2 From One Hell to Another Part 2

As Ainz left the masked man to his misery, he could swear he heard him say something as he proceeded. He tried to play it cool but knew the man had surely seen through his act.

'Oh god, that dude didn't give me any good energy. But it seems he was too weak. By Touch Me`s name, he wanted to sell me some girls! Who does he think I am?'

Ainz had a physical body that couldn't become exhausted or fatigued. Yet his mind was still affected in some way. And this certainly did fall into the latter.

'This is all happening too fast. It's not me. Why do I do this? What do I want really? WHY AM I HERE?'

His thoughts swirled through his mind, yet his undead nature kept him composed. He knew that if he could get here, some others could too. And even his guildmates.

'My priority should be, as always, to spread the name Ainz Ooal Gown far and wide. And luckily my friends will hear it and travel to me…Touch Me, Ulbert, and all others. Without Nazarick and you, my friends…I don't have a purpose. Even if seeking one would be easy enough...Only time will tell what the world has ready for me.'

It was unfortunate but somewhat true. If he had Nazarick, he would care for its safety, yet no Nazarick followed him here.

'Wait. I still have my guild weapon. That means that Nazarick still exists!…'

Out of joy, Ainz almost wanted to leap in the air. He couldn't keep his emotions in check anymore, and again, the green light encircled him to soothe him.

'Ah, yes. It could be here. But where do I go now…Wait. I got an idea.'

"[Bless of Titania]"

A small fairy appeared; she emitted a green light from herself, making her face nearly invisible.

"Fairy, show me the best way to go."

The fairy nodded and flew towards a church of sorts. However, it was more of a ruin than a church. And on his way, he saw an interesting individual on his right.

'This dude is dangerous. I can't sense how resistant he is against magic. Being on a horse and having such heavy armor is surely a hindrance. Maybe I can fly and kill him from above. Yes. Wait. Why do I want to kill him… To get runes right. Right! Flying it is! But first, I want to visit that church over there. I sense a magical force in it.'

Ainz continued to travel to the church. At first, he sees only a merchant sitting on the other side. The ruin was so ancient that even the ground mainly consisted of grass. But no sight of the person Ainz was supposed to meet. 'Weird. Maybe the person isn't here right now.'

And as he got closer to a particular wall, a girl appeared sitting on the ruins of the church. The white dress she wore glowed a misty force, and her hat was inspired by one's witch's whore. Her skin was unsurprisingly blue and her hair on one side glowing white while the other was a dark blue. He didn't know yet that this portrayed the bright and the dark side of the moon, but he would, with time, find out. Her right closed, but a shining symbol lit under it. Her voice was as soft as her appearance suggested.

"Oh…A pleasure to meet thee, Tarnished?" Her confusion was showing as she looked at Ainz. She couldn't stop thinking about who this person was before her, in these majestic robes flowing in a wind that didn't affect her.

"My name is Ainz Ooal Gown, a Tarnished I am not," Ainz replied, somewhat annoyed by her addressing him in such a way. He found it somewhat degrading and would even like it more if he was called undead.

"Very Well. I am the witch, Renna. I hath come here to meet a Tarnished who possesses the power of the spectral steed Torrent. Thee are not the one I am searching for?" She asked him, and he shook his head.

"I am afraid you have come to the wrong person. If I disturbed you here, I will leave." He replied, knowing the girl was something he shouldn't anger about. He was unsure if he could defeat her, as something about her whole being was abnormal.

"No worries. And it would seem so…Yet I find thee peculiar an interesting person. I hath planned to gift thee Tarnished this, yet I will give it to you instead." She motioned her hand to give something to Ainz. "This a bell for calling forth spirits. Summon them with it from the ash unreturned to the Erdtree."

Ainz inspected the given bell and put it into his inventory, shocking the witch with his sudden action. "I will look into this item later."

"Thou can open a hole into reality itself. Thy powers must be great." The girl took suspicion of Ainz and asked herself what was hidden behind his devilish mask. And Ainz knew he should open his inventory in his robes the next time. "May it be, I may give you more than a bell. Thee Greater Will try to impose its will upon us is a great shame. I sense you have been the target of its anger. And bear its curse."

"And what would that exactly be, Witch Renna?" 'Why do all these people want something from me? And what does she mean by a curse? I didn't sense a thing. Wait...'

"I offer thy an accord. For I hope that when we meet again, we shall continue the talk, Ainz Ooal Gown."

'So she just wants me to seek her out... I want to know what curse she is talking about! But where am I even going to find her? I'm not risking that!' "Why not talk about this right now? Have you any reason not to stay here? Because the chances of meeting again if you leave for where ever are slim. And, of course, I have plans that take much of my time. But these lands are currently unknown to me, and it would be inefficient to seek each other again after we parted ways." 'That was a lie. I got nothing to do right now.'

Ainz's reply didn't scare her; she expected something like that to leave his nonexistent mouth. He was clearly of the strong and acted as such. Like her siblings did.

"Thee may be strong and arrogant, yet respect my wish to leave."

'Indeed, this could've been seen as strange, me trying to keep a small girl to stay here.' "Well…Then, before you leave, take this scroll with you. You can release the spell once you throw it in the air, and then you can talk to me again through telepathy." Ainz extended the witch a magic scroll with the spell [Message]. She took it and looked at it with curious eyes. "Now you got work to do and not me." "Just spell my name, and you may talk with me again." He explained to her, still looking at the scroll with prying eyes.

"So this is thine sorcery imbued in this scroll of magic. I will use this in time need… May your great journey embrace the world, Ainz Ooal Gown."

"Farewell." "See you later. Damn, if anyone can appear like her, I got a real problem. It makes me paranoid. But I think it's not a teleportation spell but more of an illusion. But whatever."

She disappeared into blue dust that was carried by the wind.

'Now I got time to inspect the given item. Let's see…Spirit Calling Bell…'

High Tier Spirits:

-Death Emperor-

-Death Empress-

-Doom Lord-

-Elemental Skull-

-Eternal Death-

-Eyeball Corpse-

-Primal Air Elemental-

-Primal Earth Elemental-

-Primal Fire Elemental-

-Primal Star Elemental-

-Primal Water Elemental-

-Cerberus-

-Cherubim Gatekeeper-

-Corpse Guardian-

-Dark Young-

-Grim Reaper Thanatos-

-Overlord Wiseman-

-Pale Rider-

Middle Tier Spirits:

-Corpse Collector-

-Death Assassins-2x

-Death Knights-2x

-Death Priest-

-Death Warrior-2x

-Death Wizard-

-Jack the Ripper-

-Soul Eaters-2x

-Hell Scythe-

-Rotting Demon-

-Supplicant-

-War Devils-2x

-Death Cavaliers-2x

-High Wraiths-2x

-Messengers-2x

Low Tier Spirits:

-Bone Vultures-4x

-Elder Liches-3x

-Skeleton Squad:

-Archer

-Centipede

-Mage

-Rider

-Warrior

-Wraith-2x

-Zombie Summons:

-Dragon

-Troll

-Undead Beast

-Inferior Demons-4x

-Red Skeleton Warriors-4x

-Moonlight Wolfes-4x

'So all my summons are also these so-called spirits that I can summon only in battle. They only have 25% of their normal strength, but not the weaknesses and strengths of their race... Well, it is easier to use normal summons. Who wants a weaker limited version if you can summon the real thing... a Very weird system, but they are just spirits. Well, I should not think about it too hard.'

Ainz was convinced this was no longer worthy of his attention and put it on the nearby merchant instead. As Ainz approached the older man, the merchant greeted him properly.

"Greetings, Stranger. May you want to look upon my wares?" The older man spoke in an elderly voice. Surprisingly, even at his age, he is out here selling wares.

"Greetings. Of course. Let me see what you have to offer."

Ainz looked through the items the merchant showed him. He was interested in something other than the chain armor he was trading. But more in the notes that he had in his possession. They showed ways to make some potions and further notes that offered ways to some great beings of this world.

"I would like to buy these notes from you."

"Of course, good sir. Give me the runes for their prize; they are yours to take."

Ainz gave the merchant the required runes, took the notes, put them in his inventory, and just wanted to leave before the merchant warned him.

"Before you leave, good sir. Beware of the dragon that guards the small lake in the east. It would be a shame if a customer of mine got attacked on his great journey."

It was common to give tips to profitable customers. And Ainz appreciated the merchant's words. He would surely come again if the merchant had new wares to sell.

"I thank you for your advice and will keep it in mind. Farewell."

The Overlord left the church and focused on a mysterious foe traversing back and forth with his horse. As if he had nothing else to do.

'I don't have to fight that guy, yet I want to see how a warrior class acts in this world and how many runes I could get from him. I will fly out of his range and bombard him with spells while a Death Knight keeps him occupied. That should be a good way for me to look at his abilities.'

As Ainz flew towards the golden knight, he quickly summoned a Death Knight and called him to attack the cavalier. But he couldn't bring his gaze away from how the Death Knight appeared. First, a strange black liquid moved around slowly, forming the body of the Death Knight as it came into existence. 'Is that a new effect? Very gross but different from Yggdrasil, more expected of a summoning ritual. And the knight still didn't see me. Maybe it is the helmet that cripples his field of vision.'

For Ainz, the knight had astonished, beautiful made armor on. Even the horse had armor. Yet how it carried all the weight was unknown to him. The knight had a gigantic shield with him, and Ainz was sure it had some unique property.

'Well. It is time to fight! Death Knight! Attack!'

"[Maximize Magic: Dragon Lightning]"

Lightning shot out of Ainz´s fingers and formed the shape of a dragon's head. It flew towards the mounted knight and hit him, stunning him with electric damage. Ainz realized it wasn't enough to take him down and prepared to cast another spell.

And now that Ainz had attacked him, the knight noticed him flying in the air; his helmet pointed toward him. However, he had to look out for the Death Knight, slamming him and his horse with its tower shield. The knight almost fell off his horse but regained his balance and attacked the Death Knight with his halberd. But the Death Knight blocked the attack with his shield and countered with another blow from his flamberge.

"[Maximize Magic: Chain Dragon Lightning]"

Ainz used the same element to harm the knight. Yet before the lightning could hit the body of the armored foe, it used its shield to block it. While doing so, it released a yellow energy beam that struck Ainz but bounced off his magic immunity just before him.

'Now I know that he has a shield that can block magic and redirect its energy to the caster or an enemy! What an unfair weapon to possess against a sorcerer. What luck that this isn't an attack worthy of a tier higher than 6.'

But as Ainz was thinking about the attack, the knight tried to get around the Death Knight and strike Ainz. But how he would get up in the air while on a horse was still a mystery. The Death Knight quickly stopped his pursuit and held him firm in a position no soldier liked. His horse cried out as its face was near the rotting visage of the undead monster.

"[Greater Teleportation]!"

Ainz cast the spell and was suddenly behind the knight and could see that he unleashed a bash with his horse toward the Death Knight, which was taken aback slightly. Then, evading the Death Knight and riding around him, he attacked it from behind, dealing much damage to the undead summon. The Death Knight grunted and locked his sight on the target.

'If I use AOE spells, he can't redirect them because they affect the surroundings and not him as a person directly. Yes. That should work.'

"[Maximize Magic: Sharks Cyclone]"

A 100-meter-tall tornado appeared in front of Ainz and devoured the Tree Sentinel and, sadly, the Death Knight as well. The sharks will attack anyone who enters it, and they cannot escape once inside.

'This is a great spell, but I can't forget how funny it is to watch it. A tornado made of sharks…Truly a brilliant way to bring sea creatures to land.'

As the tornado died down, a weakened knight stood in the middle. He was still living, yet in a state close to death. But Ainz could quickly dispose of him by now with one simple spell he could've cast at the start.

"[Cry of the Banshee]"

The instant death spell was an AOE attack and could not be blocked by a single attack defense shield. And Ainz was sure by now that this shield blocked elemental attacks, but not instant death spells, as there was no projectile to block.

The knight dropped dead, but before that, he turned into dust, never to be seen again. This reason made Ainz wary if he could truly make undead of corpses in this new world.

'Nice. A bit overkill but nice. And I got about 110000 runes for killing him. These exp boost spells made a difference. But still, I doubt there's a bunch of these guys around to kill. And I don't even have 1 % of the runes to level up. It's gonna be a real pain to do so, it seems.'

Ainz was pleased with the fight. He knew there were counters to magic attacks but not to AOE ones in this world. Or that is what he had seen from fighting the knight. He wanted to get his hands on that corpse. Yet it disappeared sadly.

'Wait. Didn't the merchant say something about a dragon at the lake nearby? Dragons were powerful enemies in Yggdrasil. Especially the Eight Dragons. They were normal dragons, but their attacks had a huge buff. To kill them was a big tilt, I can say that for sure. But this would also be a good experiment to see how the power of these dragons from this world compares to Yggdrasil. But I won't go there myself. I will send some summons to look at how powerful this dragon is. Maybe I can even get my hands on that corpse of his.'

Ainz wasn't an idiot. He knew dragons could be dangerous. So he selected the perfect summons to aid him. A summon which could evade the slow and heavy attacks of a dragon with ease.

"[Summon Undead: Death Cavalier] [Summon Mid-Tier Undead: Death Cavalier]"

Two Death Cavaliers appeared in front of Ainz on red-eyed bicorns. Their full plate armor was pulsating as if it was alive. And they released an aura that emitted the fear of all mortality. Surely they could kill a dragon, perhaps.

"What is thy wish, My Lord?" The Death Cavaliers said in unison to their Overlord. He was stunned that they talked but gave them orders soon enough.

"Death Cavaliers. Your job is to fight the dragon that houses at the lake nearby. I will watch over you as you do so." Ainz sends the two undead on their first and most possible last mission. But they were just summons, not even creations of him. So it wasn't any significant loss on his side.

"Yes, My Lord."

The two undead make their way to the lake, and Ainz teleported back into the church. He made himself an obsidian throne, which he did many times in Yggdrasil to complete his role as an Overlord. He watched through a remote mirror how his summons rode into battle. He knew he did this with no high precaution, but he was eager to farm a bit of runes this time.

'Come on. Show yourself, dragon! If this is some starting area by the strength of these creatures, you won't be a world enemy, but not weak as well.'

He watched for another two minutes until the Death Cavaliers arrived at the lake. Nothing happened at first, but when he sent them to a specific point where some people made a festival, the dragon came down from the sky and killed all the people attending the small feast. He wondered why he did this, maybe because these people wanted to be free of life and sacrificed themselves to this great dragon. And the dragon was big, for sure. Yet Ainz had seen bigger in Yggdrasil. It was like a typical grey dragon that could be found in the mountain range of Midgard near the Statue of Thor.

'Now Death Cavaliers. Attack the Dragon!'

Ainz commanded his Death Cavaliers to battle the creature. The dragon roared for a long time, giving the two Cavaliers a chance to hit it in the chest with their cursed spears. The dragon responded with a tail whip that looked to take an. At that time, the two undead could efficiently deal massive damage to the dragon and escape quickly when it initiated its attack.

'Is that dragon dumb? You make your moves quick and unpredictable if you want to kill something. Do all creatures fight like this in this world?' Ainz facepalmed at the sight of it. He couldn't believe it. These creatures delayed their attacks so long that you could make yourself tea and drink it until they made their attack. But it had one good point. It could let the enemy dodge too fast and hit them then. But Ainz and his current summons are intelligent enough to realize the delay's point.

After the tailwhip, the dragon flew into the sky and unleashed its fire breath upon the ground. The fire was a great weakness to the undead, so the Death Cavaliers had to escape the AOE attack. Luckily, the ground was a 10-centimeter-high water lake, and the fire couldn't find any ground on it. The Death Cavaliers successfully escaped the fire and attacked the landing dragon. They landed a couple of hits with their cursed spears, infecting the dragon with negative damage. The dragon got staggered by the attack, and one Death Cavalier could strike the dragon's head with a critical strike, making it wail in pain.

'I am surprised this dragon is still standing. By the looks, it is about lvl 25 to 35.'

Ainz was watching all that was happening in the fight. He couldn't believe a dragon was this weak. But he wouldn't become soft just because of that. 'There are always stronger ones, so this means nothing. And I would like to make an undead of this dragon if I even could transform it.'

As the Death Cavaliers went for another attack, the recovered dragon used his mouth to bite one of the undead and tossed it around with its mouth before severing it in half. Now there was only one Death Cavalier remaining. The last undead made its last charge attack on the dragon that wasn't paying attention to him. It struck its spear into the dragon's head, killing it and dying because of its delayed tailwhip. There was no clear winner in this fight between the two. But victory technically belonged to Ainz. He received two times more runes than from the Tree Sentinel fight and a mysterious drop item.

'Wow. That was an epic fight. I got an item in my inventory…A dragon heart? Interesting. Wait. A message…"Seek the dragon communion to receive its powers." That seems interesting. Maybe I should visit this dragon communion. But it could be a trap. And how did I get this message even? Did someone put a note in the dragon's heart? Maybe it's just the lore, like in Yggdrasil, that tells this is a sort of game! Still, it seems natural.'

He opened his map and searched for where this dragon communion could reside. 'I must thank Melina for inscribing me with all the important locations on this map. If I hadn't asked, I would be lost right now... So where is it…There… I got it. The dragon communion is on this island right in the south.'

Ainz wasn't sure if he wanted to risk getting attacked by another dragon. Because the word dragon was in the place's name, he was sure there could be one.

'For what do I have [Remote Viewing] if I don't use it properly? But will it help me in any way to go to that island? What benefits could I gain by going there?'

Ainz used his mirror to seek out the dragon communion island. It was not an island of big size, and to Ainz´s luck, there was no living dragon on it. 'Huh. Better to have no dragon than a dragon.'

A short trip to the island wouldn't hurt Ainz. So he did exactly that.

"[Greater Teleportation]"

As he teleports, he finds himself in front of some altar. And, again, he is in a church of unknown religion. 'So there is also a religion involving dragons. I have to watch out for that. Don't want any godlike dragon hunting me down for the moment.'

As Ainz was inspecting his surroundings, he noticed that the altar in front of him wasn't just a simple object. But a way to commune with the dragons and receive their powers. 'I feel that if I touch that, I can somehow interact with it.'

He slowly puts his hand on the altar. At the touch, his mind is suddenly filled with information about its use of it. 'So I can exchange my dragon hearts to learn a draconic incantation. But what could I gain from having dragon powers as a skeleton?'

Ainz looked at the incantations he could learn and realized a vital matter he lacked. 'To use these, you need to have points of faith. And I got zero of them, with a level-up cost of 11 mil… I should just forget about faith completely…'

Ainz had to look into this at another time. Maybe in another thousand years. He was curious if he wanted to spend his level points for faith or if he could bolster his magic even further. Or maybe he could even reinforce his physical strength to let him use weapons of the warrior class. But because the cost was very high to level up, he had to be careful not to misuse any of his points.

'Stronger magic means stronger spells and stronger magic resistance… So it is automatically decided that I invest purely in magic, not faith. Faith will come at last place…'

Ainz didn't realize that he was lost in thoughts again. It took him a while to return to reality and decide what to do next now that he found nothing to do.

'I need a base. A place where I can come back to whenever I finish a conquest or an adventure. Where I can plan my next accomplishments. And where I can finally relax. Wait. Why don't I just use [Create Fortress] for the time being? It is suitable to use it for now.'

As the idea struck Ainz, he teleported to Agheel Lake, where his Death Cavaliers previously fought a dragon. There, in the middle of the lake, was a small island. And that was the place where he would build his fortress.

"[Create Fortress]"

A 30-meter tall tower came out of the ground. It was made of black stone, and the top had five spikes forming a sharp top. It surprised him to see the effects of Maximize Magic on such a spell.

'Perfect. But a little too flashy. Don't want any attention from some jealous person.'

As Ainz entered, he was astonished at how his magic made such an impressive interior design. In Yggdrasil, the fortress one could create is always the same. But here, he imagined it to be different, and now he got a more gothic design. The first room was ten by ten meters and had a staircase in the middle going all the way up, connecting the other floors to the ground level. The room was decorated with impressive furniture, ones fitted for the most fabulous kings. There were desks, shelves, a table to let guests sit at, and much more.

The first place Ainz went was his bedroom. He didn't need sleep as an undead, yet a place to think without being disturbed. He jumped on the bed and levitated onto it, slowly burying his skull in the soft pillow. 'Finally, some peace…'

The Overlord could finally rest. Nothing disturbed him for many minutes, and he only lay there on his bed, doing nothing.