4. Law of this world

In the year 2138 AD there was a term: DMMO-RPG.

That word was an acronym for "Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game".

These games were played by connecting a dedicated console to the brain via a neuronal nano-interface — an intracerebral nanocomputer network, created from the fusion of cyber- and nanotechnology.

These were games that allowed one to enter a virtual world and experience it as though it were real life.

And among the myriad DMMO-RPGs that thronged the market, one of them stood head and shoulders above the others:

YGGDRASIL.

But the golden years were long past and YGGDRASIL was but a shadow of its former self. Many of its players had long since abandoned it and the decision had been made to pull the proverbial plug.

YGGDRASIL's time was finally over.

But one player, maybe the only one of all remaining, still clung to what this game represented. The years of tears and laughter he had shared with the people who were almost a family to him had all been spent inside the confines of this virtual realm and so he found it almost impossible to let go.

But it was no longer his choice and even as the last of his comrades left for good he could do nothing but sit and wait for the inevitable.

[23:59:48, 49, 50]

In a million different worlds he closed his eyes and waited for the end.

[23:59:56, 57, 58]

And in a million worlds his story continued, for this was an end, but also a beginning. The start of a journey that would shape a dark world, where might and magic ruled.

But this was not one of those worlds.

[23:59:59]

And his story, and that of many others was forever changed.

[0:00:00… 1, 2, 3]

The story of Suzuki Satoru the gamer had ended.

"Hm?"

Momonga opened his eyes, perplexed at not being logged out.

The story of Ainz Ooal Gown the Sorcerer King began.

---

​

To say that the last few hours had been stressing would be the mother of all understatements. Momonga had barely contained his impulse to run away screaming and while he would like to think it was thanks to his calm collected mind he knew better.

But regardless of the "hows" and "whys" he had managed to maintain his facade to the now suddenly living NPC's. Something which in itself was an idea he was still trying to come to terms with.

"Sebas please share whatever information you managed to gather. Both I and the Guardians are eager to hear anything you may have learnt."

Currently Momonga had gathered alongside each floor respective Guardian, what could be considered in MMO terms a "boss", in the 6th floor of Nazarick as they each reported the current situation their assigned posts.

"Yes. To begin with, the terrain surrounding us for a kilometer in each direction is a tundra, but I managed to sport what I believe is a coniferous forest at the distance. There are no signs of man-made structures. I spotted some small animals, but there were no humanoid or large creatures." answered Sebas, a smartly dressed handsome middle aged man. His stern expression and hard, if noble, features fiving a sense of professionalism and properness that Momonga couldn't help but envy.

"Were those small animals monsters?"

"No, they were life forms which had no combat power."

"...I see. Then, were the tundra you spoke of a frozen wasteland whose pure cold would hurt you as you walked through it?"

"No, it was a regular environment. There was nothing special about it."

"And you did not see any sky castles or similar buildings?"

"No, I did not. There was no sign of man-made illumination in the sky or on the land."

"I see, so there was only a starry sky… Thank you for your hard work, Sebas."

While he praised Sebas Momonga was still disappointed. Even if he knew he was no longer in YGGDRASIL's game world, the newly gained sapience of the NPC's, the way his magic worked and even the "+18 features". It all showed that either the game had suddenly become real of he was trapped inside a very elaborate simulation.

But he could still use YGGDRASIL's items and abilities and he would make use of that. Regardless of his situation nothing had changed. His one responsibility was to protect Nazarick and everything he and his friends had built together.

"Guardians, increase the readiness of each floor by one level. We are unsure of what has happened, so do not act incautiously. If you encounter an intruder, do not slay them, but capture them alive at all costs. When you capture them, do as little harm to them as possible. I apologise for imposing such demands on all of you at a time like this."

Next came the arrangements for the administrative duties for the now heightened state of alert. Thankfully the previously set up system still worked so Momonga only had to sign off his approval. But when his inquiries about how to best hide the Tomb for the time being came about surprisingly it was Mare who answered.

"U-Using magic might be tricky. If we had to hide everything along with the surface… although, we could cover the walls in mud, and then add plants as camouflage. De-depending on how far this forest Sebas described is, ah, I think we could make it look completely natural."

"Do you intend to soil the glorious walls of Nazarick with base dirt and weeds?" Albedo said that with her back turned to Mare. Although her voice was sweet and velvet, the tone it carried was anything but.

Mare's shoulders trembled, and although the surrounding Guardians remained silent, their attitudes suggested that they shared Albedo's opinion.

In contrast, Momonga felt Albedo was being too much of a busybody. The situation was hardly serious enough to warrant such a reaction.

"Albedo… don't speak out of turn. I am addressing Mare."

His voice was so deep that it surprised Momonga himself.

"Ah, my deepest apologies, Momonga-sama!"

Albedo's head was as low as it could go, and her face was frozen in fear. The Guardians and Sebas stiffened up as well. Perhaps they thought that scolding was directed at them as well.

A twinge of remorse struck Momonga as he observed the quick change in the Guardians' attitude, but he continued speaking to Mare:

"Well thought. Use as many resources as you need and get Aura to help you. Since we cannot camouflage the view from the air, we shall use illusions after finishing the earthworks, so nobody will be able to detect Nazarick from the outside. You are free to requisition anything or anyone you may need as long as it doesn't compromise Nazarick's safety, You have my uttermost trust."

"Y-Yes. U-Understood!" answered Mare, head bowed deeply.

That was all he could think of at the moment. There were probably a lot of holes left in the plan, but that could be dealt with slowly, later on. After all, it had only been a few hours since all this had happened.

"Then, you are dismissed for today. Everyone, take a break before beginning your duties. There are many things we do not know, so do not push yourselves too hard."

The Guardians nodded as one to show that they understood.

"Finally, I have a question for the Guardians. What kind of person am I to you?"

What followed were a series of answers that went from embarrassing to unrealistic. And once again Momonga thanked whatever force prevented him from feeling the full force of his embarrassment.

"...I see. I have heard and understand your opinions. Then, I shall hand the tasks that were once performed by my former comrades to you. Carry them out faithfully."

After seeing the Guardians genuflect once more, Momonga teleported away.

The scenery before his eyes changed in an instant, from the Colosseum to the chamber of the Golems of Lemegeton. After looking around to make sure nobody was looking, Momonga sighed deeply.

"I'm so tired…"

Although his body did not feel tired, the mental fatigue was weighing down on his shoulders.

"...Those guys… why do they think so highly of me?"

They were describing someone else entirely. After hearing the Guardians take turns to share their opinions of him, he wanted to laugh and mock them, but from the looks on their faces, it did not sound like they were joking at all.

In other words, their words were sincere.

If he did not act in a manner which fit their views of him, it might disappoint them. As he thought about that, the pressure on him grew and grew. And in addition to that, there was another problem, which made Momonga frown.

Of course, his skeletal face could not show expressions, yet it seemed as though it did.

"...What should I do about Albedo… if this keeps up, how will I face Tabula-san…"

---

​

Momonga sat on a chair and looked at the mirror before him. The roughly one meter wide mirror did not reflect Momonga's face, but a patch of grass. The mirror was like a television set, showing images of a distant forest.

The branches on the trees swayed in the wind, proving it was not a still image.

As time passed, the sun slowly rose, its light banishing the darkness that covered the land. This picturesque scene, almost poetic in its beauty, was a stark difference from the former location of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, the desolate world of Helheim.

Momonga reached out to the mirror and swiped his hand right. The mirror's image changed.

This was a Mirror of Remote Viewing.

This was a magic item used to display an image of a specific region. It was a very useful item for player-killers, or player-killer-killers. However, there were low level spells which occluded information-gathering spells that could hide people from the mirror's eyes. In addition, it was easy for users to be counterattacked by offensive barriers, so it was an average item at best.

However, for the present circumstances, an item which could show the outside world was a very useful item indeed.

Momonga enjoyed the movie-like quality of the trees within the mirror as the image changed.

It had already been some time since Momonga had found himself unexpectedly turned into his avatar and he was adapting to his new lot in life the best he could.

His current use of the mirror wasn't just a convenient excuse to avoid interacting with the NPC's and their awe filled minds, but also a practical measure. Nazarick was in an unknown situation and an extra intelligence gathering tool would always come in handy. So Momonga's self imposed task was to discover how to use the mirror now that the game's interface was no more.

Thankfully he had been making inroads through trial and error and by now he could command the mirror in a more or less competent manner.

The hand movements needed to command the mirror were now confident and precise instead of the unsure fumbling from before. Something which Sebas, the only other person in the room, noticed.

"Congratulations, Momonga-sama. Your servant Sebas stands in awe of your prowess."

Granted, this was the fruit of extensive trial and error, so you don't need to go that far. Momonga thought that, but when he saw that Sebas looked quite happy, he decided to humbly accept the butler's praise.

"Thank you, Sebas. Although I apologize for making you accompany me for so long."

"What are you saying? Staying by your side and obeying your orders is the reason for a butler's existence, Momonga-sama. There is no need to thank or apologize to me… although, it is true that this process took quite some time. Momonga-sama, would you like to take a break?"

"No, there is no need for that. Undead like myself are not affected by negative statuses like fatigue. If you're tired, you may go and rest."

"Thank you for your kindness, but it would be unthinkable for a butler to rest while his master worked. With the aid of magic items, I am not affected by fatigue either. Please allow me to stay by your side until the end, Momonga-sama."

Momonga realised one thing from his conversations with the NPCs; namely, they casually used game terms in their speech. For instance, skills, job classes, items, levels, negative statuses, and so on. If he could use game terms with them in an unironic way, it might be easier to give them orders.

After agreeing to Sebas's request, he continued studying the ways to control the mirror. Finally he discovered a method to adjust the height of his viewpoint.

Momonga smiled in satisfaction, and began looking for a populated area.

Finally, an image of something appeared on the mirror, but it wasn't a fantasy village or city like he was expecting. No, it was something much more surprising.

An industrial looking compound, like a cross between a factory and a prison, stood alone in the wilderness, a lone road reaching it from somewhere in the south.

It was located roughly fifty kilometers south of Nazarick. There was a forest nearby, and bare fields surrounded the compound for a hundred meters before reaching the forest. It appeared to be either a manufacturing center of some sort or a settlement. By the looks of things, the settlement itself was not very developed.

As Momonga zoomed in on the center of the compound, he felt that something was amiss.

"... are they having a party?"

People were running around in a disarrayed way and he could see semi regular burst of light amongst them.

Momonga hadn't gone to many parties during his time as a salaryman, but even the most abusive companies tended to organize some kind of festivity for their employers during certain times of the year. Yet that didn't look like it.

"No, that is not a party."

That steely voice came from Sebas, who was watching the display with a keen look in his eye as he stood beside Momonga.

There was an undercurrent of disgust in Sebas's stern words. As Momonga enlarged the image, he too furrowed his nonexistent brows.

Armored men wielding what to Momonga looked unmistakingly as firearms were firing upon a group of uniformly dressed and completely unarmed, individuals.

It was a massacre.

Some resisted, either trying to run away or advancing towards their would-be killers, vain hopes of making it through the line of shooters flooding their obviously desperate minds. Others simply sat on the ground and closed their eyes, waiting for the end. And the soldiers, or more likely the executioners, simply kept firing.

But this was not all, not to far away from where the killings were taking place people acted as if nothing was happening. The same armored men looked over the prisoners, for now it was obvious they were prisoners, as they worked. And while Momonga didn't feel confident enough in his use of the mirror to zoom close enough to see what they were doing it was clear as day to him.

Forced work was not an unknown practice from where he had come from and while not regular it wasn't unheard off either. For a second the face of a woman, a tired smile on her face as she prepared her child's favourite food, superimposed over the face of one of the prisoners as they worked.

"Momonga-sama?" spoke Sebas, and while his voice was perfectly controlled the rage he felt was perfectly clear.

"Nothing, Sebas. I was just thinking that I could use a walk. A very enthusiastic walk if I may say so."

Sebas simply nodded his head and while his face remained impassive the hint of a smile was clear in his features.

"It would be my pleasure to arrange so Momonga-sama, where to?" Momonga didn't know why but he felt like he had just passed some kind of unspoken test from the elderly looking butler, yet he decided to give it no mind. He had more than enough to worry about.

But before he could answer a sudden change in the Mirror's drew his attention.

Part of the compound's northern wall had exploded outwards, the concrete and rebar turning into high velocity shrapnel and cutting down two unfortunate guards standing outside.

The cause of such destruction? Still inside the facility stood what could only be a young girl, fifteen years old at most. She was utterly normal but for one thing. Her entire body was made of stone.

But Momonga didn't have much time to appreciate the contrast of her appearance with the modern looking background as what could only be bullets soon begin impacting the girl.

Instead of running away she stood her ground even as her stony visage was slowly chipped away. The reason?

Running past the broken wall and the perimeter of the facility with all the might her short legs could give was a much younger girl. He breath came out ragged and her speed made it clear she wouldn't get far away enough before the guards caught up to her.

"Sebas, I know where we are going. Go fetch whoever is available to act as support. I'll be going ahead".

"As you command, My lord."

As Sebas went away Ainz prepared to open a gate spell. He would wait until the girl was far enough and open the portal, if the enemy proved too strong he would retreat and if not...

Well, I always wanted to have an answer to the old question of magic versus science after all.

---

​

Nora Edmond ran, she could do nothing but continue running. She ran like she had never ran before, her legs and chest hurt and the cold bit deeply into her badly protected body but she didn't care. She had to run and run, he sister had told her so, and her mother had told her to always obey her big sister.

She could still remember her mother, her face full of tears for some reason, as she hugged her and said her goodbyes. Nora wasn't exactly sure where she had gone but her words had struck with her.

"Stay with Emma, she will protect you."

And she wasn't wrong.

Be it bullies at the "facility" or the guards her sister was always there. Ready to give her an extra little bit of food, to hug her when she was scared, she was always there for her.

Even when the guard had tried to take her somewhere her sister had been there. Even as her body changed, the collar on her neck giving them pain Nora had only experienced once. Her sister had been there.

And now she wasn't there anymore.

But Nora kept running. Even as she fell down over and over she stood up once again. She had to escape, to get away from the bad men.

Nora once again fell to the hard cold ground, badly scrapping her already wounded knees in the process. Yet she took no time to get back again, instinctively knowing that to stop now was to admit defeat.

I can do it. I just need to do as big sis said and keep running. She though with the desperation of the condemned.

She was already amongst the trees, a few more minutes and her persecutors would lose her or at least be impeded enough by their heavy equipment that she would have a chance to get away from them.

I just have to run and- but her thoughts were cut short as something bit into her shoulder and forced her to the ground.

That's when the pain began.

She wasn't sure how long she was there, bawling her eyes out as she held her injured shoulder. She could see the blood trickle down her now useless arm and do nothing but stare at the newly open wound.

"Well well well. It seems like it's freak season," spoke a rough voice from behind her "What do you think Ferguson?"

"I think we should get this over with and go back to the base. I'm freezing my ass off here."

"Bah, you are never fun," continued the first voice.

Meanwhile Nora made an effort to get up and got a vicious kick to her stomach for her efforts.

"And you stay down! Fucking mutant dog," spat the man. "I'm doing you a favour anyway."

Maybe this was it. She remembered how her father had once spoken to her about the law of the jungle.

"Nora," he had said, "the world is a cruel place where not every story has a happy ending, that's why you need to be strong. I want you to be strong to safely live in this world."

A day after he had been taken and the next one her mother had followed.

Nora hadn't understood what he meant at the time but she did it now. Even as she tried to stand once again, only to receive another kick, she understood the law of this world.

The strong decide and the weak obey, and she wasn't strong.

Nora felt the cold weight of what was unmistakably a gun pressed against her head and closed her eyes. Even a small child like her knew what came next.

I'm sorry Emma, I'm sorry mom. I couldn't do as you told me.

But the shot never came.

"Wh-what the fuck?" spoke the first man.

With great effort Nora raised her head and looked at whatever had caught the guard's attention.

What she saw was darkness.

It was an infinitesimally thin, yet unfathomably deep blackness. It was a half-oval of obsidian that seemed to protrude from the earth. It was a mysterious sight that filled the ones watching it with a powerful sense of unease.

Is that a portal? Like from the news? thought the girl, remembering the times before the camp. The stories of heroes and alien invasions and much more.

And then something came through that shadowy passage.

It was an opponent which a normal human could not hope to overcome.

Twin points of crimson light burned brightly within the empty eye sockets of a bleached skull. Those two points of light coldly scanned the girl and the others present, like a predator sizing up its prey. Within its fleshless hands it grasped a magic staff that seemed divine in nature, yet inspired dread in equal measure. It was like a crystallization of all the beauty in the world.

It wore an intricately detailed black robe, and it resembled nothing so much as an incarnation of death, born from the darkness of another world.

In an instant, the air seemed to freeze.

It was as though time itself had stood still in the wake of a Supreme Being's advent.

The girl had forgotten to breathe, as if the sight had stolen her soul away.

She had heard of beings like this one before. Creatures that caused fear and despair amongst humanity.

The being took a step forward...

"Fuck!"

And a bullet impacted it right in the head.

Shooting was hard, even at such a short distance, and the shot was praiseworthy, especially during such circumstances. A sure kill in most cases.

Only most cases that is.

The being remained immobile, almost as if it couldn't comprehend the brazenness of such a low life form attacking it.

"「Grasp Heart」."

It's deep voice entoned such worlds and clenched its fist. And as if by art of magic the one who had shot it, the one identified as "Ferguson" choked and then went quiet, followed shortly by a heavy thud as something heavy hit the ground.

Though Nora was afraid to take her eyes away from the figure of death, curiosity got the better of her and the girl wrenched her eyes away, whereupon saw the body of the guard. He was sprawled motionless on the ground, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

He was dead.

"Huh? How weak," spoke the being, its voice full of contempt.

The remaining guard simply stood up and with a frightful scream opened fire with his automatic rifle.

Bullets sprayed and bounced harmlessly against the being, who simply looked at the attacker with what Nora could only assume to be pity.

"[Reality Slash]" spoke the being, no, the monster as something came from its hands and impacted the guard, bisecting him cleanly and the trees and rocks and everything behind him. Even the air itself seemed to have been cut in half from the attack.

"Hm, I may have gone a bit overkill," spoke the being to itself, completely ignoring the terrified Nora "but I guess that's what happens when you overestimate trash mobs".

Only after a while did it seem to notice Nora lying on the ground, her blood slowly pooling from her shoulder wound.

"Oh right, drink this or you'll die" said the incarnation of death as it handed her a delicate looking red crystal vial.

Nora was too afraid not to obey and simply drank what she was offered and was soon astonished as her wound closed and the blood flow stopped. Even the residual pain on her scraped knees was gone.

"Who, who are you?" She didn't know why she spoke when every fiber of her being told her it was a bad idea. But she did it anyway and instead of instant death, the being seemed to stop and think.

"Who I am?" it pondered for a second "you may call me… Ainz Ooal Gown. Yes, that's my name"

Nora didn't really care what he was named, she knew what stood in front of her. Everything about it, its tone, its brutality, its presentation.

Nora had never seen one but she could recognise a supervillain anywhere.

---

AN: As some of Overlord's fans may notice I did re-use some text from the LN. There was really no need to reinvent the wheel so I didn't. Still, this chapter was necesary to set up the stage for Ainz's actions later.