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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Statistics (7 threadmarks, 51k words)
User Total SwissChocolatess 7
Chapter I - ✠WhiteSilver✠
New
SwissChocolatess
Shalltear is all and all is Shalltear
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2023
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- 12
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
New
SwissChocolatess
Shalltear is all and all is Shalltear
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2023
- Messages
- 12
"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!"
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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
New
SwissChocolatess
Shalltear is all and all is Shalltear
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2023
- Messages
- 12
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!
New
SwissChocolatess
Shalltear is all and all is Shalltear
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2023
- Messages
- 12
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
New
SwissChocolatess
Shalltear is all and all is Shalltear
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2023
- Messages
- 12
"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
New
SwissChocolatess
Shalltear is all and all is Shalltear
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2023
- Messages
- 12
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
New
SwissChocolatess
Shalltear is all and all is Shalltear
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2023
- Messages
- 12
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.