For much of the last several years of his life, Yggdrasil had been his home. The world Suzuki Satoru resided in was what could hardly be considered anything better than a hell hole. The sight of the sun was a privilege only a few got, and acid rain grew to be more common than conventional rain. Overall, it was one step away from becoming a wasteland.
Some had it better than others, those that were rich and powerful, residing in grand homes in nice communities, eating food that was at least of decent standard. Overall, only a small percentage got basic lives and could expect to live past their 40s or 50s.
Every day Satoru slaved away as a salaryman, living through a world as bleak and gray as the acidic sky above. Yggdrasil, however, was different. Yggdrasil was a DMMO-RPG, an RPG which utilized dive technology to create a fully immersive experience. Known for its excessive freedom that it gave to players which other RPGs at the time didn’t, it quickly grew in popularity. At its peak it was by far the most popular DMMO-RPG.
In this fantasy world, Satoru, taking on the name Momonga, could live out a world which he enjoyed far more. Through the many friends he made and the guild ‘Ainz Ooal Gown’ they formed, he found enjoyment in his life.
But now it was all going away.
He couldn’t blame his friends for leaving, the guild Ainz Ooal Gown had required its members to be functioning members of society along with being inhuman. Most of them had jobs, and in a world like what was outside, it was essential to keep said jobs. To be honest, he wasn’t even sure how many were still alive. Out there, one bad day could leave you with a plethora of diseases. It only took one wrong step for you to be gone in an instant. Given some of his fellow guildmates, working themselves to death was also a possibility.
Of the 42 members of Ainz Ooal Gown, 37 had officially quit. Leaving only five technically active. Of these five, three would hardly log on at all, none having logged in the last year at least, though most had been inactive as the others. This left only two, himself and one of the original nine members of the guild’s predecessor, Nine’s Own Goal, Rimuru Tempest.
Rimuru, to an extent, seemed to share a similar sense of sentimentality and nostalgia about the guild base, and for the past two years it had been them alone maintaining it. After a while, with his bank account fully capable of keeping the guild running for a good bit, Rimuru shifted his focus towards expanding aspects of the guild base while Momonga focused on maintaining upkeep costs.
The Great Tomb of Nazarick was already one of the grandest dungeons in all of Yggdrasil, the combined efforts of 42 members working around the clock when they could to make it as grand as possible. In Rimuru’s eyes, and to lesser extent Momonga’s own, it felt wrong to leave the tomb’s expansion in a state of stagnation, only focusing on keeping it up.
What Rimuru had managed to accomplish all on his own in just a few years was rather impressive, many new NPCs and an entire new town within the sixth floor. While there was some concern about ‘ruining’ the nature there, the plans Rimuru enacted were made long before with the floor’s original creator who liked the concept of a village living in unison with nature.
Momonga now sat patiently in the guild’s meeting room. 42 chairs placed around a circular table. 42 chairs for 42 members, and not a single one of them filled. He had hoped that someone, anyone, would log in today, at least for a short while. He had sent emails out to everyone he had contact with, and while some responded, many did not. Most responses were either vague or were outright refusals due to various reasons. He hadn’t sent an email to Rimuru, as they had spoken fairly frequently when they were online at the same time.
For a few minutes, however, Momonga worried that he too may not show. His worries were quickly proven wrong as he saw a notification appear on his UI, informing him that his friend had logged on to join him in the end.
Looking up from the notification, he saw Rimuru’s round blue body bouncing up in a wave at him. His ability to control his slime body’s expressions were limited, but the emoticon above his head showed a happy face in greeting.
It was times like these when Momonga was glad facial expressions didn’t show, as Rimuru would’ve likely seen how desperate and depressed he was before someone logged in. Raising his hand and projecting a similar smiling emoticon he spoke, “Rimuru, I’m glad you could log in today!”
Rimuru took his human form, the one form he was in most often as it was the most adapted to his playstyle as well as the one he had much more control over in Yggdrasil. “Yeah, sorry about my activity lately, work has been getting busier. Frankly I should’ve gone straight to sleep as soon as I got home, but there was no way I was just gonna leave you here alone. Who’s gonna save you if a large raid comes through?”
Momonga shook his head, “I have a feeling Nazarick will be fine. Nobody’s conquered it yet.”
Rimuru sighed, folding his arms, “I was hoping we could use Veldora again, but it seems nobody was bold enough to try. At least nobody who was capable of making it that far.”
“If they did make it that far, the costs to restore the NPCs and traps of the upper levels would be astronomical… The amount of grinding we would probably need to fulfill it.”
“Have you SEEN your bank account, Momonga? You’re pretty stacked, all things considered, I feel like we could afford a few 1500 man raids at that rate.”
The ‘Veldora’ Rimuru was talking about was Nazarick’s trump card. While most considered Rubedo to be the strongest NPC in Nazarick, the truth of the matter was that it was almost certainly Veldora.
Veldora was a True Dragon, boss monsters that transcended even World Enemies in terms of strength. True Dragons were less intended to be actual bosses to be defeated and more intended to be forces of nature to be avoided.
In the entire history of the game, only one True Dragon was ever actually killed. Ironically that dragon was the strongest one entity in the game. It took a coalition of 2000 players all working together to take down the boss. In the end, only about 200 players were left alive. Among the guilds in the coalition was the then newly formed Ainz Ooal Gown.
When the True Dragon, Veldnava, was defeated, the players were given loot based on their contribution. Rimuru, by sheer luck and chance happened to land a final hit on the dragon, obtaining a World Item in the process. The World Item was called the ‘True Dragon Core’ and allowed for two functions. The first was to create a True Dragon wherever he desired to go on a rampage, and the other was to create a True Dragon as an NPC. Both had their positives and negatives. Making it go on a rampage could easily allow it to destroy an enemy guild or perhaps an entire realm, however it was then left out of control. Making it an NPC made it weaker and made it useless in anything but defending a guild base, but ultimately it was deemed worth it. Since the item was a one-time use, the decision came after much debate.
With Rimuru having contributed a good amount (and having dealt the final blow), when loot was given, Rimuru had also been given the ‘Seed of Disaster’, a special item which allowed someone to gain the World Disaster Class. This was how the class first appeared, though from then on it was only obtainable through usurping it. It was believed that the other True Dragons may unlock other new classes (or open up the possibility for more World Disasters), however no other coalition proved large enough to take down another True Dragon.
While the other member of Ainz Ooal Gown who obtained it, Ulbert, used it to unlock the class, Rimuru kept it and decided to use it on an NPC should their upcoming raid on a newfound dungeon prove successful. Ultimately it did, and Rimuru used that seed (along with the other materials) to create the 8th Floor Guardian Milim Nava. The Core meanwhile was utilized to create a True Dragon, the Storm Dragon ‘Veldora Tempest’, which Rimuru granted his in-game last name to. In truth, with how much carnage Rimuru caused not only to Nazarick, but also to Yggdrasil itself, he very much earned his title of ‘Chaos Creator’.
Momonga, after a few moments, finally came back to his senses, having drifted off into reminiscing about the past, now focusing again on the present. He silently stood up from his chair, looking around as if hoping someone else had logged in, only to sigh mentally and continue, “There isn’t much time left, how about one last walk through Nazarick, for old time’s sake.”
Rimuru seemed to look through his UI for a brief moment before nodding, “We seem to have a bit of time, why not?”
Momonga nodded and turned around, walking away from the table before standing before the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown. The staff was an intricate golden design, appearing like several snakes twirling around each other, powerful magical orbs in each of their mouths. The amount of effort that went into its creation was astronomical, especially considering the fact it never once left its spot in this room.
Holding out his hand, the staff flew into it as he equipped it, looking down towards the staff and the ominous aura it emitted. He made a small smile, though it didn’t show on his skeletal face, “This is a testament to our guild. It should be with us in the final moments. You don’t think anyone would mind, do you?”
Rimuru shook his head, “I dont think they’re in much position to complain.”
Momonga sighed, “I suppose you’re right.”
Silently he began to walk through the halls of Nazarick, having occasional small talk with Rimuru as they gazed at the grand sights their comrades had made together with them. For the most part, the memories spoke for themselves, the two walking in silence aside from the occasional joke or comment made about something.
For Momonga, this was just what he needed. He had spent much of that day in quiet resentment, partially enraged at the thought of his comrades so easily abandoning their home. In truth, he knew deep down that he couldn’t blame them. His anger was unfounded, made out of frustration rather than genuine feelings. His time now with Rimuru, albeit brief, had helped him look at the end much more calmly. He was still sad to see it all go, but there was no longer resentment there, no longer anger at his old friends, only a warm nostalgic feeling that lingered in his heart.
Quietly the two walked up to the throne room, their final destination as the clock neared ever closer to midnight. The servers would be shutting down soon, and they wanted to spend their last moments at the center of it all.
As they walked by a sight caught their eye, numerous maids dressed in armored dresses, each of them made out of various metals and magically-enhanced gear. Opening the UI Momonga was told that they were called the ‘Pleiades’ as the memories came back to him.
Rimuru, though not expressing anything through the game, sounded shocked, “I almost forgot about these guys! Nobody ever made it this far, so they were never much use.”
Momonga simply shook his head, “They never were really intended to. They were mostly meant to hold off invaders while we gathered all of Ainz Ooal Gown for one final stand in the throne room. That was never needed, fortunately enough. Though, it would be a shame for them to have just spent their entire time just standing here. I believe the command was ‘Follow.’”
As commanded, the maids followed Momonga as he entered the throne room, walking down the grand red carpet as he neared the throne. The Throne room was easily one of the grandest sights in the entire tomb, truly fitting of a King. Hanging from the walls were numerous banners, each representing a different member of the 42 which made up the guild. Momonga’s symbol resembled a skull while Rimuru’s was mostly a recreation of his slime body with two dragons around him. Rimuru had a sort of reputation with dragons after creating two of the most powerful NPCs in the tomb, both with a draconic theme to them.
As they reached the throne, he turned to the maids, looking down at them before speaking, “The command was ‘Stand By’ correct?” As commanded, the maids immediately turned, walking to the side of the carpet before standing neatly.
After confirming their location, he sat down on the throne. Looking up to his right, he saw a bustling beauty dressed in a white dress with majestic black wings, silky black hair, and white curled horns forming a sort of halo around her head. She, as he remembered, was Albedo, overseer of the Floor Guardian NPCs. Momonga suddenly felt a wave of annoyance in seeing a World Item in her hands. Assuming it was simply the doing of her creator, Tabula, he decided to respect it and leave it be for now.
Meanwhile, with no other place to sit, Rimuru took his slime form and rested on the armrest of the throne, looking over at Albedo as Ainz decided to open up her settings, “Hm… Let's see what we got here.”
Rimuru perked up slightly, leaning to get a better view of Momonga’s UI, “Ooh you’re looking through her settings are you? I hope you’re ready for-”
“A wall of text?” Momonga interrupted, sliding through Albedo’s settings page only to see the wall of text he just described.
“I’m not sure what else you expected from Tabula-san.”
Momonga scrolled all the way to the bottom, reading the final line out loud silently, “By the way… she’s a… Bitch?!”
He was shocked at the last word, sounding surprised as Rimuru bounced over to get a good look, slouching down with a sigh, “Yep, definitely Tabula-san’s creation.”
Momonga looked down at the settings, turning to his Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown in his other hand as he tapped it against the floor in contemplation, “I shouldn’t but…” He leaned the staff in closer, activating administrator privileges as he deleted the final line.
“Oooooh, Momonga’s messing with the setiiiings.” Rimuru said, sounding like a teasing child.
Momonga turned his head to the slime, “It’s as you said, it's not like they’re in much of a position to complain.”
Rimuru shook his slime body which doubled as his head, “I suppose, but what are you gonna put in its place?”
“Do I really need to put anything?”
“It wouldn’t hurt, put something funny!”
Momonga pushed the keyboard over to Rimuru. Normally he would have to transfer the tool over, however with the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, he could just give anyone administrator privileges for a brief while if he wanted.
With a smirk on his non-existent face, Rimuru quickly typed up ‘She is deeply in love with Momonga’
Momonga looked at what he wrote with a blank expression. While he couldn’t change his face in the game, his silence spoke a thousand words as Rimuru burst out laughing, Momonga turning to him before saying “Well if that’s how you want to play…”
Momonga turned the keyboard back towards him, adding in another line that said ‘She finds Rimuru absolutely adorable.’
Momonga made a mental smirk as he saw the slime deflate, Rimuru muttering “Yeah, I suppose I deserve that.”
Momonga swiped the UI away before turning to look outwards towards the throne room, noticing the clock nearing midnight.
“You know, I get that it's taboo, but out of curiosity, what is your IRL name, Rimuru?”
“My name? Oh it's Satoru.” The slime responded.
“What a strange coincidence, so is mine.”
“Well I think you have a magnificent name, Satoru, the best, even.”
“I believe the same of your name, Satoru, truly the greatest name I have heard.”
The two enjoyed one final laugh before they looked out into the distance. With a heavy heart, Momonga spoke what could be his last words to his friend, the only one left after all this time, “It has been fun, Rimuru.”
Rimuru looked on as well, Momonga only imagining what may be going on in his head as he nodded, “It has, Momonga, Thank you.”
“Thank you, as well.”
[23:59:55]
[23:59:56]
[23:59:57]
[23:59:58]
[23:59:59]
[24:00:00]
The server’s still up? Jeez, the least the devs could do is at least make the shutdown happen on time. It's sort of ruining the sentimental moment. I opened my eyes and looked around the throne room, moving my round, blue ball of a body around to look at it all. It was the same as before, obviously, but there was something off, something missing.
After a moment I noticed it; the UI was gone. I didn’t think much of it, this was the first time the servers were fully shutting down in years. The last time the servers shut down was for maintenance a few years back, and even then I’m sure they weren’t entirely shut down, just restricted to the devs and GMs. If there were a few visual bugs with the shutdown, nobody would notice since there would be no prior tests.
I sighed mentally as I waited on the throne for the server to inevitably shut down and for me to be forced out of the game. Strangely, after a few moments nothing seemed to be happening, and after a bit of mental examination, I realized I couldn’t find the GM call or console either. Even the force shutdown wasn’t available.
None of this should be possible, sure the GM call or console might be bugged, but the Force Shutdown was hard-coded into the neuromachines that were placed into our bodies to run the console. A mere desire to forcefully shutdown would be enough to activate the process, yet this wasn’t working either. Momonga was still there, too, sitting on the throne as he had been, he wasn’t logged out either, it's likely he tried the same things as I had, so him being on means his force-shutdown wasn’t working either.
After yet another moment, Momonga shot up, staring into the distance in shock. It was impossible to tell expressions through facial expressions in Yggdrasil, especially with races like skeletons, so I had gotten good at telling one’s emotions from their movements. Considering how much time I spent in Ainz Ooal Gown let alone with Momonga, I had much of his behaviors and what emotions they usually expressed memorized.
I wasn’t able to access the console, or call a GM, but perhaps messaging could work. I don’t have the ability to message a GM as few of them actually had known player characters, but I can message Momonga to make sure things were still working and that he was alright.
{“Momonga, are you alright?”}
{“Huh?! Oh, Rimuru, yes I’m fine… What the hell happened? Is your UI gone as well?”}
{“Yes, I assume your force shutdown function isn’t working as well?”}
{“I hadn’t even tested that yet but… No, it doesn’t seem to be working either… What happened?”}
{“No clue, something must be bugging, but if you’re here, it mustn’t be just a client-side thing.”}
“Lord Momonga, is everything alright?” A sudden feminine voice caused the two of them to look to their right in confusion and shock to see the NPC Albedo speaking.
This wasn’t right, there were NPCs that could talk, but none were player-created. The closest exception was certain people who managed to program in AI voices or record their own voice lines for their creations. Such was a complicated process that was ultimately deemed not worth it, even despite the fact Ainz Ooal Gown had a voice actor among their players. For an NPC to be suddenly talking, let alone in voice lines that weren’t pre-set was practically impossible, yet here they were.
Albedo continued to look towards us, looking increasingly worried as neither of usmuttered a response, “Lord Momonga? Lord Rimuru? Is there a problem? Is it something I did? I will-”
Momonga raised his hand, cutting her off, “N-No, Albedo, it is nothing you did. It is… something else.” Momonga’s gaze then turned towards the Pleiades, now kneeling at the side of the throne room carpet. After a brief moment of hesitation, he spoke again, “Sebas, step outside of the Great Tomb of Nazarick and confirm its surroundings. Pleiades step out and guard the ninth floor from possible intruders.”
Each of them nodded and stood, one by one filing out of the throne room as the two players watched.
‘Now they’re taking orders that weren’t established commands. Have the NPCs gained sentience? Is this some sort of test? Was there some sort of locked feature accidentally unlocked in the shutdown? Is this even Yggdrasil anymore?!’
Many questions rushed through my mind as Momonga raised his hand as if he was about to grab something, lowering it almost immediately before raising it again to fake a cough, “Albedo, gather all the Floor Guardians except for the Guardian of the fourth floor to meet with me at the sixth floor in an hour.”
Albedo bowed with a smile, “As you wish, Lord Momonga. Does that also include the Guardian of the eighth floor as well?”
Momonga thought for a moment and shook his head, “Don’t worry about the eighth floor guardian, I will retrieve her. Inform everyone that passage to the eighth floor is forbidden without my express permission, make a temporary passage from the seventh floor to the ninth.”
‘Makes sense, we did fill the eighth floor to the brim with the strongest monsters we could get our hands on. It was the last line of defense, if that floor didn’t stop intruders, then nothing would.’
“As you wish, Lord Momonga.” With another respectful bow, Albedo quickly hurried out of the throne room to fulfill her duties.
With Albedo now having left the throne room, Momonga slouched down slightly in his throne with a sigh, “Just what the hell is happening?”
“Not sure, but it looked like you were about to grab something there weren’t you Momonga?” I teased, slouching down in my slime body, which strangely felt… different.
Momonga’s gaze turned towards me with mild annoyance, “You know what I was going to test. If I could do something reserved for an 18+ game without being instantly banned, then this isn’t Yggdrasil. Of course there are better ways to prove that.”
Momonga looked to his left as he dropped the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, causing it to suddenly begin floating as it did in Yggdrasil. Looking at it, he silently muttered, “Hmm… It works as it did before… Even still… Might seem impossible, but I feel like Yggdrasil might have become real in some strange way. The console and force shutdown are not working, no GM calls, and NPCs are alive… There’s no other explanation. I feel much the same as I did in Yggdrasil with this body, however your body isn’t humanoid at all, it's a slime, does anything feel off to you?”
I began to move around in my slime body. As he suspected, it was all strange. Beforehand there wasn’t much I could do in this body. I could form arms and move those around a bit, I could bounce, I could move, I could do a handful of things, but moving around so freely as I could now was impossible, not due to the laziness of the devs, but because such free movement was only possible on humanoid characters. The game was tied to our mind and nervous system, anything non-humanoid, even if it's as simple as adding another set of limbs, had heavy restrictions on movement as our brains were not physically capable of translating our movements into in-game movements. There were some exceptions, and certain races with multiple limbs could, with a lot of training, move their independent limbs freely at times, but slimes like Rimuru lacked that freedom totally without any limbs.
Now Rimuru could stretch, expand, twist, anything really. It all felt strange to him, foreign. Controlling a slime body like this was a lot more complicated than a human one, though at the same time it completely made sense to him. I bounced up, transforming into my human form again.
‘Good, I still have this. Normally I have to select something in the UI to transform, but now… I’m able to with just a simple thought. I wonder if this works on spells and other abilities and skills.’
Turning again to Momonga, I explained, “Yes, it feels strange. I have a lot more movement now, however I still seem able to transform without the UI. This may apply to spells as well.”
Momonga stood up himself, picking up the staff and planting it on the ground as he nodded, “It would be worth testing, for now we need to see where the loyalties of the NPCs lie. If they aren’t loyal to us, we may need to prepare a way to escape.”
“If Albedo and the Pleiades are any example, they seem loyal, perhaps they’re even following their programming.” I added, looking at Momonga as he stood up, his skeletal face now able to move and make at least some expressions, though it was certainly limited by being a skull.
“Perhaps, but then what happens to the NPCs without any programming in them? I suppose Sebas doesn’t have any code in him and he’s loyal, so maybe all of them are. Still, we should go into the 8th floor with the utmost caution. With the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown we’ll teleport right into Milim’s room, since she’s your creation, what do you think she’ll be like? Will she be loyal?”
I thought for a moment before answering, “If she’s following the NPC settings I established for her, she should be loyal, though she probably won't treat us like Albedo did. She is programmed to see the members of Ainz Ooal Gown as her equals, or at least individuals with only slightly power over her. Despite this, she sees us as her ‘friends’ and would never betray our trust. She may be a bit hesitant to do certain tasks, but she should always be bribable through things as basic as sweets. Even still, she would never do anything to directly harm us and would never willingly oppose us in any significant way.”
Momonga sighed, “That’s an… interesting situation. Hopefully she doesn’t get too out of hand. She’s the strongest Floor Guardian in terms of sheer destructive power, we can’t risk her turning against us. How about the other NPC on the eighth floor, Veldora?”
Veldora was Nazarick's trump card. He wasn’t technically a Floor Guardian, however his title was ‘The Gatekeeper.’ as his role was to be the final boss before you could reach the ninth floor which had basically no defenses outside of the players themselves and the assistance of the Pleiades.
After a bit more thought into the question, remembering the settings I made for Veldora, I responded, “Veldora should be fine. Veldora sees himself as one of the True Dragons who regard themselves as siblings. He sees us players as inferior in strength, yet still as his equals and sworn friends. Even despite this, he sees us as his creators for utilizing the True Dragon Core to create him, and would rather die than oppose us in any significant way. In terms of personality, he’s similar to Milim in that he could be brought into line with threats of pretty mild punishments. Despite his strengths, he will not actually oppose any punishments we force upon him. In the worst case scenario, my Ultimate Skill, [Veldora, Lord of Storms] should make certain that we can keep him under control.”
Momonga thought for a moment and nodded, “If that’s the case, then we’ll unseal him. We want to be absolutely certain that Nazarick is safe since we don’t know what’s changed, we don't even know if resurrection magic works in the same way.”
Veldora was specifically kept sealed unless in dire emergencies. It was mostly done as a contingency plan, in the case of a player getting mad in an argument or something and wanting to leave Ainz Ooal Gown, they didn’t want them to use the Storm Dragon to cause irreparable damage to the dungeon. As such, only two people could unseal the Storm Dragon; myself through my skill, and Momonga through the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown. The [Unlimited Imprisonment] placed on Veldora was the strongest seal in the game, and wouldn’t be broken easily from the outside or inside. The seal itself of course had contingency plans should all of the Floor Guardians be killed and other requirements be met. Even if neither Momonga or myself were online, Veldora would still prevent any entry to the ninth floor.
Momonga, having finished contemplating the plan on the eighth floor, activated the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown and brought himself directly in front of the door to Milim’s chambers. I quickly followed, entering the halls of Milim’s home in the ‘City of the Forgotten Dragon’.
If Tabula had a tendency to make characters with elaborate programming and personalities, I had a tendency to make characters with needlessly long backstories. The City was, in its ‘lore’ that I made, built by a population of Dragonewts who came to worship Milim. The dragonewts were effectively a weaker version of Dragonoids like Milim and Sebas. Despite being a weaker form, most of these Dragonewts, when in a single unit, were quite a powerful foe in of themselves, though individually were some of the weakest NPCs in the eighth floor. Milim herself was designed to be the daughter of Veldnava, the True Dragon I helped to kill, which gave me the materials I used to make her. Though no longer remembering her father, she has grown attached to Ainz Ooal Gown and all of its leaders, as well as to her uncle Veldora who she sees as a fun sparring partner.
As we stood in front of the door, Momonga made a movement with his head, encouraging me to step in first. I stared at him for a few moments with a sigh, ‘She is my creation after all, if anyone could handle her, it’s me.’
Entering her room she quickly took notice, flying over to hug me with a sudden force that, if it weren’t for the fact I have high resistance to physical damage, I probably would’ve taken at least minor damage from it. As she launched she screamed out “Bestie!”
I suddenly placed my foot down into the ground, using my own strength to halt my momentum caused by her suddenly forcing herself into me. Without a doubt, this was the same Milim that I had written into the settings, but… “What’s this ‘bestie’ thing about?”
Milim looked up and finally let go, hovering herself up and back a few feet to the ground, raising her hand with a lifted finger, “Well all of you guys are my friends, but I only have one bestie!” She lowered her hand forward towards me, holding up one finger with a wide smile.
Now with a moment of peace I looked at Milim, realizing the outfit we set as her default and feeling a deep sense of embarrassment. Her default outfit was incredibly skimpy, so much so that it was arguably stretching the limits of what the game probably would’ve allowed. The idea behind it was that the outfit she wore actually sucked for someone of her level, the outfit provided basic resistances and immunities that were needed but not much else. It was meant as a tease for intruders who fought her, to see how little she was defended or strengthened yet how devastating she was.
If the intruders became an actual threat, taking out 25% of her HP, she would swap to an actual optimized outfit, one better min-maxed for her while also adopting a much more serious fighting style. It was designed so that she would be ‘playing’ with the invaders, adding onto the humiliation especially if they lost. If they managed to get her down to 10% hp, her Ultimate Skill [Lord of Wrath: Satanael] would activate [Stampede].
The [Stampede] skill greatly increases power and strength, taking the already near-unstoppable force of nature into an even more unstoppable force of nature. The major downside is that it disregards all programming and basically becomes the equivalent of a basic boss monster in terms of strategy. In the case of players, the players themselves would lose all control over their character while it fights. It would fight with far more power than they had, even gaining more HP, but at the cost of losing strategy and skill, meaning the other player could outsmart it in the right situation.
This skill was ultimately never used, nobody ever managed to get her down that far, though to be fair the one time people made it down to the eighth floor, we just used Veldora prematurely anyway because we felt like he wouldn’t have a chance to be used otherwise.
Nevertheless embarrassed, I sighed, “I’m glad you think that way, but do you perhaps have another outfit to wear? The Floor Guardians are to assemble at the sixth floor, you shouldn’t be wearing something like that to an official gathering.”
Milim pouted, but otherwise seemed excited, “But I use this outfit to play with people! How am I supposed to play with the floor guardians if they know instantly how strong I can be!”
“You will not ‘play’ with the floor guardians! No fighting anyone without permission, we can’t have you killing off loyal servants of Nazarick.”
Milim pouted again, “I wasn’t gonna kill em… just hurt them a bit.”
“No.” I responded.
“But Bestieeee.”
I folded my arms, “If you fight without my permission, I’m grounding you from snacks. I’ll make sure nobody in the tomb will give you any.” If I’m even able to do that.
“Don’t do that! I won’t fight, I promise, bestie!” Milim seemed desperate to keep her snack privileges, proving I was right. Luckily I had also written that she, despite her childish nature, was still very smart, and wouldn’t just be fooled by anyone offering her snacks, so there’s no worry about someone turning her to their side with a bag of chips.
“Good, now do you have anything else to wear?” I asked.
Milim thought for a moment, before using her [Dress Change] skill to swap into far more casual clothing, looking a lot more like some young girl than the actual catastrophe that she was. This outfit was never actually meant to be used, I just thought it would be nice to give her an outfit that made her look like an actual young girl like her body was designed to be.
I looked at the sundress and shook my head, “That might be a bit too casual for a meeting with the other Floor Guardians. I don’t think your battle armor would be good to use now, but how about your old battle outfit?”
Milim nodded and again used her skill to swap into another outfit. This one was more armored than the last two, with long armored boots spanning from her feet to her upper thigh. Her stomach was still mostly exposed, but her waist was fairly armored, though didn’t connect with the long armored boots, leaving instead thin partially-transparent leggings there instead. The upper torso was covered by a similar semi-transparent material, however her small breasts were armored. Her wrists were similarly armored, however her hands only had the same transparent material on them. Her back wore a regal-looking cape with an intricate gold and blue design, with a cape also coming from her waist in front of her, looking more like a banner between her legs with an eight-pointed star at the bottom of it to symbolize her being the eighth floor guardian.
This design was her first combat outfit. It was more or less put together with the materials they had at the time, made as strong as they could with what they had. Eventually it was phased out in favor of her current set which provides far more armor to her upper chest and a bit less to her legs and waist, though covers her up a lot more in general. I briefly questioned why a lot of her outfits were slightly lewd, but then remembered that Peroroncino was among the players which helped me design her.
I mentally sighed as I nodded, “Yes, that should work well. You know how to get to the sixth floor right?”
Milim nodded happily, “Yep!”
“Good, head there. Momonga is going to connect the seventh and the ninth floors together, bypassing the eighth for the safety of Nazarick’s NP- I mean residents. You might be able to teleport here, but just in case…”
{“Momonga, is it alright if we give Milim a Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown?”}
{“Hmm… Seeing as they’re all alive now, and we may be having them doing tasks beyond their own floors, giving the Floor Guardians rings might be in our best interests.}
Momonga pulled a Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown out of his inventory as I turned to let him approach Milim. He leaned down and handed the dragonoid the ring who smiled happily, “Woah! A gift from my bestie and my other second bestie!”
Momonga appeared to be slightly startled, though hid it well as he muttered, “Second… bestie?”
Milim nodded, “Well Rimuru is my bestie, but since all the other Supreme Beings didn’t stay, that means you’re the second bestie!”
Momonga nodded, “I’m glad, then. Oh, don’t wear the ring to the meeting, some of the other floor guardians might get the wrong idea. You can start wearing it afterwards, though.”
“Alrightie Momongi!”
“M-Momongi?” Momonga muttered, confused.
“It's a nickname!”
“I see, it might be best not to use nicknames in official meetings, though.” Momonga responded, leaning back up now that Milim took the ring. “We should be going, now, be at the sixth floor in a bit less than an hour.”
Momonga turned to me, nodding as he teleported away, myself following as we both teleported to the entrance of Veldora’s cave. The cave itself was at the edge of the Eighth Floor. The City of the Forgotten Dragon was built on the edge of a cliff in the eighth floor, requiring invaders to climb up the cliff face, oftentimes while being attacked by more of the floor’s monsters. Once finally at the top, they would see more of the barren wasteland that made up the floor (with the exception of the city and its immediate surroundings which were a bit nicer), it was here that Milim would usually fight them. At the end of this wasteland at the top of the cliff would be a small mountain, half way up it holding the gates to Veldora’s cave.
After opening the large gates, we walked in, beginning to walk through the cave towards where Veldora resided. The cave was meant as a maze of random junk, with a bunch of decently powerful monsters existing within the cave to keep them occupied while they tried to find the exit, preventing them from really having a moment's rest.
Eventually we reached the end, where a glowing orb with a massive, towering dragon rested inside. The dragon leaned down, looking at the two as they approached, letting out a massive, grand laugh, “KYAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU DARE APPROACH ME, THE MIGHTY STORM DRAGON?! I SHALL HAVE YOUR HEADS! KYAHAHAHAHA!”
Momonga was instantly startled, beginning to apply protective spells as I simply stood there, face palming, “Veldora, could you refrain from scaring Momonga?”
The storm dragon dropped his deeper, intimidating voice and laughed again, “Kyahahaha! I got you good, Momonga. So how are you? It has been some time since I last saw you. I haven’t had challengers in a long time so things must be going well.”
‘He’s seen us before? This must mean the NPCs have memories from Yggdrasil, though it doesn’t seem like they’re able to remember or comprehend the part that it was a game and that they weren’t doing nothing. They seem to have memories of us, though.’
“I… Suppose you did…” Momonga muttered, lowering his defenses and being more at ease.
“Everything’s fine Veldora, but something seems to have happened, I don’t suppose you might know?”
‘Considering the fact he was basically among the four true dragons to ever exist, and the fact that true dragons are basically forces of nature in a literal and figurative sense, he might be able to notice something has changed, if anything.
“Now that you mention it… There is something wrong. I can’t quite tell, but things seem off. I no longer sense the presence of my siblings. It's not that they aren’t here anymore, it feels more like they never existed in the first place. Normally I’d be able to at least detect remnants of them if they had just suddenly died, but now I don’t sense them at all.”
“I see, that is worth noting. We have Sebas out examining the world beyond Nazarick. Considering the fact you can't sense any other True Dragons, Nazarick might be in a different world entirely. If that's the case then we can’t afford to have our strongest trump card sealed away.”
Suddenly the barrier around Veldora disappeared as the dragon lowered himself to the ground, briefly turning into a cloud of black smoke as it swirled around and shrank until he fully transformed into a human.
As he was a True Dragon, he was never expected to fight in human form, however he was given one regardless and even given some equipment, though it wasn’t nearly as min-maxed as the Other NPCs in Nazarick. His outfit included baggy brown pants, a brown and red cape, as well as white shoes. His body had tanned skin, a highly toned but not outright bulky body, and blonde hair. Why we decided to make him shirtless, I could not remember, but I believe we found it funny or fitting at the time.
Veldora did a brief stretch as he spoke, “Ah! It's been so long since I was let out. Good to finally move around again. So, what do you need me for?”
I shook my head, “We don’t need you for any specific task, you should be fine to just do what you want until we do. So long as you behave, I won’t seal you back up again. We intend to host a meeting of the Floor Guardians on the sixth floor, you aren’t a floor guardian but we believe you should attend. I assume you know how to get there?”
“That I do! I’ll be there as fast as you can cast that teleportation spell!”
“There’s no need for that, the meeting is in about an hour from now, though more like 50 minutes at this point. Take your time getting there and refrain from destroying anything!”
“Yeah, yeah, I won’t destroy anything… on purpose.”
I sighed, decided that was good enough and turned to Momonga, who nodded and teleported away, myself following, now heading for the sixth floor.
I like this version MUCH better~!♥
This has so much potential.. Why not continue it?
Because I’m focusing on another fic
Está versão é muito melhor adorei
Estou ansioso pelos próximos capítulos