or anything!" The sludge's twitching became more energetic.
The skeleton tried to think of the best advice he could give. He couldn't come up with much, but something was better than nothing. "Herohero-san, you're currently a pile of ooze, I don't think trying to move individual limbs will work. Maybe if you tried moving everything at once you'd get somewhere?"
He honestly had no idea how to help his friend, and that tormented him, but Herohero's twitching settled down again.
Then, before anyone could react, the entire mass leapt off the ground and passed between the three of them before splattering on the red carpet running between the dais and the door.
Lucifer moved down beside his fellow guild members and observed the currently pulsing slime. "Well, that's something. Try that again Herohero, but more controlled, try to position yourself upright. Then try to grow eyes."
Momonga and Tigris Euphrates looked over at him. "This is no time for jokes Lucifer-san, how do you expect him to just 'grow eyes'?" Momonga nodded in agreement.
The hovering figure just shrugged. "If I remember right, doesn't he have a few levels of the Shoggoth racial class? Those things have eyes and mouths. That was how he gained sight in the first place back in YGGDRASIL. He just has to find a way to make that work here." He continued to fix his gaze on the pile of twitching slime. "That's the way Herohero, nice and steady, you'll be ambulatory in no time. Just don't splatter yourself across the ceiling with another heroic leap."
"This is not NEARLY as easy as I make it look. Oh, bones, I miss you already. Standing is not easy without you."
With that sad, strained voice in their heads, they watched as Herohero managed to successfully attain something resembling his previous form. He was upright, although there was no indication of any eyes or other facial features.
Lucifer nodded. "Okay, now grow eyes and we're fine."
"WE ARE NOT FINE!" Everyone clapped their hands to their ears once more. "How the hell am I supposed to just 'grow eyes'!?"
The hovering figure shrugged. "It's your body; you'll understand it better than I would. My best guess would be trying to imagine eyes forming on your surface? Play around with things, figure it out."
Herohero's response was not in understandable words but more like a series of unintelligible grumbles as the material of the top most portion of his body swirled and moved around. The three of them watched and waited in silence.
Finally, after several minutes, two pits formed on his surface facing towards them. The three heard a massive sigh of relief in their heads. "Thank God." Herohero's voice was the epitome or relief.
Then the entire structure collapsed onto the floor once more. "DAMN IT!"
A faint snigger could be heard and the two looked over to Lucifer's grinning face. Momonga was quick to reprimand "This isn't funny Lucifer-san; Herohero-san's having a hard time with this."
Lucifer, however, was unabashed. "I know he is, and it's funny. He finally gets things together and then loses concentration? He just flops there? His reaction afterwards? I'm not sorry, that's funny."
Herohero made no verbal response. Instead a blob of slime launched from the formless mass straight toward Lucifer at high speeds.
Tigris Euphrates and Momonga flinched back and away from the pitch black missile as it sped toward Lucifer… and hit an invisible wall a foot from his face. Or at least that's what it looked like.
Lucifer's face was stoic as he watched the slime fall to the floor without even touching him. "That was uncalled for Herohero, utterly childish. Although I suppose it's good to know that my Protective Aura still works. Anyway quit clowning around and pull yourself together. Then you can get to work on figuring out speech."
He looked over at Momonga and Tigris Euphrates. "We still have to test out whether magic works or not. We know, thanks to Tigris' necklace, that magic items seem to work, but we don't know for sure about the actual spells."
Momonga knew that the idea had merit, and that finding out whether or not their normal magic worked was of the highest priority given the questionable loyalty of all the NPCs, but at the same time…. "Lucifer-san, I don't think we should be practicing magic in here, you never know what might get damaged." The last thing Momonga wanted was a high output DPS like Lucifer flinging around fireballs and lightning bolts.
Said high output DPS was currently staring him down. "Relax Momonga, there's plenty more to magic than attack spells. We're not all super specialized like you, there's plenty of magic that we can use that won't damage anything. For example… [Arcane Eye]."
Lucifer clinched and closed one eye as the magic took hold. The Arcane Eye spell created an invisible sensor that acted as a floating eye that one could move around. The downside compared to scrying was that it had a limited range and it only faced one way, one could easily sneak behind it if you spotted it through its invisibility somehow. On the other hand, one could channel other spells through it to improve its scouting capabilities, spells that would allow one to see through invisibility or illusions for example. Scrying didn't let you do that.
In the game, the result was kind of like looking through a remote control camera, with a picture-in-picture kind of effect compared to normal vision. Here, with the HUD apparently disabled, Momonga figured that the data feed was considerably different.
Before anyone could ask anything, a loud CRACK could be heard and several things happened at once.
From a point approximately fifteen feet above the door to the throne room, a small web of cracks appeared in thin air before quickly vanishing.
The second thing that happened was that three columns of fire emerged from that same point and lanced toward the four of them. The third thing and fourth thing that happened was the three huge bubbles of clear fluid and the three lightning bolts as thick as a man's waist that followed right behind.
Momonga yelped and leapt backward, raising the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown into a guarding posture, trying to put some distance and some kind of defense between him and the incoming attacks. Instead he stumbled over his own feet in his panic and landed flat on his ass before the clear fluid and the flames engulfed him.
Herohero was still trying to pull himself back together when everything happened. A column of fire and a bolt of lightning stuck his prone form, eliciting an eruption of slime, an extremely loud and unintelligible sound, and a scream over the telepathic channel he had access to.
A bubble of fluid and a bolt of lightning both struck at Tigris Euphrates. As the two attacks got near his form blurred and flickered, the bubble struck the ground and splattered fluid everywhere, and the lightning bolt struck the floor. Tigris Euphrates stood several feet back from where he was when Lucifer cast his spell, whole and unharmed.
Fire, lightning, and fluid struck at Lucifer, fiercer than anything the other three were attacked with. Lucifer stood and did nothing. All three attacks struck something, almost like an invisible wall eight inches from his skin. Then the fire went out, the lightning faded away, and the clear liquid vanished as it fell to the floor, leaving him untouched.
Before anyone could do or say anything, the next event had already begun.
As Momonga fell to the ground, doused in the now smoking liquid, the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown in his hand glowed with a sinister dark light before seven lances of purest darkness emerged from the seven gems and lanced out at Lucifer.
The hovering guild member juked to one side, swift as lightning, but the black bolts curved in the air to strike at him regardless. However, just like the other previous attacks, the bolts of dark energy struck some invisible force and faded away with a crackling hiss and the smell of ozone.
Lucifer closed his eyes and sighed. "I love my Protective Aura. I love it so, so much."
"What the hell was that Lucifer-san!?" Momonga quickly got to his feet, Staff in hand, the burning flames that were his eyes seemingly darkened in rage, smoking liquid still clinging to him. Tigris Euphrates stood to one side, equally incensed. Herohero was still trying to pull himself back together.
Before Lucifer could answer the question, the door opened and Albedo stormed inside. "Masters, are you alright!? I heard a noise and-"
"Did you receive permission to open that door!?"
Lucifer's sudden rebuke stopped Albedo in her tracks. "I-I'm sorry Lucifer-sama, but-"
He didn't allow her to finish. "I told you we intended to have a private conversation! OUT! NOW!"
Seeing four apparently angry Supreme Beings staring at her, Albedo went pale as she hastened to obey. She rushed out faster than she rushed in, amidst stammering apologies, shutting the door behind her.
Lucifer sighed, but the others weren't so relieved. "You shouldn't have been so harsh Lucifer-san, she was only trying to help."
"Leave it to Lucifer-san to bully a girl."
The blonde figure just looked at the three of them. Herohero had managed to get himself upright again. Lucifer's tone was utterly unapologetic. "I gave distinct orders to stay out, she disregarded them. My response was perfectly legitimate. So far the NPCs seem to be subservient; it wouldn't be a good idea to let them get the idea that disobedience can be tolerated."
The way Lucifer said that made Momonga a little bit nervous. "That's rather… dictatorial Lucifer-san."
Lucifer shrugged. "It's authoritarian at the very least. The loyalty of the NPC's has to be tested at some point, that's what I propose we do next. If they decided to rise against us, it would be bad. Discerning exactly what position and authority we hold here is very important. At least now we know that our magic and abilities still work just like inside the game. Speaking of which… [Life Essence]."
All three of them flinched away as Lucifer activated another spell. "That's about what I figured, nobody was hurt too badly. Here, [Cleanse], [Heal], [Greater Lethal]."
With the first spell, the liquid coating Momonga vanished. With the second, a golden light surrounded Herohero, prompting a sigh of relief over the telepathic channel, and with the last what looked like a bolt of black lightning lanced out and struck Momonga. The skeleton flinched but the small pits and divots that covered his various bones filled in quickly, and leaving Momonga feeling rather refreshed.
Momonga looked down at himself, realizing that more important things had to be asked. The incident with Albedo wasn't the most pleasant of events, but first things first. "What exactly happened back there Lucifer-san? What did you do to make all of this happen?"
Lucifer looked over towards the door, or rather toward the spot where the air seemed to crack. "I used an Arcane Eye spell; I figured that some harmless reconnaissance magic would be well suited towards our purposes, enabling us to discover whether or not magic could be used here without putting anything at risk by using more destructive spells. As for how I did it…." Lucifer closed his eyes for a moment. "I felt inside myself for this core of energy I could feel, and then spoke the words of the spell I wanted to use, wishing the eye to appear over the door. It was quite a pleasant feeling."
Before anyone could ask any questions, Lucifer opened his eyes and continued. "After that, things are more speculation than hard fact but I have a pretty good idea of what happened. And you all would too if you would stop panicking for a few moments and think. I believe that the Arcane Eye triggered the anti-scrying defenses that you three have erected around yourselves. Momonga, am I correct in assuming that you set things up so that any hostile scrying attempt would be received by an Eighth Tier lightning spell intended to strike the spy and anyone nearby?"
Momonga realized the implications of what Lucifer was getting at and the idea stunned him to the point that all he could do was nod.
"I thought so. My guess would be the fire would be Tigris' defense, and the acid was Herohero's contribution. All three were meant to hit anyone who spied on you and anyone who happened to be standing nearby. My spell triggered all three, and the spells in question came at me and anyone else nearby who wasn't the one who set the spell. That's why you were ignored by the lightning Momonga, and the acid left Herohero alone, and Tigris was not struck by fire. After that, the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown's automatic engagement feature kicked in, judging me to be the originator of the attack upon your person, and striking at me with seven Eighth Tier 'Dark Lance' spells in retaliation."
Tigris Euphrates repeated the most important piece of information. "There's friendly fire now."
Lucifer nodded. "That seems to be the case, yes. We'll have to keep that in mind in the future."
Momonga tried to consider exactly how huge that piece of information was. If there was going to be any fighting in the future, this would heavily affect it. In YGGDRASIL it didn't matter if allies were in the range of area of effect magic, now that would have to be taken into account. He spoke up "We have to ensure our own safety everyone. I agree with Lucifer-san that we have to meet the NPCs and determine where we stand with them. We also have to look at the built in defenses of the tomb. If we can activate and control the golems then we won't be defenseless if they come at us all at once."
The three agreed with him. Momonga looked over at Herohero and asked him "How are you doing Herohero-san? Can you move around without falling over? We can't afford to show any weakness."
Herohero, currently resembling his typical form in YGGDRASIL, sort of, kind of nodded. "I think so Momonga-san. It's getting easier to get everything to do what I want." The ambulatory mass of shifting sludge quickly slipped from the middle of the floor to one of the side walls, and then zigzagged to the other wall before coming to a stop right in front of the three. "Moving is easier than I thought it would be. I'm not so sure about fighting, and I haven't figured out how to actually talk yet, but I shouldn't be falling over anymore."
Momonga sighed in relief, but before he could say anything Herohero continued "I feel kind of weird though."
He perked up at that, the relief vanishing in an instant. "Weird? How do you mean you feel weird Herohero-san?"
The ooze made a motion that might have been a shrug. "Weird. Like, I feel tired and not tired at the same time. And hungry. Really hungry, actually."
Tigris Euphrates made an inquisitive sound. "You said, back before all this happened, that you were exhausted. Now you're a slime and you can't get tired. Maybe that's it?"
"Maybe"
Lucifer leaned forward a bit. "While this is all rather fascinating, may I suggest that we get going? We can get Albedo to gather the Floor Guardians, fool around with the golems, get something to eat for Herohero, and then see what Sebastian has to say to us."
Tigris nodded. "That seems like a sound plan for now."
The four of them made their way to the throne room's door. Albedo was waiting just outside. Upon seeing the four of them she bowed low at the waist. "Greetings Masters, I hope your discussions were fruitful?"
Momonga nodded. "They were. Listen Albedo, we have an order for you."
Albedo's golden eyes took on a slightly hungry glint. "Anything"
"Gather the various Floor Guardians to the sixth floor's coliseum in one hour. Don't bother with Victim or Gargantua. Or the twins for that matter, we'll be informing them ourselves."
Albedo managed to bow even lower. "Yes Momonga-sama, gather Shalltear, Demiurge, and Cocytus and bring them to the coliseum on the sixth floor in one hour. They will be there."
"Then go"
"Yes milord."
They watched the Overseer turn and leave at an admirable speed before they turned their attention to the sixty seven golems adorning the walls of the Lemegeton. Momonga took a deep breath, which once again made no sense considering his lack of lungs, and moved toward one wall. "Okay, let's see if this works. Heed my call, Demon of Lemegeton!"
At Momonga's words the nearest golem took one step forward and stood at attention. The Guildmaster let out a sigh. "Okay, the golems work. Even if the NPCs turn against us, between these golems and all the items we have in our boxes we should be able to ensure our own safety."
Tigris Euphrates let out a small sigh of relief, Herohero was harder to read but he probably felt the same sense of security. Lucifer however just floated there, looking up at the monster disguised as a chandelier, looking uninterested in the proceedings.
Momonga made a note of that, but now wasn't the time to bring it up. "Okay, here's what I think. We have an hour before Albedo turns up in the coliseum. We should take this time to familiarize ourselves with the more… strenuous parts of getting around the absent HUD. We know magic works, but I'd personally like to get in some practice before we meet the guardians. If they all decide to come at us we'll have to be ready. Furthermore, Tigris Euphrates-san and Herohero-san have more physically inclined builds. We have to see if your skills work properly."
Momonga felt a strange sensation in his head, something that could only be described as 'approval'. Herohero didn't move or say anything, but Momonga figured it came from him. Tigris Euphrates stared at one of his hands. "I'm pretty sure our skills work, Momonga-san. I dodged those two counterattack spells without even really trying to, so I think I activated something without even trying to. But I think you're right in that we should get in some practice, we have to get used to using what we have. But what about the twins? Won't they see what we're doing?"
Lucifer spoke, still staring up at the chandelier. "He wants the twins to see. He intends to gauge Aura and Mare's reaction to us, and use the guise of 'training' to show off our powers in the hopes of cowing them into obedience."
All three of them stared at Lucifer as the angelic figure turned to look at Momonga. "Isn't that right, Guildmaster?"
Momonga, thoroughly taken aback at being so easily seen through, slowly nodded. "We have to be sure that they won't turn on us Lucifer-san, don't you think so? Showing that we're the strongest is a good way to do so."
Lucifer raised one pale eyebrow. "But you're not the strongest. Out of the Floor Guardians, at least three of them should be able to easily take you one-on-one, and several others could make a serious attempt. Throwing around a few fireball spells won't change anyone's mind."
'Something is strange here.' Momonga couldn't help but feel that something was definitely off. 'Lucifer-san has always been on the ball, but he shouldn't be able to guess what I'm going to do THAT precisely, could he?'
Before Momonga could ask any questions, Lucifer continued. "Herohero says that he's starving, so I think it would be best to split up here. The two of us will hit the kitchen and see if the sense of taste somehow works, something tells me that it will. After that we'll meet up with the two of you in the coliseum to meet the Floor Guardians." He turned away and floated away a few inches "Oh, Momonga!" He turned back to look at the skeleton. "If you want my advice, you're better off not trying to show off overwhelming power, instead you should be prepared to act like a king. Act like you're in charge, keep your sentences short and to the point, don't offer any unnecessary explanations or apologies, and don't be afraid to crack the whip. They'll definitely fall in line. The same goes for you, Tigris, don't show weakness. That's it. Come on Hero."
After a moment's hesitation, Herohero turned to follow Lucifer before both of them vanished.
"Well, I think we can safely say that the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown still works the way it should."
Tigris Euphrates gave a shallow nod, still eyeing the space that was recently vacated by their fellow comrades. Momonga tried to get a read on his expression, but he couldn't really manage it. His face was completely blank and Momonga couldn't guess what he might be thinking.
Momonga drew in a slow breath, held it for a second, and let it out again. That whole conversation seemed really weird, but now wasn't the time to dwell on it. "Okay, to the coliseum, I'll see you there."
He focused his thoughts on the ring he wore on his right ring finger, the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown, and thought about where he wanted to go. He flinched when he was suddenly plunged into darkness, but it only lasted a moment before light returned, and Momonga found himself in a different place.
A quick look around was enough for Momonga to get his bearings. He was in a hall built out of stone, with flaming torches set in iron sconces on the walls. Ahead of him was a portcullis more than twenty feet tall. He was in one of the hallways leading into the main area of the coliseum, just like he wanted.
Momonga tried to clamp down on the anxiety that continued to build up ever since this whole situation started. 'What if they turn on us? I don't think loyalty was ever specifically mentioned in any of their personal settings, and even then it's not like everyone was perfect. So far, they seem to be consistent with their settings, but nobody's perfect, if someone made a mistake in their settings then how will that reflect itself in their behavior?'
After a moment the feelings of ill portent faded and he was able to start focusing on what to be doing next. 'The idea was to experiment with magic to be sure it still works right. But that doesn't mean that I have to practice with destructive spells first, does it?'
If he was alone, Momonga might have gone into the arena to meet the Guardians without a plan, using some made up excuse of experimenting with magic to cover up his real intentions while he figured out whether or not he was impotent, and risked making himself look incompetent in the process. But Lucifer pointed out something very simple that his panic-addled mind had overlooked. One does not necessarily have to experiment with destructive spells to determine whether or not magic can be used.
'Okay, Lucifer-san said that he focused on what he wanted to do and felt this energy inside of him right? Let's give this a try….' He thought about the spell he wanted to use and suddenly Lucifer's brief explanation made more sense. He felt an energy inside of him, something that he never felt before, and Momonga felt the word come to him as everything took shape. "[Message]"
He felt something like a string in his mind stretch to the target he wanted to communicate with, and after a moment the connection was made. "Sebas Tian, can you hear me?"
The voice of the butler of Nazarick echoed in his ears, loud and clear and. "I can hear you perfectly, Momonga-sama, what is your command?"
Momonga got the impression that Sebas could quite possibly be bowing at this very moment, but collected himself before he could get distracted. "Ah, yes, how has your search been going? What have you found out there?"
"As Tigris Euphrates-sama commanded us, I and the Pleiades have searched the area surrounding the Great Tomb of Nazarick. Currently we are in a large swathe of grassy plains and we have seen no sign of intelligent life or construction of any kind."
The answer stunned the skeleton, but at this point he was getting used to the utterly unexpected and quickly regained his mental footing. After a moment he continued his questioning "Grasslands Sebas? Not a swamp of any kind?" In YGGDRASIL, The Great Tomb of Nazarick was situated in the midst of a swamp. Numerous poisonous marshes and pools enshrouded in mist and fog and filled with dangerous monsters that haunted the treacherous paths guarded Nazarick on all sides in the darkness of Helheim.
"Yes Momonga-sama, we are currently in the midst of an area of lush grasslands."
This was almost too much to handle for Momonga, but he carried on "Is there anything in the sky, Sebas? A flying castle? Magical incantations? Anything?"
"No, Momonga-sama, the sky is currently clear, blue, and dotted with a moderate amount of cloud cover; there are no structures in the nearby area that we have seen."
Now what? Momonga considered his options and told Sebas Tian "Alright, I want you to return to Nazarick. There's going to be a meeting in the coliseum on the sixth floor in forty minutes and I expect you all to be there. You will tell everyone what you have seen out there, understood?"
"Perfectly Momonga-sama, we will certainly be there on time."
Momonga ended the call and examined the walls. He wasn't sure how to react to all of this. 'Where on earth ARE we?'
Before he could dwell on that overmuch, Tigris Euphrates emerged from thin air just behind him. He seemed to have regained some of his energy, he was smiling now and his previous dour expression was nowhere to be seen. "Momonga-san! Sorry for making you wait."
The skeleton turned to face him. "It's no problem Tigris-san, but if you don't mind me asking, just what took you so long?"
The red giant shrugged. "Eh, I just had to take a moment to get my head on straight, think about things for a minute. So, we're meeting the twins right? What's the game plan?"
Momonga tilted his head slightly to one side. "Game plan? What do you suggest?"
Tigris Euphrates sighed. "Come on now, we're worried about potential betrayal right? So how are we going to play this? How do we present ourselves? I'm thinking that Lucifer's advice seems to be our best bet. Stay stern and authoritative and watch them fall in line. I have a pretty good feeling that that approach will work out for us. What do you think?"
He felt a bit worried about that, what if they tried to be strict but that only encouraged dissent? "Are you sure about this Tigris-san? We might want to be more… gentle, don't you think?"
The giant crossed his arms and looked to the ceiling. "Well, I was thinking about this a moment ago, and given what we've seen and heard so far I think Lucifer has the right idea. For now anyway. I mean, when has Lucifer ever steered us wrong?"
"Are you seriously asking that right now Tigris-san?"
Tigris Euphrates smiled. "Okay, maybe I should rephrase that. When has Lucifer ever steered us wrong unintentionally?"
That one made Momonga think for a moment. "I'm honestly not sure. It's hard to tell if he does it intentionally or not. You think he has the right idea?"
Tigris nodded "I do. I find that he gives good advice if he's not deliberately setting you up for a fall, although I'll be the first to admit that it always sounds like good advice until it blows up in your face. Anyway, right now he has every interest in seeing us succeed given that his well being is at stake too. With that in mind, I think we should take his advice on this one. I mean, getting people is kind of his thing isn't it?"
"While it's certainly true that he's probably the most socially capable out of us, my question is how well that translates into working with the NPCs. It's not like we have any guarantees that they're going to react the way he thinks they're going to."
"Well, the only way we're going to find out is to try it. So, after you." Tigris made a sweeping gesture with one arm as he made a slight bow, like a cheesy doorman.
Momonga just sighed and started walking, Tigris walking right beside him although Momonga had to take four or five steps for every one of his.
Together they walked down the torch-lit corridor as the portcullis opened automatically, and light engulfed the two as they stepped into the main arena.
"Well, here we go."
XXXXXXXXX
And that just about wraps up chapter two. This one gave me some trouble, and I think the next one will be just as difficult considering that I have to account for how the Guardians will react to four Supreme Beings rather than just one, and how Momonga's personality and choices will be impacted by having several of his comrades ready at hand and how the Guardians will react to that.
I had to decide whether or not to end it where I did or go all the way past the meeting with the Guardians and make the biggest chapter that I've ever put out, but I decided to cut it so that I could actually update like I said I would when volume nine was fully translated. I didn't expect the guys at skythewood to finish the entirety of volume nine when they did, those guys are machines. Shame that we'll probably never see a translation of volume ten until 2022 or something like that.
You probably noticed that Luci Fer has been changed to Lucifer. There are a couple of reasons for that. His actual name, as it is given is Luci(star)Fer with an actual star in the middle. I haven't the slightest idea of how to actually make that happen in any text program and I have no real desire to learn. But it's obvious that the only reason he didn't name himself after the Daystar was because the game probably didn't let him. So that was his compromise. Now, they're not in YGGDRASIL and there's no reason to actually obey the game's arbitrary naming restrictions. Another reason is because it's obnoxious typing out Luci Fer every time I refer to the guy and have to get that through my spell check. So I will be referring to him as Lucifer from here on.
Next up, a bit more about YGGDRASIL mechanics.
LEVELS
YGGDRASIL is a pretty unique game when it comes to its leveling system. There's really no such thing as a level one hundred ANYTHING. While the level cap is one hundred, a character gets there by adding together their total class levels of a variety of different classes. The maximum level for any given class is at most fifteen, while more uncommon classes have a maximum level of ten, and rare classes max out at five. So to reach level one hundred a character has to have a bare minimum of seven different classes. Likewise, the opposite is available. It's possible, though extremely inefficient, to create a character with one hundred classes each at level one.
Demi-human and Heteromorphic races get to choose racial levels in addition to job levels, but humanoid races like humans and elves can only choose job levels. There are pros and cons to both ways of doing things. But overall, the class system of YGGDRASIL gives a ridiculous amount of leeway for character creation.
And now, for those who read the LN (or browse the wiki) this will be a familiar sight but for those who don't, a glance at a typical character sheet. I'll be putting these up where and when appropriate.
MOMONGA
The Cautious Overlord
Alignment- -500 – Extremely Evil
Job- Guildmaster of Ainz Ooal Gown/ One of the Forty One Supreme Beings
Residence- Great Tomb of Nazarick
Racial Level- 40
Skeleton Mage Lv.15
Elder Lich Lv.10
Overlord Lv.5
Others
Job Level- 60
Necromancer Lv.10
Master of Death Lv.10
Eclipse Lv.5
Others
HP: 60
MP: Exceeds Limit
Phys. Atk: 35
Phys. Def: 70
Agility: 40
Mag. Atk: 90
Mag. Def: 95
Resistance: 95
Special Ability: 100
Total: 685+
Okay, that's it. Please review and let me know what you all think about how things have been going thus far, and I'll see you again in the next chapter.