Chapter 19

— Kakuei —

I stared down at the reinforcements who had thoroughly blocked me into the treasury. The NPC that had been guarding it was… impressive; I had to admit that much. Honestly, I'd say it was around canon Rubedo's level of bullshit, and that's saying something, considering Rubedo is the strongest NPC in Nazarick, bar none.

Although, with how stacked our Rubedo is compared to the canon version, Seraphim's NPC wouldn't stand a fucking chance.

From a glance at the Asgard reinforcements, I would say there's around a hundred or so total just in front of me, and considering Buku messaged me that they sent the entire rear flank of the raiding party, the number of entities waiting within and around the guildhall likely was closer to a thousand with around eighty to ninety percent of those entities being NPCs.

I have my work cut out for me.

Good.

— Momonga —

From a vantage point within the Third Floor of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Momonga and many of her friends watched as the massive raiding party came into contact with Pero's strongest NPC, Shalltear Bloodfallen.

It was time to lay in the pain of this raid and give it a crushing blow that would leave the rest in shambles.

"Now!" Momonga shouted, raising her staff and pointing it down at the raiding party. The magic casters with her copied her actions, their staves all glowing brightly as they began their assault.

*BOOM*

"WHERE?!" Angelbright shouted in shock and anger as fireballs rained down on his group before his character's eyes locked onto Momonga's. Though his character's expression didn't change, Momonga could tell just how upset he likely was. "PUSH FORWARD!"

The group couldn't carry out his order well considering they were being bombarded by attacks from above. Fire, water, earth, hell even balls of pure concentrated darkness were being launched at the intruders, and on top of that, they still had to deal with Shalltear along with her vampire brides and the rest of the vampires' family.

Needless to say, the raiding party was deeply in trouble, and Momonga could see now that they had done their part.

"We're leaving!" Momonga ordered, her staff blinking as a massive ball of fire appeared over it.

"Grand Catastrophe!" One of the intruders shouted in fear before running away as fast as he could. Many others tried to mimic his actions, but with Shalltear and her family acting as distractions, many weren't successful.

Momonga dropped the ball of fire, and a nuke of flames appeared and consumed a fraction of the raiding party. Before the majestic flames could clear, Momonga and the other guild members used their rings to teleport to the throne room.

"Good job, everyone." Buku complimented.

"Hell yeah, that was awesome!" Pero agreed quickly, and Ulbert gave them all a quick nod.

"That should just about bring an end to this invasion." Momonga smiled internally. Plenty of players were left in the raiding party, but with so many of them being killed and a great deal of the NPCs being taken out, they wouldn't survive the 8th floor, and even if they did, Kakuei could just return and wipe them out.

The only thing separating them from their victory was time.

"We can only hope." Bellriver nodded in agreement.

"Does anyone know how Kakuei is doing thus far?" HeroHero questioned.

"I talked to him not too long ago. He should be fighting the rear flank of the raiding party right about now." Buku answered.

"Will he be alright by himself? Didn't he just deal with conquering Seraphim?" Ancient One asked with no small amount of concern. His worries were justified. If Kakuei failed, then most of this was for nothing. Sure, they would make a solid stake in Hell's Paradise/Nazarick's legacy within Yggdrasil, but they wouldn't actually gain anything.

"You forget who Kakuei is." Ulbert scoffed. "He has two powerful World Items; losing against some second-rate reinforcements was never a possibility. It's only a matter of time until he gives us the signal."

"Ulbert is correct, have faith in our leader, as he has faith in us." Nishikienrai appeared from the shadows and walked over to them.

"Nishi, how are things going around in Asgard?" Ulbert asked. Everyone turned their attention to the ninja. His job during this raid was to scout out Asgard while Kakuei attacked Seraphim and see if it was feasible for the guild to take that realm for themselves.

"Chaos." Nishi sighed. "All of the guilds have entered into defense mode. None of them are leaving to give aid to Seraphim."

"Tch," Ulbert growled. "That wasn't what we hoped for, but it's far from unexpected. Plan B, then."

"Right." Nishi nodded before being enveloped by shadows and fading into the darkness.

"Momonga, I leave the rest to you." Ulbert gave her a thumbs-up emoji before walking toward the door to the throne room.

"Of course, you can count on me, Ulbert!"

The Goat Demon walked out of the throne room, leaving several Guild Members within the room. All of the World Champions and World Disasters in Hell's Paradise had been with her, and she'd need them if they were to succeed in the next step of their plan.

"Joni and Vampira, do you both think you can handle Slaine?" Momonga asked with concern. Slaine was the most powerful guild behind Hell's Paradise and Seraphim, but many of their forces comprised the raiding party. Still, the NPCs within the guild hall were likely very powerful.

"Of course-"

"I doubt we can take it alone, but if Kakeui heads over, I'm sure the three of us can handle it." Vampira cut off Joni and shook her head. "And if you thought otherwise, then your foolish dragon character is getting to your head.

Joni sent a grinning emoji; clearly, he was unapologetic about his confidence.

"I'm sure Kakuei wouldn't mind heading over. Buku, can you ask him?"

"Of course, Momo!" Buku saluted before walking away a bit.

"Now then, for the rest of you, if we hope to succeed, we must take down the other guilds. I will not accept failure, and neither should you! For Nazarick!

"'For Nazarick!""

Joni cut a hole through the air with the dimensional gap skill, and the guild members started moving through it. They would trust Ulbert, the NPCs, and the remaining guild members to defend Nazarick.

Now, it was time for Asgard to fall.

— AngelBright —

Floor after floor, the numbers of the raiding party were dropping lower and lower. The first three floors had been the slow dwindling of numbers, but with the fourth and fifth floors, the forces of the raiding party had grown weak.

The fourth floor had been nasty for them when they had to go up against that monster, Gargantua. A great deal of their players had died in that fight. The same could be said about the fifth floor with the giant armored monster, Cocytus.

There weren't any NPCs below level 80 within the party anymore. The numbers left were the strongest NPCs and some of the players.

Now it was time for them to advance to the sixth floor. More than once did AngelBright consider turning around, but every time that thought crossed his mind, he recalled the wordsword of Ulbert Alain Odle.

"Let me tell you this, Intruders: You have invaded Nazarick, and now you shall reap the reward of your bravery and foolishness. Cross this line, and I promise you will not leave this place."

There was no going back now, and Hell's Paradise had likely prepared measures to ensure Ulbert's words remained fact.

Which means the only way out was forward.

— Kakuei —

I looked down at the dissipating body of the last of the reinforcements. My eyes drifted down to my health bar, and I winced. I was below 25%.

It had been months since I had been this low HP, and I had to admit, the rear flank with all of their forces was much tougher than I believed it would be.

I would surely have died if I had not had my World Enemy/Sin skills.

With Seraphim cleared out and no chance for reinforcements to come anytime soon, I can head out of here and start the next assault on Slaine with Joni and Vampira.

"You've made quick work of them, Master."

"You're always so sneaky, Nishi." I laughed as his form filled the room.

"I'm a ninja; I'm supposed to be sneaky, Master."

"Of course, of course." I waved him off. "Do me a solid and keep Seraphim on lock, alright? I'm gonna head over and help those two lovebirds."

"As my master commands, it shall be done." Nishi bowed, showing me the respect his RP demands he shows.

"... Never change, Nishi."

"As you command."

— Chapter End —