Chapter Forty Four

Ainz observed the landscape where he had unleashed his wrath. No living being had survived the explosion and most of them were turned into ash. In the distance, where the shockwaves had been harsh, the surviving humans from the blast, finally started to scream in pain.

The powerful shockwave had sent them flying and part of their bodies were burned. Nobody expected something like this to happen, the soldiers of the Slane Theocracy had been training for a short moment and eating diner. They were at the final part of preparations to march at the elvish city.

But at that moment, their eyes were whited by something shiny and explosive. That was the moment where the tragedy happened. A powerful heated force pushed the humans like puppets really far away. Some of them barely had survived, but their limbs were broken and the skin was burning, giving them an hellish pain.

"MY EEYYYYES!"

"AAAAAAHHHH HELP!"

"IT BURNS! IT BURNS!"

"PLEASE HELP ME!"

They all desperately screamed in pain, hoping that someone would come and heal their wounds. All the survivors had something in common. Every single one of them was blinded by the heated explosive force. They were walking like turtles crying for help.

The Supreme Overlord, the one who caused all this disaster, delicately landed on the ground near the foolish mortals that wanted to slay his elven citizens.

[Napalm]

Ainz dropped a 7th tier spell on Slane Theocracy soldiers, burning them to the bone and giving a horrifying death.

"Disgusting fucks! Same as those from Earth!"

[Widen Maximize Magic - Inferno] !

A wave of flames appeared and like a shockwave it spread, burning alive every living soul in 200 meters range. Because of this demonic high tier spell, all the bodies had turned into ashes.

Here the army of the Slane Theocracy was vaporized completely from the face of the earth. Now Ainz will have to give order to his forces to wipe out all those vermin that had stayed on the other camps because this was just one of them.

There was no need for warning them about the Nazarick Kingdom annexing these parts. They had set foot here to kill the elves and enslave them. Ainz will show no mercy for the actions of these lower life forms.

With their armies utterly destroyed here, the Slane Theocracy will think twice in trying to invade other territories and exterminating nonhumans. They will understand the Sorcerer Kingdom of Nazarick, have their eyes on them, if they try to move one finger out of their disgusting shit hole nation.

"Lord Ainz?"

It was the Death Emperor Zorok that spoke in Ainz's skull.

"Hmm, what is it?"

"We discovered something that might interest you, my Lord."

"Is that so?"

Ainz disappeared from the inferno that he had created and teleported inside the elvish royal palace. In the throne room that belonged to the Elf King, Zorok and Clementine were waiting for their lord's arrival.

As he was walking towards them, at that moment Ainz stopped. The reason why he did this, was because of what he saw on Clementine's hands.

"The hell?"

What Clementine had on her hands, was a bow. Its color was black and had blood red marks like veins everywhere and was amazingly curved.

"My master~ we discovered this inside the sleeping room of that Elf King. I don't think of this weapon as normal bow, so we thought that you might be interested about it, my Master~"

Clementine came closer and handed the strange bow to her master. Ainz was out of words. This was not a normal bow at all, this was a World Class Item called…

"The Bow of Apollo!"

Ainz observed the world item carefully. "But how?" The Elf King was a weak boss in YGGDRASIL and The Bow of Apollo should have been easy to be discovered by players. The question was if the Elf King had it back in the game or did he found it in this world.

"What if I… no…"

He was thinking to revive Rumus again to interrogate him about the World Item, but the face of Zesshi appeared in his mind. Ainz made a promise that she will execute him for good. If he resurrected her father, it would look like he dropped mud upon his wife's face. Zesshi might not have a problem with this as long her father gets an hellish torture followed by death, but Ainz thought that it will be better to leave things as they are.

"Hm… Hmhmhm, well this does put a smile on my face." only if he had flesh and skin.

Ainz returned to his Overlord persona again, and was filled with happiness that another World Class Item fell under his possession.

"It is this bow that is making my beloved master happy~"

"Ah, you are right Clementine. This World Class Item is called "The Bow of Apollo", it is as powerful as The Downfall of Castle and Country. But this one has a destructive wide range attack. You see, it does not have a bow string that connects the limbs or arrows."

Ainz tried to have stance like shooting with the bow. On his right hand appeared a red string that was transparent and even the arrow was red transparent.

"Amazing~ as expected from my beloved master~"

Clementine and Zorok were applauding for their master. Truly their Supreme ruler knows everything about these powerful items. It makes them really proud to be his subordinates, especially Clementine that had given her own body to him.

"Zorok, are there elf prisoners in the Slane Theocracy camp at the border?"

"It was confirmed by the high wraiths, my Lord. All the elf prisoners were sent to Kami Miyako to be sold as slaves."

"Perfect."

Ainz transformed back in his armor and went out on the balcony. Clementine and Zorok followed their lord behind.

On the balcony Ainz got ready with the world item. In front of Ainz appeared a red map that showed up the entire elven region and a part of the Slane Theocracy.

"Damn, it feels like i'm back in the game again."

Nostalgia hit Ainz for a moment but that feeling disappeared immediately. Every camp of Slane Theocracy appeared there in the form of a white point. Ainz selected its target, and it was the camp that was near the border.

Ainz pulled the string and released it. The arrow lost in the air and went straight with the speed of light. Ainz saw in the map how fast the arrow was reaching the camp that it will take days to go there for the elves.

The arrow reached the camp and it spread into one hundred thousands red arrows. The target was every single human and the arrows went straight at them. The arrows were kinda transparent and the humans that were doing their work had no idea what was coming for them.

When the arrow hit the first human, it exploded. And another one, another one, another one. The camp turned into a bombarding ground. The explosive power was a 10th tier spell like a [Meter Fall]. It just turned every human into nothingness and did not let to run for their lives at all because the arrows were way faster than their limbs.

There were not one hundred thousands humans in that camp, so the arrows just hit something to create more destruction flattening everything on the those human souls disappeared into fire and destruction in an instant.

The humans that were inside the border of the Slane Theocracy, were watching in horror this tragedy that was occurring before their eyes. They did not understand what was happening in their fortress, everything was being blasted into oblivion. Black smoke has been raised in the havens like a wall covering the entire forest.

Could this be the power of the Elf King? The humans were beginning to fear the elves now. Maybe the Elf King was bored with this war and decided to destroy all the humans in his kingdom.

Or maybe the undead king had to do something with this…

Kami Miyako

The capital of the Slane Theocracy was bright and filled with life as every day. Mostly, the citizens wore white clothes, that's why a lot of people call it the White City.

The citizens were religious fanatics to the roots. They will visit the cathedrals of their Gods every single day and pray to protect humanity from the monsters out of their borders.

In recent years, the economy of the nation has been falling drastically. There were no merchants from other nations and they could not send their goods into other nations.

The Slane Theocracy was like a drop of oil in the ocean.

The slave traders had brought their wagons filled with elves. They shouted on the side of the road for the people to come and see the elves that looked like broken dolls.

Elf males, females and children had chains around their neck and were held like animals, because that what they were for the humans. Nothing but animals and low life forms. Their only duty is to pleasure and work for their master and for the children of the master.

It was a miserable fate for the poor elves. Their long ears were chopped, and the body had marks of being whipped by the humans. The hopes for them were lost and only prayed for death to save them from sufferings.

The cardinals of the Slane Theocracy, were walking on the streets of the capital with their bodyguards protecting them. The citizens that were near, bowed their heads deeply when they saw the highest executive authorities of the Slane Theocracy.

"I just can not accept it. We as protectors of humanity should do something to stop the religion of the heretics." said Dominic angrily.

"We can't do anything Dominic. We are having problems with the elves and you want to open another front. That will be a really bad move for us."

"Raymond is right, we can not fight on two fronts. We need more information about the Nazarick Kingdom." said Berenice, having the same thoughts as Raymond.

They even had problems inside the Slane Theocracy. The sekt that worship the god of death has been moved by the coming of the new god. They had heard the rumors about this mighty god that rules over humans and non-humans.

Small groups of people around the Slane Theocracy had started to worship the God of Life and Death Ainz Ooal Gown. The places where they worship him, were the caves, abandoned mines and building basements.

But later, the scriptures find out about this disorder and report it to the Pontifex and the Cardinals. Immediately, they gave order to hunt down and arrest these heretics that had lost faith in the Six Gods.

"It's like we are navigating blindly. That undead monster has cut us off from the world."

They know nothing about what is happening on this continent. In the past they had spread the scriptures all over the places where humans lived. They slayed monsters and demihumans that can be considered threats for humanity, and got valuable information.

Now with the coming of this new kingdom, they had retreated their roots back to their border, because the enemy had capable forces to hunt down the scriptures of the Slane Theocracy.

The immortal army of Nazarick Kingdom inserted fear on the citizens of the Slane Theocracy. The people raised their voices for a crusade to free the human lands that were occupied by the monstrosities of the Sorcerer Kingdom.

But that will be a foolish move by blinded people. The cardinals know very well how dangerous one Death Knight is, and there are hundreds of them out there. With the war against the Elf Kingdom, it will be catastrophic to start another one against a kingdom that can destroy nations with a flick of a finger.

"I can't believe how that Half-Elf bastard betrayed us." said the cardinal of water Ginedine with disgust.

"We who have raised and trained her, left us in the mud. Was she planning this?" asked Yvon with confusion.

"We all know what personality Zesshi has. She has been waiting for someone to defeat her. She will abandon us without regret just to be with the strong."

Berenice and Raymond were the ones that stayed with her the most, because everyone else hated her.

"But still, leaving us like that-

"We have discussed this topic before Dominic, do not bring it to light again."

Raymond still has a bit of respect for Zesshi. When they were not strong enough to defeat a monster, Zesshi was the one who arrived quickly and saved their lives, and nobody thanked her for saving them.

Her comrades despised her. A half monster saving their lives disgusted them. Zesshi's feelings were completely broken and hoped that one day someone that was stronger will take her from the Slane Theocracy.

"You two always try to protect her." said Maximilian

"We are not protecting her. As her comrade in the past, I respect her for protecting our nation and humanity. Without her, I wouldn't be here walking with you all."

The other cardinals released an "ooh" in surprise. But their hearts were not moved, they still hated her to the guts for abandoning the Slane Theocracy. Even Raymond was not good with her decision.

"So what should we do? The people will raise their voice again for a crusade. There are still heretics in our nation that should be crushed."

"Patience dear Dominic."

This time it was the Pontifex Maximus who spoke. He had been silent all this time and looking around the streets of Kami Miyako.

"Patience? What do you mean? That monster is expanding his territories and that cursed religion in every second by now. Our influence has fallen to zero. The Holy Kingdom that was supposed to hate all the undead, now is under his rule."

Time ago, a powerful shockwave hit the Slane Theocracy, breaking all the windows of the buildings. The Clearwater Scripture was deployed to gather information about the strange event.

When they brought the information back, all the higher up of the Slane Theocracy were shocked when they read it. The Holy Kingdom had fallen because of an Oceanic Empire. The cardinals had never heard about this underwater nation before. They launched a terrifying attack leaving only 1 millions people alive.

The Holy Queen had no other choice but to ask for help form the Sorcerer Kingdom. They accepted the refugees from the Holy Kingdom and the Sorcerer King Ainz Ooal Gown himself fought against the Oceanic Emperor Kraken, that was an unimaginably large sea monster.

The cardinals could not believe that an undead will go this far to help the citizens and the paladins of a nation that hates the undead to the core. The fight was described as a battle of gods and Ainz Ooal Gown came out victorious in the end. He used a powerful spell that slayed Kraken and destroyed the Holy Kingdom.

The cardinals came to the conclusion that Ainz Ooal Gown was not a being from this world. The power he possessed was unimaginable and unreachable.

After that battle, was the moment when his influence reached even the Slane Theocracy. A new god has descended from the heavens, but the cardinals thought of him as another Greed King. His worshipers were captured and burned alive in front of the citizens, telling everyone that those who worship the Sorcerer King will be executed.

"You are acting like child Dominic."

"You-

"Enough Dominic."

The Pontifex Maximus stopped Dominic from his line.

"Raymond is right, you are not acting like yourself. I know this is a dark time for our nation but follow the mighty gods, we must. They have always guided humanity to victory. We must not fail them."

All the cardinals agreed with him. They must not panic in front of this enemy or the humanity will fall under the rule of the undead.

Suddenly they saw a paladin upon a horse riding near them. He dismounted from the horse and kneeled in front of the cardinals.

"What's the matter?" asked The Pontifex.

"Your Holiness, an important message from the border with the Elf Kingdom."

The paladin took out a parchment from his bag and gave it to the Pontifex. He thought their army had destroyed the elves by now. He opened the parchment and started to read it.

"So, what does it say? Did we crush those filthy elves?" asked Dominic impatiently.

Something was not right with the Pontifex. His lips were shivering and his hands were shaking. He handed the parchment to Dominic, he saw the Pontifex with confusion for a moment and started to read it.

"No… It can't be…"

"Dominic, Maximus… What is it?"

Dominic was having the same expression like Maximus had. Raymond took the parchment from Dominic's hands and read it with the other cardinals.

Their eyes open wide from what they read. The parchment says that their army has been obliterated by the forces of the Sorcerer Kingdom of Nazarick. No human was spared in battle, every single one of them was slayed by the immortal army.

At that moment, the scream of a woman echoed on the street. The bodyguards rushed fast in front of the cardinals to protect them from any danger. The cardinals did not understand what was happening but they saw the citizens looking at the sky.

They lifted their eyes up and saw some beings with wings. The light of the sun was hurting their eyes and they could not tell what they were.

The beings started moving to land on the street. Now the cardinals could see what these beings were. They were all beautiful maidens that will make every man fall in love. Ten of them wore a mighty golden and silver plate armor. The ten others wore as divine magic casters.

All these maidens were beings that are considered holy in Slane Theocracy. But there was someone in the middle of these holy angels that everyone was afraid of. The citizens wanted to pray to the angels, because they think the angels are messengers of the gods.

But the undead being in front of them put everyone into silence. He wore a majestic purple dark robe that belonged to that of an arcane magic caster, and on his skeletal fingers he had shining rings filled with power. He had no skin or flesh on his body, but only bones. Inside his empty eye socket could be seen two glowing crimson points, also below his ribs was a red sphere that emanates a feeling of dread.

"Sur…shana…" murmured the Cardinal of Darkness

All of them landed on the ground and had their eyes on the rulers of the Slane Theocracy.

"Greetings cardinals. I am the Sorcerer King Ainz Ooal Gown."

Everyone felt a cold chill crawling on their spine. The most fearsome being in this world was in front of them and he looked like he was in a bad mood. The guardians were shivering before the undead king and did not know what actions to take.

The cardinals gulped and shrugged their shoulders, then decided to approach the Sorcerer King. This was their nation and they should not show fear when the citizens were observing.

"I am the Pontifex Maximus, these are the Cardinals of the Slane Theocracy."

Silence prevailed for a short moment. Both the parties didn't say a word to each other till one of the cardinals decided to break the silence.

"Why have you come here, Sorcerer King?"

In truth Raymond's feet were shaking and the heart was pounding fast like never before. The aura of the Sorcerer King was frightening. The citizens and the elves slaves on the sides of the streets were shivering and were afraid to run away from the powerful being.

"Straight at the subject, hmm. Well then, I want the return of my citizens."

Raymond and the others raised an eyebrow in confusion. What citizens was he talking about?

"What do you mean?"

"Oh don't be like that, you know well what i'm talking about."

Raymond turned his eyes at the side of the street and saw the elves. Was it them, what he wanted? Raymond turned his gaze again at the Sorcerer King.

"The elves?"

"Correct cardinal." said Ainz.

The cardinals stared at each other. If they accept this, their economy will be on the cliff range of collapse. The wood elves were used in different jobs, if they are taken from their masters, all those workplaces will be closed.

"Do you want to buy them?"

"Are you mistaking me with the ones like you?"

"N-No...:"

It will be better not to anger him. This was the undead monster that has destroyed their army in the moment of their glory. It will be a disaster if he uses his frightening magic in the middle of the city.

"I want every single elf that you have captured in the elf realm. All of them are officially citizens of the Nazarick Kingdom and you are using them as slaves."

"We need to discuss this with the council."

"I have no time for blabbering cardinal. Are you going to return my citizens or not?"

Raymond did not know what to say. This fellow did not care about their nation at all. Why should he? One day he might invade and kill them all.

"You have big words Sorcerer King. Your monsters just massacred our innocent people and you want the elves." said Dominic with an angry expression.

"Innocent people you, huh. Tell me cardinal-

Ainz walked near the side of the street. He approached a man that was holding an elf child like a dog in chain.

"Begone you!"

Ainz waved his hand and hit the man. His body exploded and the blood spread everywhere like rain. All the humans screamed in fear and started to run away from this part of the city. Shocked by his action, the cardinals saw their white robes that were covered in some parts with blood.

Ainz braked the chains from her neck and took the child on his arms. The little elf girl was afraid being so close with the undead king but she did not scream. The humans were even more scary.

"Tell me cardinal, what crime did this child commit to deserve to be in chains? She could be six years old in human years. A child who doesn't know what war or a damn sword is… held in chains like a dog. Who are the innocent people here cardinal?

"What if we refuse?"

Dominic was disgusted by the words of the Sorcerer King. He will never believe an undead creature caring for the lives of his citizens. It was a stupid story to be bealived.

"Good question."

The Sorcerer King raised his arm and pointed his hand at the cathedral that worshiped the God of Death.

[Reality Warp] !

The area around the cathedral started to deforme in the form of a whirlpool. Everything turned into nothingness in that area. The cathedral began to fall inside the black void slowly. The citizens and the priest that were inside at that moment were screaming for help but when the black void touched them, the humans disappeared from this world.

The cardinals and the other citizens watched in horror how the cathedral got devoured by the black void. This kind of magic… was never seen before in this world.

"You, you cold… murderer… you… Demon!"

Dominic wanted to say "cold blooded murderer" but there is no blood in that body.

"Do not be mistaken cardinal. I am UNDEAD!"

What the Sorcerer King meant by that, was that he was not a demon that exalted the idea of evil, but an undead that hated life. He will not care and will slaughter every living being in Slane Theocracy if they do not return his citizens.

"I have no time to stay here all day cardinals. Return my citizens to the elven realm or I will send this filthy capital to oblivion."

"All right! All right! Just stop please!"

Raymond shouted out loud. His body was completely wet from the sweat that has covered his body. There was no way to refuse, if they do not return the elves, this will be the end for the nation that has survived for six hundred years.

"We will return the elves back to their land."

"I don't believe you."

"Wha-What?"

"I will spread my High Wraiths all over the Slane Theocracy. If they discover just one elf that has not returned in one month, I will unleash my wrath upon you. Be sure to check the deepest parts of your nation."

He is crazy… No, it's still the same thing. He is an undead, so he does not care how hard that will be. Ainz turned his back at the Cardinals but…

"Ah, I almost forgot."

Ainz put his bony hand inside a dark circle and brought out something.

"This belongs to your gods right? Take it, I'm not interested in it."

Ainz dropped a dress on the ground. Their eyes went wide from the shock. It was the god artifact, The Downfall of Castle and Country. How can he give it back like that? Of course Ainz was not a fool to return the real one. It only contains a divine 9th tier spell. The angels had worked hard day and night to create it because it was not an easy task.

"Remember cardinals. You have only 1 month to return my citizens and those who worship me."

The Sorcerer King and the Holy Angels disappeared from the capital of the Slane Theocracy, leaving the cardinals with their jaws open.

Somewhere in south east

Outside a village, a lot of orcs were gathered to enjoy the coming of spring. They thanked their God Gothrag that descended to this world four hundreds years ago for saving their kin from an evil Dragon Lord that ruled this land and used their souls for his wild magic.

From that time the orcs had lived in peace. Well, there were some tribal wars but it did not last very long.

In this "carnival" many orcs showed their muscles to impress the single females. There were brutal fights between strong warriors.

And yes… the moment that everyone was waiting for, was the burning of the slaves. In this village they had goblin slaves the most and Pale Orcs. These orcs had boar faces, the pale orcs were considered a disgusting breed because they looked like humans or elves.

They burned them alive as a sacrifice for their Orc God Gothrag.

An orc child was running on a meadow trying to catch a butterfly. He jumped as much as he can but was not able to catch that little flying insect.

"Son."

His mother arrived fast to take her child back to village.

"Don't scare me like that. Your father will get mad."

"I'm sorry mother."

His mother responded with a smile and started to walk towards the village. But there was something wrong here.

A cold wind was slamming her back. It was coming from the forest. The orc female turned her head towards the dark forest. She saw something unusual there, but when that wind slammed on her face, a cold chill ran down her spine.

In that dark forest… hundreds of crimson points were glowing.