The Undead King

by Kugane Maruyama

  The whole thing had only taken a second. Nothing was left of the straw figure but burned-up remains.

  “Heh-heh-heh-heh…” Momonga let slip a laugh only he knew the meaning of and the twins looked on, puzzled.

  “Aura, ready another straw figure.”

  “Oh—yes, sir! Right away! Hurry and set it up!” One of the dragonkin stood a new figure next to the charred one.

  Momonga walked leisurely over, turned toward the straw figure, and cast a spell: “Napalm!”

  It went slightly astray but suddenly formed a column of flames that then engulfed the area and swirled up into the sky. After a beat, Momonga cast another spell at the figure that had been reduced to debris. “Fireball!”

  The figure was obliterated on impact.

  The spells’ cooldowns were the same as in Yggdrasil. Actually, since for an area-of-effect spell he didn’t have to first select the spell and then aim by moving the cursor showing the area, he might have been able to cast even faster.

  “Perfect.” His satisfaction took the form of this remark, voiced of its own accord.

  “Lord Momonga, should I prepare some more straw figures?” Aura did seem puzzled. She knew from before that Momonga possessed incredible power, so she probably didn’t understand what was such a big deal about stunts like this. But that was exactly the impression he’d wanted to make on the twins, so their confused expressions were proof of his success.

  “No, that won’t be necessary. I want to test something else now.” Once he’d declined Aura’s request, he set about his next objective.

  “Message.” First, he would try to contact a GM. The way the Message spell worked in Yggdrasil was that if the player being contacted were in the game at the time, the caller would hear a cell phone–like ring, but if they weren’t, it would just disconnect. Now it was maybe a cousin of that spell. Momonga felt like he was putting out a feeler to search for something. The sensation was difficult to describe, and he was experiencing it for the first time in his life. It continued for a little while and then, with nothing to connect to, the spell timed out.

  Well, that’s discouraging.

  He repeated the same spell, this time not aimed at a GM. He was calling the old members of Ainz Ooal Gown. He attempted it with 1 percent hope, feeling 99 percent like nothing would come of it, and as expected, there was no response. After calling all forty members and confirming no response from anyone, he slowly shook his head. He’d known it was hopeless, but getting slapped in the face with reality was quite a downer. He cast the spell once more, at Sebas.

  It connected!

  So it was clear that Message was indeed—alas—working. There was still the possibility that it would only connect to characters in this world, but…

  “Lord Momonga.” The deeply deferential voice echoed in his head. Momonga wondered if Sebas was bowing on the other end like a businessman in the real world would have been.

  Sebas must have been unsure how to interpret the silence caused by Momonga’s extraneous musing because he spoke again, sounding perplexed. “Is…something wrong?”

  “Oh, uh, sorry. It seems I spaced out for a moment. By the way, what’s it like out there?”

  “We’re on a grassy plain, and I haven’t been able to confirm the existence of any intelligent life.”

  “A grassy plain… No bogs?”

  The Great Tomb of Nazarick used to be located deep in a swamp inhabited by frog-like people known as tsveiks. The whole area was covered by mist, and there were poisonous bogs here and there.

  “No, just a grassy plain.”

  Momonga laughed in spite of himself. Who knows what the heck is going on now?

  “So Nazarick as a whole has been teleported to some unknown location…? Sebas, is there anything up in the sky? Any signs or signals?”

  “No, nothing like that. Just the same night sky as the sixth level.”

  “What?! A night sky, huh? There’s nothing else in the area that catches your eye?”

  “No, not in particular. Aside from the Great Tomb of Nazarick, I don’t even see any man-made structures.”

  “I see, I see…”

  What could he say? The only thing left for him to do was rip his hair out (although somewhere in his mind he had been prepared for this possibility).

  Sebas’s silence indicated he was awaiting direction. Momonga glanced at the band on his left wrist. There were about twenty minutes until the other guardians would arrive, in which case there was only one order that made sense to give.

  “Be back in twenty minutes. Once you’ve returned to the Tomb, come to the Amphitheatrum. I’m assembling all the guardians, so I’ll have you report what you’ve seen.”

  “Understood.”

  “Okay, get as much information as you can before then.”

  After getting Sebas’s confirmation, he ended the spell. Just as he was thinking he’d take a break, having finished everything he needed to do for the moment, he remembered the two children and their expectant gazes.

  He needed to show them the power of the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, since he’d said he would. He took the staff into his hand but couldn’t decide what magic to unleash. It was as if all its countless powers were begging to be used. I should probably go for something pretty showy. So he chose the Fire Orb and from among its powers cast Summon Primal Fire Elemental.

  Obeying Momonga’s will, power stirred within a jewel in one of the snakes’ mouths. Sensing that the flow of power was adequate, he pointed the staff. A huge sphere of light grew at the end and an incredible storm of flames whipped up around it. The vortex rapidly expanded to a diameter of thirteen feet and a height of about twenty feet.

  The crimson purgatory kicked up a hot wind, and out of the corner of his eye, Momonga saw the dragonkin move in front of Aura and Mare to protect them. His robe flapped in the waves of heat. It could’ve easily burned him, given the temperature, but Momonga had compensated for the weakness to fire he shared with all undead with perfect resistance, so he was unaffected.

  After increasing its size by consuming all the air in its vicinity, the swaying tornado of flames emitted a glow like fusing iron and took on a humanoid shape.

  The primal fire elemental was one of the highest-level elementals, falling in the upper 80s range. Momonga felt the same connection with it that he had with the moon wolves.

  “Whoa.” A gasp escaped Aura’s lips as she marveled at the monster. It was impossible to call forth such an elite elemental with regular summoning magic, and the look on her face was like a kid who’d gotten the toy she’d always wanted.

  “Want to try fighting it?”

  “Huh?”

  “Wh-what?”

  She was lost for a moment, but then the natural smile of a child played across her face. Actually, for a child it was a bit—well, rather—twisted; Mare’s expression was more childlike.

  “You’ll let us fight it?”

  “Sure, I don’t mind. It’s no big deal if it gets defeated.” Momonga shrugged. The staff’s power allowed him to summon one a day. In other words, it didn’t matter if this one got taken down, because he could summon another one the next day.

  “Uh, I just remembered something I have to do…”

  “Mare!” She grabbed him with an iron grip when he tried to make a run for it. Apparently she wasn’t going to let him escape. She snagged him with her smile. To Momonga, it was the smile of an adorable little girl, but he wondered if it looked different to someone with the same face; Mare was scared stiff.

  Aura dragged him in front of the primal fire elemental. His eyes darted around seeking succor, finally finding Momonga. In reply to his radiant ear-to-ear grin, Momonga joined his palms to mimic a prayer. The light on Mare’s face went out.

  “Well, don’t overdo it, you two. It’d be silly to get hurt.”

  “We won’t!” Aura responded cheerfully. Mare’s voice was there, too, but gloomy, like he was being escorted to his doom. Momonga figured they wouldn’t get
hurt as long as Mare was there, so he used his connection to the primal fire elemental to order it to attack.

  The twins engaged the roaring flames of the attacking elemental with Aura forward and Mare in back. Aura double wielded her whips to lash the hovering monster into submission, and Mare’s magic steadily racked up damage.

  “Yeah, I figured this would be no problem for them…”

  The battle may have been one-sided, but he continued to watch while he went over in his head the other things he had to investigate. He’d already confirmed that magic and some items worked, but there were still other items he wanted to check—most importantly, scrolls, staves, and wands. Objects like these contained magic. Scrolls were single use while staves and wands came with a certain amount of casts.

  Momonga possessed quite a few of these. He was the type that felt using up consumables was a waste. He refused to use the highest-grade recovery potions, even on the final boss. He’d gone beyond cautious to plain stingy, so his inventory had just piled up. In Yggdrasil, they’d been stored in his item box, but where were they now?

  Recalling how he used to open his item box, he stretched his fleshless hand into the air. He felt it slip into something; it was almost like breaking the surface tension of water. He was sure for an onlooker it must have looked like part of his arm had disappeared into the air. Then, as if he were opening a window, he made a broad sliding motion to the side. A window did open, right in the air, and inside were several staves lined up all neat and tidy. This was definitely Yggdrasil’s item box.

  He moved his hand to scroll through what he supposed one could call his “inventory screen.” Scrolls, wands, weapons, armor, decorations, jewels, potions, and other consumables—he had a vast number of magical tools. Momonga’s face broke into a relieved smile. With all this, I should be able to protect myself even if everyone in the Tomb turns against me

  Still absentmindedly keeping his eye on Aura and Mare’s fierce battle, Momonga summarized all the information he’d collected so far.

  Are the NPCs I’ve met programs?

  No. They were beings with consciousness just like humans. It was impossible to capture such subtle emotions with code. He needed to assume that they were no longer programs but had somehow become equivalent to humans.

  And what is this world?

  That was unclear. Considering Yggdrasil’s magic existed, it would be valid to suppose he was inside the game, but taking into account the previous answer, that couldn’t possibly be the case. That said, it was either the game world or some other world, one of the two. Not that either made any sense.

  How should I conduct myself?

  He’d confirmed that he could use his powers as he could in Yggdrasil. So, if all the NPCs and monsters in the Great Tomb of Nazarick were also based on Yggdrasil data, he would have no enemies. The problem would be if there were something not from Yggdrasil, but all he could do was cross that bridge when he came to it. For now, he had to just act with the dignity of a ruler—assuming he could muster such a thing.

  What’s the plan?

  Work to gather information. He didn’t know what this world was, and at the moment, he was like an ignorant tourist. He needed to keep his wits about him and cautiously gather as much information as he could.

  Say this is some other world—should I try to get back to mine?

  Good question. If he’d had any friends, he’d probably try to go back. If his parents were still alive, he’d risk his life to find a way back. If he’d had a family to take care of or a lover…

  But he had none of those things.

  He went to the office, worked, came home, and slept. Up until now, he’d log onto Yggdrasil and keep things ready in case any of his guildmates wanted to come back, but he didn’t even have that anymore. Was there any point in going back to such a world?

  But, if he could get back, then he knew he should put in the effort. One could never have too many options. The world outside the Tomb could very well be hell.

  “Okay, what do I do?” Momonga’s lonely words to himself evaporated into the air.

  4

  The primal fire elemental’s gigantic body disappeared as if melting into the air and the heat that had been thrown around the area rapidly dissipated. Momonga also felt the bond of dominance he’d been vaguely aware of break.

  The primal fire elemental had extraordinary destructive power and stamina, but for Aura, who demonstrated impressive evasive action and had complete immunity to the fire damage that had been hitting everything in the area, it might as well have been target practice.

  Of course, if she had gotten hit, she would have lost a significant portion of her health, but Mare, as a druid, would never let that happen. He used an appropriate mix of buffs and debuffs to support her.

  Their style of fighting was a magnificent division of roles between forward and rear positions. Momonga was struck both by that and by how raw the action had felt—it had been a real fight, not something from a game.

  “Magnificent… You were both…wonderful!”

  The children smiled at his heartfelt words of admiration. “Thank you, Lord Momonga! It’s been a while since we’ve gotten such a workout!”

  The two of them casually wiped the sweat from their faces, but the moment they did, it beaded up again and began to drip down their tan skin.

  Momonga silently opened his item box and took something out for the first time in this world: the Bottomless Pitcher of Water.

  Yggdrasil had systems for eating and thirst, etc., but since Momonga was undead, none of them applied to him, so he had never used the item himself. He’d been using it for his mounts.

  The pitcher was made out of a transparent material that seemed like glass and was filled to the brim with fresh water. Perhaps due to how cold the water was, countless droplets had condensed on the outside of the container. Next, he took out two clean glasses, filled them, and offered them to the twins. “Aura, Mare, please drink this.”

  “What? We couldn’t possibly, Lord Momonga.”

  “Y-yeah, we don’t need to trouble you for that. I can make water with my magic.”

  Aura waved her hands in polite refusal, and Mare shook his head quickly back and forth. Seeing them like that made Momonga wince.

  “Oh, c’mon, it’s water. Just a small token of my thanks for all your hard work.”

  “Ahhh…”

  “Ohhh…”

  Aura and Mare, blushing, nervously reached out their hands to take the glasses.

  “Th-thank you, Lord Momonga!”

  “I can’t believe you’re pouring drinks for us!”

  Does it really make you that happy?

  This time Aura didn’t refuse, but took the glass in both hands and gulped it down. The movements of her throat were clearly visible, and water that overflowed from the corners of her lips ran down her lustrous neck and disappeared into her chest. Mare, meanwhile, held the cup in one hand and took measured sips. The difference in their personalities was made abruptly apparent just from the way they drank.

  Watching them, Momonga brought a hand to his own throat. It felt like there was a membrane stretched directly over his cervical spine.

  He hadn’t felt thirsty since entering this body. Or tired. He understood that it was only natural for an undead to not feel any of those things, but the idea of not being human anymore seemed like it had to be a joke.

  He felt around his body some more. Skin, flesh, blood vessels, nerves, organs. He was missing all manner of things; he had a body made solely of bone. He’d known that, but now he groped around so it would sink in.

  His sense of touch was slightly dull compared to when he was human, almost like there was a thin cloth between him and anything he went to touch. Meanwhile, his other senses performed outstandingly. His hearing and vision were extremely sharp.

  Since his body was built entirely of bones, it seemed like it could break at any moment, but he also had the sense that each bone was more solid than steel.r />
  Although this body was completely different from his old one, there was a strange satisfaction and sense of fulfillment knowing it was his. Perhaps that was why he wasn’t frightened by his transformation.

  “Want another glass?” He held up the Bottomless Pitcher and offered once the children had finished their water.

  “Umm, nope! That was enough for me!”

  “I see. Mare, how about you?”

  “Oh! U-um, I-I’m okay. M-my throat’s not dry anymore.”

  Momonga nodded, took the glasses back, and put them away into the air.

  “I thought you were more scary, Lord Momonga,” Aura said softly.

  “Oh, really? I can be scarier if you like…”

  “No, I like you better like this! Way better!”

  “Then I’ll stay like this.” Aura’s animated response had thrown him off a bit.

  “Y-you’re not this nice only to us, are you?”

  Momonga didn’t know how to respond to her quiet murmurs, so he just patted her on the head several times.

  “Eh-heh-heh-heh…” She was like a puppy presented with its favorite food. Mare looked on jealously. Suddenly they heard a voice.

  “Oh? Am I the first?” It sounded younger than one might expect from the tone. At the same time, a shadow spread across the ground, rose up out of it, and took on the shape of a door. Then, someone walked slowly through.

  Her whole body was wrapped in a soft-looking raven-black ball gown with a full, wide skirt. She covered up on top with a bolero cardigan featuring frills and ribbons. Add to all that her fingerless lace gloves and almost all her skin was hidden from view. Only her shapely face—unparalleled was the right word to describe it—was visible, its almost waxy white skin exposed. Her long silver hair was gathered to one side and up so not a strand of it fell in her face. Her crimson eyes had a weirdly jubilant look in them.

  She was fourteen or possibly younger. There was still some child in her, and her beauty was borne of that mix of cuteness and adult attractiveness. One thing that was out of balance, however, was how big her chest was for her age.