Overlord First Half Chapter 8: Flames of War Part 2

 

Flames of War Part 2

 

Translator: Frostfire 10

Editor: Guilty.sworD

 

　While sitting in a lavish chair, Momonga watched a one-meter-tall mirror. However, it was not reflecting his figure.

　Plains. The mirror was like a television, showing a different scenery.

　He extended his hand, and shifted it to the right.

　Like a camera, the scene slid with his finger. The staff would be a bother so he put it back in the Item Box.

 

　The Mirror of Remote Viewing.

　In Yggdrasil, this item was used to peek at places that were packed with people, such as castles and towns, an item that allowed the user to choose the best time to shop. However, it had now changed to an item that could reflect scenery.

 

　Looking down on a scenery that seemed like it came straight out of a movie, it spread out before him.

　The current one was the morning. The morning dew on the grass beautifully sparkled in the morning light.

 

“Fumu”

 

　Momonga drew a circle in the air, causing the scenery to change.

　It had been an hour since he had noticed the function of this magic item had changed. He had to test a lot of things, but there was no way that a lone human could do it by himself.

　Honestly, he was sick of it.

 

　Since he became like this, he had no desire for sleep. And so he was constantly finding Wally, but it was lame how the scenery was always plains.

　How the heck do you change the viewing distance. While thinking about how great it would be to have an instruction manual, Momonga repeated his actions.

 

“Oh!”

 

　After a bit of experimenting, he finally got the hang of it. The happiness he felt was like that of a programmer who had just worked 8 hours overtime and finally finished. By repeating his actions several more times, he finally got it to his desired height.

 

“Haa, I’m tired.”

 

　While enjoying himself, he turned his head.

 

“Okay, next.”

 

　As if gaining a new toy, Momonga moved to a bird’s eye view. He tried to extend it as large as possible.

　First he would try to see his own base, the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick.

　In Yggdrasil, they were located in the middle of a swamp, but Sebas had said that they were surrounded by fields.

 

　The Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick was 300 metres wide in all four directions.

　It was enclosed by 6 metre tall perimeter walls, with two entrances of the front and back gate.

　The grounds were kept clean, and was quite beautiful, but the giant tree in the cemetery gave the entire place a gloomy atmosphere.

　There was no pattern to the tombstones, and the combination of the clutter and the cut grass gave off a discomforting feeling. There were lots of statues of goddesses and angels dotting the cemetery, some of which could have been regarded as art.

　And then there were 4 mausoleums at the 4 cardinal directions with a large mausoleum in the centre.

　The surroundings of the central mausoleum, which served as the entrance to the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick, held 8 10 metre tall armour wearing figures

 

　It was a sight he was used to seeing. But seeing it from above made it feel refreshing.

　Originally, they were supposed to be Skeleton Soldiers-like Older Guards here, but they probably retreated and he could not find them.

 

　Being satisfied with what he saw, and Momonga began looking for a place with humans.

 

　A bit of time passed, and a village was reflected in the mirror.

　It was about 2 kilometres southwest of Nazarick. It was near a forest, with wheat fields dotting its surroundings. The word pastoral would fit it perfectly.

 

　Momonga zoomed in on the village and felt uncomfortable.

 

“……A festival?”

 

　It was morning, and yet people were entering and leaving their houses, and running around. They were all rushing around.

　Expanding his view, Momonga frowned.

　The people who he thought were villagers were dressed shabbily and there were people dressed like knights waving swords around.

　An “ordinary” scene. Every time the knights swung their swords, a villager would fall. The villagers could not mount a resistance. They just desperately fled. And then the knights would chase them down and kill them. The horses the knights were riding were in the fields, eating the wheat.

　This was a massacre.

　Momonga felt like vomiting.

 

“Tch!”

 

　Spitting out his disgust, he was about to change the scene. This village has no value. If he went, he would only see corpses. Then there was no point in watching further. He did not gain any sick pleasure from watching murders.

 

　Momonga was not an ally of justice.

　His level was 100, but this world’s normal level might be 10,000, just like what he had said to Demiurge.He could not recklessly charge into such a situation. If Sebas or Demiurge was here, he could have sent them, but the only one in this room was Momonga.

　In addition, the knight might have some reason for killing the villagers. Illness, crimes for example. He could think of many others. If he repelled them, he might make an enemy of the country the knights were from.

　There was too little information. If there was information, it might have been worth it to go and save them.

　However, there was no worth in saving that village.

 

　The price of life varied with the location. In present day Japan, the price would be high. However, if you go to Africa, it will drop significantly.

　To those that do not know a world where all life is equal, there is only one sentence that can be said. Between an important person and a complete stranger, who would you save?

　It is very easy for your life to be stolen. This should be kept in mind at all times.

 

　Yes—-

 

　—-Momonga was not an ally of justice.

 

　Although he had maintained a facade of calmness, he was actually quite angry. He moved his hands, and a different part of the village was shown.

 

　There, 2 knights were trying to separate a knight and a villager. He was forcefully pulled away and made to stand with his hand restrained. In front of Momonga, the villager was stabbed with the sword. Once, twice, thrice—- He was stabbed repeatedly by the angry knight.

　Then, he was kicked and sent flying. Blood sprayed everywhere as he rolled on the ground.

 

　That was of course, a coincidence.

　While in Yggdrasil, no one could detect the user of the mirror.

 

　—-The villager and Momonga’s eyes met. It might have been just him but—-.

　While blood filled his mouth, he forced his mouth to move. His vision blurred and he probably did not know what he was looking at. But he still clung to life, and forced the words out.

 

　—-Please save my daughters.—-

 

　Again, Momonga was not an ally of justice. He would gain nothing out of this, he would not help those who were not even his acquaintances. Benefits were not everything, but it was more than half.

 

　However, that was—-

 

　If there was a benefit—-It would be the very act of saving them.

 

“I would have needed to investigate their fighting abilities anyway.”

 

　Who were those words for?

　Murmuring, Momonga took a bird’s eye view of the situation. He looked closely for places where some villagers were still alive.

　When he found one, one young girl had just knocked back a knight. And she took the hand of  another smaller one, probably her sister, and were about to run off.

He opened the Item Box, and took out the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown.

　In that period, the girl’s back was cut. Momonga’s face distorted in disgust. Momonga instantly chanted a spell.

 

<—-Greater Teleportation>

 

　His view changed, and changed to the place where he was looking at earlier.

 

　There were 2 young girls.

　The older sister probably, the older one had hair that extended all the way to her chest. Her tanned and healthy skin, was dyed white in fear. Her black eyes had tears in them, and if her face was not a terrified one, she would be considered quite cute.

　The younger sister had her face buried in her sister, her frightened body was trembling. She was probably terrified.—-No, it was natural. It would be weird if she was not.

 

　Passing over the 2 girls, he sent his gaze towards the knight behind them.

　He was probably surprised by Momonga’s sudden teleportation. His hands were trembling.

 

　Momonga had been living a life estranged from violence. The closest was fighting in Yggdrasil.

　Although he had never experienced a life and death situation, he was currently extremely calm.

 

　His empty hand splayed itself—-And reached out.

 

<—-Grasp Heart>

 

　It was a magic of the 9th Tier. A magic where you grip and crush the opponent’s heart. If it was resisted, the opponent would be temporarily stunned.

　It was one of the instant death spells that Momonga used well. Especially since there was a beautiful corpse—-data left behind.

 

　The knight collapsed. His resistance was too low. So he died.

　Momonga gazed coldly at the collapsed knight.

 

　The unexpected thing was—-He did not feel anything from killing a human.

 

　The beauty of an undead body? Or maybe the rage against the knight?

　—-No, it was something different. Momonga did not know what it was. Coming this far and yet not being able to take the last step, he felt such a frustration.

 

　Momonga began walking. Since he had killed the knight, the girls would have been afraid. So he went right next to them. At that time, the older one let out a bewildered voice. Momonga did not know what it meant, but he felt no need to find out. Anyway, he should first confirm the safety of this place.

 

　He looked at the back of the older one with her torn clothes, and saw blood flowing down her back. While doing so, he hid them behind himself. And then he glared at a knight that had just existed from the side of a house.

　The knight noticed him as well. Frightened, he took one step back.

 

“……You can chase down girls and yet you can’t against a different opponent?”

 

　While mumbling, Momonga thought about the next spell he should use.

　The earlier one was quite a high tiered spell. And thus he could not confirm how strong the knights were. What sort of effect did his magic have on the knights.

　The strength of this world—-This was a good chance for him to find out.

 

“—-Finally, although I feel bad about forcing this experiment on you, won’t you be so kind as to play along?”

 

<Magic Arrow>

 

　10 balls of light were created, and rushed towards the knight creating an afterglow. The first blew him away, the second lifted him into the air. The remaining floated around the lifted knight. And then, like in a fighting game, combo’ed him.

　Like a broken doll with its limbs outstretched, the knight fell to the ground. Naturally, he did not move.

 

　Momonga had prepared himself for another round, but was perplexed.

　Magic Arrow was a 1st Tier magic—-The lowest tier. While it was true that the number of arrows increased according to the level, and the magic was quite convenient, but it was difficult to one-shot a level 10 monster.

 

　Then these knights were below level 10 in Yggdrasil……

 

　……He could not think of anything else.

 

　Power left his body. Too weak.

　Of course, it was possible that only these 2 were weak. But, it was still difficult to regain his earlier worry.

　Anyway, if it became dangerous, he would immediately cast a transfer magic. It could also be that their defenses and body strength was non-existent but their attack power was extremely high. Momonga could possibly be instantly killed. These thoughts flooded his mind.

　In Yggdrasil, if you hit the neck, it would be counted as a critical hit, and the damage would greatly increase, if it was the real world you would surely die.

　Momonga’s lost worry had changed into caution. If he was careless, he would die like an idiot.

　Firstly, he should investigate their abilities.

 

　Momonga cast his special ability.

 

　—-High Tier Undead Creation: Death Knight—-

 

　Momonga created one undead monster due to his special skill. It was possible for him to create a strong undead, but he created an undead that was used as a convenient wall whenever he went solo.

　The Death Knight was the best one of those undead monsters that he could use as a wall.

　Its level was 35, but its defense was equivalent to that of a level 40 monster. However, its attack was that of a level 25 monster. When Momonga adventured out, it would be instantly killed by a powerful monster, but the fact that it could endure one hit was enough for a magic caster like himself.

 

　And so the monster he would create would be this—-Momonga decided.

 

　In Yggdrasil, the moment he summoned a monster, it would cause the air in the surroundings to boil and then appear.

　But, it seemed to be different in this world.

 

　A black mist oozed out of the sky, and fell on and wrapped around the knight who had his heart crushed.

　The mist swelled—-And swallowed the knight. And then the knight, which could no longer be thought as human, jerked, and while staggering, stood up.

　It made a “gobori” sound, and a black liquid flowed out of the gaps between the knight’s helmet. It was probably coming from his mouth.

　The flowing sticky substance, wrapped and covered his entire body. It made one think of a human being eaten by a slime.

 

　Once the knight was completely covered in darkness, its shape began to change.

 

　After a few blinks, the darkness flowed down to the ground, there stood an existence that would be called the spirit of a knight.

 

　It was 2.3 metres tall. Like its height, its body was widened considerably. It would be closer to a beast than a human.

　A large shield on its left arm covered ¾ of its body—-A tower shield, and its right hand wielded a flamberge. Originally, its two hands should be holding a 1.3 metre cutlass, but this giant could wield one easily with one hand. The sword blade had a reddish black aura emanating out of it, and it pulsated like a heart.

　Covering its giant body was a black full-body armour. Blood vessel like crimson patterns ran all over it. In addition, unlike the earlier armour which was designed for functionality, this one was the embodiment of violence, and thorns sprouted from all over.

　The helm was like that of a devil, the face could be seen. In there was a rotting corpse of a person. Inside the gaping eye sockets was a hatred of the living and a desire and expectation of slaughter.

　With its jet-black cloak fluttering in the wind, the Death Knight awaited its orders. Its imposing attitude seemed appropriate for an undead knight.

 

“These knights in the village—-” Momonga pointed to the corpse of the first knight who he had killed with Magic Arrow. “Kill them.”

“OooaaaAaaaaa—–!!”

 

　A roar—-

　Anything that heard it got goosebumps all over its skin. Its thirst for blood was choking, and the air fluctuated.

 

　It was the starting signal of a different massacre.

　The victims had changed—-They had become prey.

 

　The Death Knight began running. Just sprinting. Without hesitation, it was like a bloodhound that had found its prey. An emotion humans could not understand—-The dead’s hatred of the living was powering it.

 

　Momonga watched as the Death Knight grew smaller in the distance, and compared the difference with Yggdrasil.

 

　If he could pinpoint it,  it would be the degree of freedom.

 

　Originally, the Death Knight was supposed to stay at its summoner’s side, and receive damage from monsters. They would accept the order in that manner and not move of their own accord. As it was the way the AI was built, it cannot be helped.

 

　It would be good if it did not get in his way but…… When he thought that he knew something, he had made a large mistake. A mistake born from preconceptions. Everyone makes mistakes, but the current situation could result in fatal consequences for Momonga.

　Momonga narrowed his eyes, and cast the magic he had stored in the band on his right arm.

　The magic he had activated was <Sense Enemy>. There were no enemies in the surroundings.

 

“Now……”

 

　Momonga turned and looked back. The earlier two girls noticed Momonga’s gaze and shrunk their bodies away, even trying to hide themselves. The reason probably was the figure of the Death Knight that had appeared. Or maybe it was due to its roar.

 

　That was well……As the one who had killed the knights before their very eyes, he could understand their fear.

　Convinced as such, Momonga faced the older one and extended his hand. I will heal your wounds. An action with that thought in mind.

 

　……As a person who was familiar with the game Yggdrasil, Momonga was not surprised by the appearance of an Overlord. Even if he stood in front of other players no one would be scared either.

　It was because everyone knew that it was a game, and they had information that such appearances and monsters existed.

 

　However. Just imagine. What would happen if the person did not know? What if it was the real world? What would happen if a monster that could easily kill a human extended its hand towards you?

 

　There was only one reaction.

　The space between the older sister’s legs were wet. The younger one as well—-

 

“……”

 

　There was a pungent smell of ammonia in the surroundings. Waves of fatigue, which should no affect him, crashed into him. Momonga had no idea what to do.

 

“……But they seem to be hurt.”

 

　However, as a member of society, Momonga used the skills he had honed. While pretending not to see anything, he opened the Item Box, and took out a bag. Named the Infinity Haversack—-It could carry up to 500 kilograms of weight.

　Although the Item Box allows you to store an infinite amount of items, when items were placed inside this bag, a shortcut could be used to activate the item. However, the Item Box does not allow this.

　Put the items that you want to instantly use inside this bag. This was a fact that even a greenhorn in Yggdrasil knew.

 

　Momonga held one of such an Infinity Haversack. There should be a potion inside there somewhere.

 

　He put his hand inside and unhesitatingly took out a red potion.

　Minor Healing Potion.

　Recovering 50HP, it was a medicine that was often used in the beginnings of Yggdrasil. However, this item was useless to Momonga. As for why, it was because this recovery potion had positive energy, and would deal damage to the undead Momonga. A poison.

　The only reason why he held on to such a thing was as when he went on adventures with his friends, his party members would use them.

 

“Drink.”

 

　Momonga thrust out the red medicine, causing the older one’s face to be filled with fear.

 

“I, I will drink it. So let my sister—-”

“Onee-chan!”

 

　The younger was about to cry and was trying the stop the older one. The older one was apologising and was trying to take the potion.

　Were they mistaking it for poison or human blood or something?

 

“……What, is this?”

 

　Although people were still dying and being killed. Although Momonga was an understanding person, what sort of comedy was this. Rage boiled up inside of him.

 

“Hurry up and drink. While I’m playing around here, other villagers are dying you know.”

 

　As a response to those words, the older one widened her eyes, and drank it all down in one gulp.

　And then, she showed a surprised expression.

　She touched her right hand, and then her back. She was surprised by the lack of pain.

 

“No way……”

 

　She probably could not believe it, she was touching her right arm over and over.

 

　If the healing potion has been drunk, effects will appear, Momonga engraved that information into his memory. Then the next question was born. What would happen if applied directly to the wound? Further testing will need to be done.

 

“Is the pain gone?”

“Ye, yes.”

 

　The older sister made a blank face.

　If it was just this level of wounds then a Minor Healing Potion would have worked, huh. Momonga moved on to the next question. This was an unavoidable question. Depending of the answer, everything could change.

 

“Do you know about magic?

“Eh?”

“Have you seen humans that can use magic? I am asking you that.”

“No, I have not seen any……”

 

　Momonga clicked his tongue and stifled his annoyance. It was fine if magic had remained a remained a secret. However, make no mistake. If Momonga and the others were the only ones able to use magic, then it would be troublesome.

　If that was the case then he would have to limit his use of magic. Having to suppress an advantage he had did not make him happy.

　The older one looked like she was about to say something, and so Momonga used his jaw to signal her to continue.

 

“……But.”

“What?”

“I have heard that there are such people in the towns……”

“……I see, then this will be quick. I am a magic caster.”

 

　Feeling relieved, Momonga chanted magic.

 

<Anti-life Cocoon>

<Wall of Protection from Arrows>

 

　Like a spider web, crystal clear threads, with the sisters at the centre, formed a 2 metre dome around them. Subsequently, although invisible, the air flow changed. Originally, this magic would be perfect if he chanted it. However, as how magic worked in this world was unclear, he did not. If there was a magic caster, it would be unfortunate.

 

“A magic that blocks out living creatures, and a magic that blocks out arrows. Unless the enemy uses poison gas or magic, you should be fine.—-However, it is easy to leave it. But, if you do that stupid thing, know that I will not save you a second time.”

 

　After simply explaining the magic to the surprised sisters, Momonga began to walk away. He recalled the overall shape of the village.

 

“Um, excuse me—-”

“—-What is it?”

 

　—-He was about to walk away when he was stopped by the older one. Momonga swallowed his desire to yell. They were victims. They might have lost their family. Probably their acquaintances too. How could he vent his frustrations on them.

 

“Yo, your name……” The girl gulped and asked. “Would you please tell us your name?”

 

　He was about to introduce himself but then shut his mouth.

　How should he introduce himself? Momonga was the Guildmaster of Ainz Ooal Gown. Now, what was he? The master of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick’s name was……

 

　Momonga thought.

 

　My friends—-

　What would everyone think of monopolising that name? Would they be happy? Or would they frown?

　Since he came here, he wanted to say it. That name cannot be used for one person. He immediately composed himself.

　That name reflected the existence at the highest peak. If it went to ruins, then he would again make it a legend.

　I will turn our guild into a legend.

 

“—-I am the ruler of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick, Ainz Ooal Gown.”

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