The Undead King

by Kugane Maruyama

  “Teleportation is restricted in Nazarick for a reason! Don’t just go using a gate! You entered the arena the normal way, so couldn’t you have just kept walking, Shalltear?” An exasperated voice sounded right next to Momonga. The icy tone had nothing of the puppyishness of just a moment ago. On the contrary, it was full to overflowing with hostility.

  Next to Aura, Mare began trembling again. It was probably wise of him to be inching away from his sister. Even Momonga was a bit alarmed by the sudden change in her.

  The girl, Shalltear, who had arrived using the highest level of teleportation magic, cast not so much as a glance at Aura, but stood squirming a bit before Momonga. She smelled pleasantly like perfume.

  “You reek,” Aura muttered softly, adding that maybe her undead body rotting was to blame.

  Perhaps because she had caught Momonga instinctively lifting his arm to check if he smelled, a dark blue vein stood up on Shalltear’s forehead.

  “Oh, come now, you can’t say that—Lord Momonga is undead, too…”

  “Huh?! What are you talking about? Lord Momonga’s not regular undead. Pretty sure he’s like ‘super undead’ or ‘godly undead’ or something.”

  Hearing Shalltear and Mare express their satisfaction with such an explanation (“Oh…,” “Right…”), Momonga felt somewhat insignificant. I don’t know what it’s like here, but at least in Yggdrasil I was just plain undead… More to the point, “super undead” and “godly undead” didn’t exist.

  “S-still, what you said was kinda bad.”

  “Y-you think so? Okay, then, take two. Ahem… ‘Maybe it’s ’cause of your rotting dead flesh.’”

  “I… Yes, I suppose that will do.” Accepting Aura’s second take, Shalltear slipped her arms around Momonga’s neck to embrace him.

  “Ahh, my master, the sole being I cannot conquer.” Her wet tongue showed itself between her parted red lips. It moved over them as if it were its own separate animal. From her open mouth came sweet-smelling breath.

  All of this would have been extremely becoming of a bewitchingly beautiful adult, but at her age, something was off. The awkward mismatch was even a bit endearing. In the first place, she wasn’t tall enough, so instead of embracing him, it just seemed like she was trying to hang from his neck.

  Despite all that, Momonga was unaccustomed to attention from women and was plenty bewitched. He nearly took a step backward but made up his mind to stand still.

  Was her personality always like this? He couldn’t get the question out of his mind. But since the one who wrote her backstory was Peroroncino, it was entirely possible that this was just how she was. That guy loved porn games more than anything and had even adopted “Porn games are my life!” as his personal catchphrase. And that good-for-nothing had written the bio of Shalltear Bloodfallen. She was the guardian of levels one through three and a true vampire, as well as a little girl who’d been given a pile of X-rated video game character traits.

  “I think that’s enough…”

  Shalltear responded to the low, hard voice and sneered at Aura. “Oh, hello, squirt. I didn’t see you there.”

  Momonga didn’t feel like bothering to point out that they’d just been talking a moment ago.

  Ignoring Aura and her twitching, irritated expression, Shalltear addressed Mare. “It must be hard for you to have such an odd elder sister. You should get some distance from her as soon as possible. If you don’t, you might end up the same way!”

  Mare’s face went sickly pale—he knew she was using him to pick a fight with his sister.

  But Aura smiled. “Shut up, Miss Fake Boobs.”

  She’d dropped a bomb.

  “How’d you know?!”

  “Ooh, she broke character,” Momonga said to himself. There was no sign of her forced elegant cool.

  “One glance is enough to tell! Look how bizarrely poofy they are. How many layers of padding did you use?”

  “Wahhh! Wahhh!” Shalltear flailed her hands as if to erase the words out of the air. Now she looked her age.

  Meanwhile, Aura had an evil grin on her face. “If you use that much padding…I bet they must shift around when you run, huh?!”

  “Yeek!” Shalltear emitted a strange scream now that she was caught.

  “Bull’s-eye! Neh-heh-heh! Your boobs slip, so that’s why you used a gate—so you could get here in a hurry without having to run!”

  “Shut it, pip-squeak! You don’t have any! I at least have a litt—I mean, I’m pretty big!” Shalltear frantically fired back, but Aura only grinned even more evilly. Shalltear took a step back as if she’d been shoved. The fact that she was trying to inconspicuously shield her chest was kind of sad.

  “I’m still only seventy-six! I’ve got plenty of time ahead of me! It must be tough being undead with no future. You don’t grow!”

  “Ugh,” Shalltear groaned and retreated farther. She had no comeback for that, and it showed plainly on her face. Aura noted this and stretched her slit-like grin even farther.

  “You should be satisfied with what you got—pft!”

  “Now that you said it you can’t take it back!”

  Shalltear’s gloved hands began to exude a shimmering black haze. Aura had her whips ready to intercept. Before the two of them stood a flustered Mare. Momonga felt like he was watching a scene from the past and couldn’t decide whether to stop them or not.

  Peroroncino, who had created Shalltear, and BubblingTeapot, who had created Aura and Mare, were brother and sister. They used to have good-natured squabbles sometimes, like this. Momonga almost felt he could see the shadows of his former guildmates fighting behind the two NPCs.

  “WHAT A RACKET.” Momonga was basking in reminiscences of his old guildmates when the hard, twisted voice of something not human speaking human words stopped Aura and Shalltear’s quarrel short.

  Standing in the direction from which the voice came (who knew how long he’d been there) was a grotesque throwing a chill into the air. He looked like a seven-foot-tall bipedal insect. If there were such a thing as a combination of an utterly demonic mantis and an ant, it’d probably look like this. From his sturdy tail that was double his height and the rest of his body sprouted countless icicle-like spikes. His horizontally closing lower jaws were surely powerful enough to sever a human arm with no trouble.

  Two of his arms carried a silver halberd and the other two held a horrifying yet excellently made mace giving off a sinister black aura and a broadsword so warped it seemed impossible for it to ever be sheathed.

  He was wrapped in a chill that sparkled like diamond dust and his light blue exoskeleton was like armor. His back and shoulders bulged like icebergs.

  This was the guardian of the fifth level, “Sovereign of the Frozen River,” Cocytus. He struck the ground with the blade of his halberd and the earth around it slowly froze.

  “YOU AMUSE YOURSELVES TOO MUCH BEFORE A SUPREME BEING.”

  “She’s being disrespectful to—”

  “I’m just telling the truth—”

  “Arrrrgh…”

  Mare panicked as Shalltear and Aura glared at each other again, eyes fearsomely flashing. Momonga was over it all by now and warned them both in a voice he made deep on purpose, “Shalltear, Aura, that’s enough playing around for now.”

  Both of them jumped and then hung their heads in unison. “I’m sorry!”

  He nodded to generously accept their apology and then turned to the newly arrived figure. “Thanks for coming, Cocytus.”

  “I COME IMMEDIATELY WHEN YOU CALL, SUPREME ONE.”

  White breath escaped from between Cocytus’s mandibles and in response came a cracking noise as if the moisture in the air were freezing solid. It was a cold on par with the heat of the primal fire elemental. Just being near him was enough to cause all sorts of low-temperature status effects and physical damage, but Momonga didn’t feel a thing. Though really, there was no one in the room who didn’t have some way to resist fire, chill, and acid attacks.


  “Have you been bored with no raiders these days?”

  “THERE CERTAINLY HASN’T BEEN MUCH GOING ON…” His mandibles clicked. It sounded like the threatening clicks of an angry hornet, but Momonga chose to think he must be laughing.

  “BUT THAT SAID, I HAVE THINGS TO DO, SO I CAN’T SAY I’VE BEEN BORED.”

  “Oh! ‘Things to do’? Do you mind telling me what?”

  “TRAINING SO THAT I MAY BE OF USE TO YOU AT ANY TIME.”

  Cocytus, not that it was apparent from the way he looked, was a warrior, both personality-wise and by design. Of those in the Great Tomb of Nazarick who used weapons, he had the highest attack power.

  “To be of use to me? Thanks.”

  “HEARING THAT SINGLE WORD MAKES IT ALL WORTH IT. OH, IT SEEMS DEMIURGE AND ALBEDO HAVE ARRIVED.”

  Following Cocytus’s line of sight, Momonga saw two shadows near the entrance of the arena. Albedo was in front. A man followed behind her as if in attendance. When they’d gotten closer, Albedo smiled and bowed deeply to Momonga. The man also gave an elegant bow before speaking. “Sorry to keep you all waiting.”

  He was about six feet tall with skin the shade of a suntan. He had Asian features and his jet-black hair was slicked back. The eyes behind his round glasses were not so much slivers as closed. He wore a three-piece suit with a necktie and had the air of a shrewd businessman or lawyer.

  Even though he presented himself as a gentleman, he couldn’t hide his evil nature. Behind him stretched a silver-plated tail with six spines on the tip. This man, scattering dark flickering flames, was “Creator of the Inferno”—Demiurge. He was the demon who commanded NPC defense operations and the guardian of the seventh level.

  “This is everyone, then.”

  “Lord Momonga, it seems we’re still missing two.” It was a voice that wormed its way into hearts and drew one in with its richness. All Demiurge’s words came with a passive skill called Incantation of Influence. It was a power that caused the weakhearted who heard him to instantly become his puppets. That said, no one in the room was affected. It only worked on targets of level 40 and below, so all those present merely heard it as a particularly luscious voice and nothing more.

  “Their presence isn’t necessary. They’ve both been assigned to prioritize other tasks. We don’t need to interrupt them for this.”

  “If that’s all right, then…”

  “IT SEEMS MY COMRADE IS NOT HERE, EITHER…”

  Aura and Shalltear stopped short. Even Albedo’s smile froze.

  “He’s…only a guard for one part of one of my floors…”

  “Y-yeah…”

  Shalltear forced a smile and Aura chimed in while Albedo nodded.

  “Ahh, the Prince of Fear? Well, we should probably notify the domain guardians as well. Please pass the information along to Crimson, Grant, and the others. I’ll leave it up to each floor guardian.”

  There were two types of guardians in the Great Tomb of Nazarick. One was the type that all those before Momonga now were, floor guardians who were each in charge of one or more levels. The other was domain guardians who guarded part of a level. Put simply, domain guardians worked under the floor guardians to protect one section of a level. Since there were so many of them, they were somewhat underappreciated, and in Nazarick the word guardian generally indicated a floor guardian.

  Once everyone had indicated their understanding of Momonga’s order, Albedo spoke. “Now, then, let us perform the ritual of allegiance.”

  The guardians all nodded, and before Momonga could get a word in, they’d arranged themselves with Albedo in front and the other guardians lined up behind her. Their expressions were all stiffly ceremonious. Any hint of a jokey atmosphere had vanished.

  Shalltear, at the end of the line, took a step forward. “Guardian of the First, Second, and Third Levels, Shalltear Bloodfallen. I bow before you, O Supreme One.” She dropped to one knee and put a hand over her chest, bowing her head low. After Shalltear, Cocytus stepped forward.

  “GUARDIAN OF THE FIFTH LEVEL, COCYTUS. I BOW BEFORE YOU, O SUPREME ONE.”

  He took the same humble posture as Shalltear and bowed to Momonga. Next, the two dark elves stepped forward.

  “Guardian of the Sixth Level, Aura Bella Fiora. I bow before you, O Supreme One.”

  “G-Guardian of the same, Mare Bello Fiore. I b-bow before you, O Supreme One.”

  As expected, they also got down on one knee and bowed their heads low. Shalltear, Cocytus, Aura, Mare. They were built differently, so there should have been some discrepancy in the size of their steps, but their kneeling positions formed a straight line.

  Then Demiurge took a graceful step forward. “Guardian of the Seventh Level, Demiurge. I bow before you, O Supreme One.” Though his tone was cool, he made an extremely heartfelt bow without breaking his elegant demeanor. Finally, Albedo stepped forward.

  “Captain of the floor guardians, Albedo. I bow before you, O Supreme One.” Smiling faintly at Momonga, she kneeled in the manner of the other guardians. But for Albedo, that wasn’t the end. With her head bowed, she made her voice carry and gave her last report. “Excepting Guardian of the Fourth Level, Gargantua, and Guardian of the Eighth Level, Victim, the floor guardians have gathered to prostrate ourselves before you… Your orders, O Supreme One! We offer our complete devotion to you.”

  Being faced with their six bowed heads was practically enough to make his gulp audible despite a lack of anything to gulp with. The air was tense. Or maybe it was only Momonga who felt on edge.

  I don’t know what to do… Normal people probably never experience something like this even once in their lives.

  In the confusion, he accidentally activated some of his skills and emitted an aura throughout the area. A halo appeared behind him. Without even the composure to cancel them, he frantically fought to remember everything he’d seen in movies or on TV to get an idea of how to conduct himself.

  “Raise your heads.” All of their heads rose together in so crisp a motion that he practically expected to hear a whoosh. It was so simultaneous that he wondered if they’d been practicing.

  “Well, then… For starters, I appreciate you all gathering here.”

  “Please save your appreciation. We offer you not only our devotion, but our very selves. It is most natural that we should heed your call.”

  None of the other guardians tried to cut in. As captain, Albedo was truly their unified voice.

  Seeing all their earnest expressions turned his way, Momonga felt a lump in the throat he didn’t even have. The pressure to behave like a ruler was weighing him down.

  But that wasn’t all. His orders would determine their future. He started to feel indecisive. The worry that the Great Tomb of Nazarick might collapse due to a decision he made flitted across his mind.

  “Lord Momonga, you seem irresolute. That is only natural. You must wonder whether it is even worth accepting our help.” Her smile had vanished and a determined look tensed her features. “However, if you honor us with your orders, we the floor guardians will suffer any trials to carry them out with all our bodies and souls. We vow to serve in such a way as will bring no shame upon our Creators, the Forty-One Supreme Beings of Ainz Ooal Gown.”

  “We vow it!” The other floor guardians echoed Albedo in chorus. Their voices were filled with an unstoppable power—their loyalty was like a priceless diamond sneering at Momonga for worrying they might betray him.

  It was as if the darkness before his eyes had vanished in the morning light, and a shiver went through him. He realized how wonderful the NPCs his guildmates had made really were. The radiance of Ainz Ooal Gown’s glory days was here now. He was so happy to have the fruit of his guildmates’ labor with him that his dignified expression broke. Of course, there were no major changes to his bony face, but the beautiful red spark in his eyes burned more brightly.

  With no trace of his former anxiety, Momonga spoke smoothly, like the guild master he was. “Wonderful, guardians. It is my fi
rm belief as of this moment that you can understand my aims and are capable of accomplishing them without error.” He surveyed their faces once more. “Now, then, there may be some points that are unclear, but I want you to listen carefully. It appears the Great Tomb of Nazarick has unexpectedly become involved in some sort of situation, and it’s unclear how it happened.”

  The floor guardians’ serious expressions didn’t flinch.

  “The cause is unclear, but we know for sure that the Tomb has been teleported out of the swamps and into a grassy plain. Is there anyone who saw any signs this might happen?”

  Albedo gazed over her shoulder at the faces of each floor guardian. After reading their expressions, she said, “No, my apologies, but no one had any idea this would happen.”

  “Then I’d next like to hear from each floor guardian. Did anything strange happen on your levels recently?”

  Now they spoke up individually for the first time.

  “Nothing strange happened in the seventh level.”

  “Nor in the sixth.”

  “L-like my sister said.”

  “THE SAME GOES FOR FIVE.”

  “Nothing strange happened in the first, second, or third levels.”

  “Lord Momonga, I would like to investigate the fourth and eighth levels immediately.”

  “Very well, I’ll leave that up to you, Albedo, but take care in the eighth level. If something happened there, it’s possible you may not be able to deal with it.”

  After Albedo deeply bowed in acknowledgment, Shalltear spoke.

  “Then I’ll investigate the surface.”

  “Oh, I already sent Sebas out to explore the surface.”

  Albedo had been there when he’d given the order, so she wasn’t surprised, but the others couldn’t hold their shock back from appearing on their faces.

  The Great Tomb of Nazarick had four NPCs with superior melee combat skills. Cocytus had the highest attack power when armed. Clad in heavy armor, Albedo had no equal when it came to guarding. Sebas was the best in a pure fight, and when he showed his true form, his total combat ability probably outstripped the previous two. Then, there was one who outstripped all three of them.