Summon

"Perfect," Momonga said, his voice filled with the same satisfaction he felt in his heart.

"Momonga-sama, should I prepare more strawmen?"

Aura still did not understand. She was already aware that Momonga was a mighty magic caster, so she did not feel the show before her was anything special.

However, that was the impression Momonga wanted to give them, and from the look on the twin's faces, it would seem he had succeeded.

"...No, there is no need. I wish to try something else."

After rejecting Aura's suggestion, Momonga began his next experiment.

"「Message」."

The first party he tried to contact was a GM. In YGGDRASIL, when one used the 「Message」 spell, as long as the other party was within the game, one would hear a call tone. Otherwise, there would be no sound, and the spell would immediately terminate.

What happened now was somewhere between both of those. It felt like something was constantly reaching out, as though looking for something to connect to. This was the first time Momonga had experienced something like this and it was difficult to describe.

This feeling continued for a while, and in the end, after failing to connect, the 「Message」 spell ended.

A profound sense of disappointment flooded through him.

Momonga tried casting the same spell again. This time, he did not choose a GM.

This time, he picked one of his comrades from the past — a member of Ainz Ooal Gown.

He cast the spell, though his heart was filled with one part of hope and ninety nine parts of resignation. As expected, there was no response. He tried to contact the forty, no, forty one members of the Guild with a 「Message」, but after receiving no reply, Momonga gently shook his head.

In truth, he had expected this outcome and had resigned himself to it, but actually being confronted by that fact filled him with an incomparable feeling of despair.

In the end, Momonga decided to contact Sebas.

—It got through.

This proved that the 「Message」 spell was working, and that most likely, it could only contact people within this new world.

"Momonga-sama."

A voice of deepest respect echoed through his mind. Momonga considered that Sebas might have been bowing to him on the other side of the 「Message」, like in real-life companies.

Just then, Sebas spoke again, as Momonga fell silent from thinking about these ridiculous things.

"...May I ask if something is wrong?"

"Ah, ahhh, forgive me. I spaced out there. That's right, how are the surroundings like?"

"Yes. We are surrounded by plains, with no intelligent creatures in sight."

"A plain… not a swamp?"

The Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick should have been bordered by a swamp that was inhabited by frog-like demihumans called Tuvegs. The swamp was shrouded in mist, and it was poisonous.

"Yes. There are only plains around us."

Momonga could not help but smile.

All this was too much...

"In other words, the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick has been wholly transported to a different place? …Sebas, is there anything floating in the sky, or did anything like a message appear?"

"No, there is nothing like that. The heavens are as boundless as the Sixth Floor's night sky."

"What!? Did you say night sky?... Is there anything suspicious around you?"

"No… I have not seen anything unusual. Besides the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick, there are no other man-made structures in sight."

"Is that so… is that so…"

What should he say? All Momonga could do was grab his head and try to think. But in his heart, he knew that this was most likely the case.

Sebas's silence was a subtle hint that he was awaiting orders. Momonga glanced at the strap on his left wrist. In another twenty minutes, the other Guardians would arrive. If that was the case, there was only one order he could give.

"Return in twenty minutes. When you come back to Nazarick, head to the Colosseum. All the Guardians will be coming, so when you arrive, I hope you will tell them about what you saw.

"Understood."

"Then, gather as much information as you can before you return."

After hearing Sebas's acknowledgement, Momonga terminated the 「Message」 spell.

Just as Momonga was about to sigh in relief that everything was over, he remembered the expectant looks on the twin's faces.

He had already told them he was going to verify the Staff's power, so he had to let them see it. Momonga grasped the Staff, and pondered which fraction of its might he should reveal.

The numberless powers within the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown seemed to be begging Momonga to unleash them.

Right now, he needed a flashy spell.

"「Summon Primal Fire Elemental」."

In accordance with Momonga's will, the Orb of Fire grasped within one of the Staff's snake mouths pulsed with puissance. Momonga could feel the movement of a mighty, invisible power and thrust the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown forth. A vast ball of light bloomed from the tip of the Staff, and a vortex of roaring flame spilled forth from that globe of radiance.

The fires spun faster and faster, until the tornado of flame reached a width of four meters and a height of six meters.

The crimson inferno threw off gusts of scorching air in all directions.

From the corner of his eye, he could see the Dragonkin protecting Aura and Mare with their vast bodies. The searing winds made his cape flap violently. So intense was the heat that it would not have been unusual for a normal person to be burned by them, but Momonga had acquired a complete immunity to fire damage in order to negate one of the weaknesses of the undead, so it had no effect on him at all.

Soon, the vast cyclone of fire, swallowing the surrounding air as it burned hot enough to melt metal, began to flicker and shudder as it took a humanoid form.

Primal Fire Elementals could be said to be among the highest ranking among all elemental monsters. They were over level eighty five. Just like he had with the Moonlight Wolves, Momonga felt a mysterious connection to the Primal Fire Elemental.

"Uwah..."

Aura was watching it intently as she made noises of surprise.

As she looked upon the top tier elemental, something that even her summoning powers would not be able to bring forth, Aura's face bore a look of excited admiration, like a child who had just received a dearly beloved present.

"...Do you want to fight it?"

"Eh?"

"Ehhhhh?"

After a moment of hesitation, Aura grinned innocently. Compared to a normal child's smile, hers was a little — no — the truth was that it was quite scary. In contrast, Mare's smile from the side seemed more like that of a child.

"Can I?"

"Don't worry. It'll be fine even if you defeat it."

Momonga shrugged to indicate that it was all right. The Staff could summon one Primal Fire Elemental a day. In other words, the Staff could summon another such being after one day had passed. As such, defeating it would not be a great loss.