18 First Steps

Ch. 11: First Steps

On each side of the umbral hall, the shadowed silhouettes of humanoids and demihumans sat upon their knees in silence. They watched as a masked female figure strode through the center of the hall towards the wooden dais at the far end of the room, where an ancient-looking elf sat upon a simple wooden chair. She knelt before him, lowering her head in wait.

The old elf's long silver hair and beard ruffled as he rose from his seat, his emerald eyes twinkling with a timeless authority as he stared into the black mask of the kneeling woman.

"I do not know from whence you came. I do not know what life you once led. I cannot offer you those memories of old, but a new identity at the forefront of our grand design awaits-if you choose to accept. "

He spoke in a calm and measured tone, yet each word exuded a regal force that resonated across the room for all to hear with utter clarity.

"For decades you have served this faction in secrecy; you have aided in our expansion and ascension as our greatest weapon. The council has made their decision, and with my authority as the Head of this Coalition, I hereby finalize the decree for your rebirth into the light."

"The day of the tournament draws close. Your debut will symbolize our might, and in one crushing victory the power of our Coalition's most guarded secret will be unveiled to the world. A storm shall fall upon the splintered lands of Karnassus, and with it we shall sweep away those who would stand before our promise of unity."

"Do you accept?"

The woman took off her mask, revealing a stunning face white as snow, and eyes of a mesmerizing pure black. Her ponytailed hair swished gracefully as she tilted her head to look the elf in the eyes. The observing council on both sides of the room could feel their hair stand on end as she began to speak, as if her very voice carried the invisible crackle of electricity.

"I live to serve."

The elf stroked his long beard, nodding in satisfaction. "Very well. From henceforth, you shall embark upon a new life as Champion of our cause."

"As for your new name…."

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Two crimson lights flickered like twin candle flames in the darkness of a small cave. Ainz Ooal Gown brooded in solitude as he reflected upon his sudden and inexplicable turn of fate.

It had been an hour since his "return," and in that short length of time he found himself beset by a whirlwind of emotions. Curiosity and concern, elation and relief, anger and worry, and then finally….

Nothing.

Ainz suspected that his five years as a human had reset the gradual emotional suppression he had undergone during his time as the Sorcerer King. Everytime a certain feeling neared a crescendo, his limiter would kick in and calm him down for several seconds, before another emotion overtook him. This repeated in a storm of ups and downs to the point where Ainz now found himself simply too mentally numb to feel anything at all.

And so he was left with naught but his cold, naked thoughts. He reflected upon the facts he had gathered in the short time he'd spent in this renewed existence.

His equipment and inventory seemed to be in the same condition as they were before he was ejected from this world. He unconsciously traced his bony fingers across the surface of the red orb in his abdomen, reassured once again by its presence. The ten rings on his fingers remained intact. However….

The Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown that he had foolishly brought to the final battle against the Slane Theocracy was nowhere to be seen. And yet, the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown remained intact on his finger.

What this implied, he did not know. Ainz dared not use [Gate] to bring himself back to the Great Forest of Tob, lest it be surrounded or under surveillance by hostile forces. With the Staff missing, there was simply no way to know what had happened to the Tomb. The New Worlders were almost certainly not strong enough to breach Nazarick's depths by force, but that did not mean the Tomb would be entirely uncompromised.

Furthermore, the [Message] spell was not going through to any of the Guardians. The spell had seemed to partially connect, especially with the Elf twins and Demiurge, but it always ended up fizzling out right before its activation. Again, Ainz had no idea what this meant. Were they simply in a position where answering was impossible? Or could it be that they were already…

Ainz shook his head, banishing that dreary possibility from his thoughts. Anger and impatience pricked at him once more, but he forced himself to remain vigilant as he considered the rest of what he knew about his circumstances.

He walked towards the mouth of the cave, stepping into the light that shone in from the outside. His full body could now be seen in the afternoon glow, the gold embroidery of his flowing black robes shimmering in the sunlight. The same Overlord that almost brought the world to heel all those years ago bathed in the illumination of the forest.

Now that his turbulent emotions had mostly cleared, Ainz could finally appreciate the beauty of the world that was lost to him.

In the five years he had spent in the hellscape of Earth, the primary thoughts that had dominated his mind were that of Nazarick's fate and the bleak reality of his own dreadful existence.

However, as he stood on the edge of that cave, looking out towards the woods that sang with the vibrance of nature's bloom, he finally let out an enchanted sigh.

Countless invisible shackles shattered around him; the thoughts of survival, conquest and rescue momentarily drifted away, replaced by a soothing tranquility as Ainz basked in his newfound freedom. It was a selfish moment, a moment of absolute self-absorption, but after all these years of suffering, did he not deserve this one moment of reprieve?

Beyond the fact that the surrounding area was a forest, he had no idea where he was or, perhaps more importantly, when he had been transported to. He could not even be sure that this was the same world he had been banished from, although the identical functionality of his spells and equipment he had tested led him to assume that was the case.

The lack of knowledge was a crippling vulnerability, and he needed to obtain information fast. But a part of him-the adventurer and player inside him-embraced the vast stretches of the unknown that sprawled before him.

As the Sorcerer King and the Supreme Being of Nazarick, he toiled endlessly in his efforts at world conquest and governance in an attempt to appease the endless expectations of his followers. During his five years as a human, he was shackled to both physical servitude and the emotions of guilt and worry; in a life that tore away at his heart and soul.

But at long last, he was free. And now, he would embark upon a new adventure.

The Overlord straightened himself, adopting once more the practiced regal stance he thought he would never have the chance to use again. The crimson light in his eyes flared with a powerful conviction, and the doubts and worries in his gaze disappeared.

Throughout the past hour, he had been thinking about things from the wrong perspective. His thoughts had been mired with the monumental concerns of a king; the gnawing worries of a guildmaster. But the purest drive in Ainz's heart was his spirit of exploration and adventure. With paranoia-no, caution as his shield and adventurism as his sword, he would embark upon the path to reclaim all that he had lost.

[Create High Tier Undead: Eyeball Corpse]

A pinkish blob composed of many eyes sewn together emerged from a dark fissure on the ground. Countless pupils swirled and darted about as it hovered in the air, awaiting Ainz's command.

Eyeball Corpses were excellent as a form of surveillance. Their extraordinary vision and their ability to project whatever they saw to the user made them useful tools for scouting and observation. They also had the added boon of stealth detection, which made it a valuable asset for preventing ambushes and stealth attacks.

"Scout the area. If you come across any intelligent beings, keep at a distance and observe them from afar."

The Eyeball Corpse bopped up and down once as if emulating a nod, and then floated away to carry out the Overlord's orders.

Ainz retreated back into the cave and sat himself down before casting a spell:

[Undead Slave Sight]

He focused his mind, tapping into the Eyeball Corpse's perception. Based on the angle of the images that now filled his vision, his summon was gliding atop the canopy, gazing down to observe the ground as it made its way around the forest.

A sudden flash of black streaked into the scene in a flurry of fangs and fur. Ainz''s gaze intensified as he recognised it as a Warg-a large wolf-like creature found in forests all over the New World. At this point, he was more or less convinced that the world before him was indeed the world he was banished from five years ago. The question now was a matter of when. How much time had passed since his absence?

Ainz mulled about such thoughts in his mind while the Eyeball Corpse continued on, gliding atop the trees as it made its way around the forest.

After a few more minutes of looking at trees and the occasional mundane wildlife, Ainz finally snapped to attention as a group of four individuals emerged within the Eyeball's Corpse's vision.

At the head of the group was a woman with shoulder-length blond hair and a handsome face. Her violet eyes darted back and forth, as if constantly scanning the environment. Her athletic body was poised into a tense disposition, her right hand hovering over the pommel of the sheathed scimitar on her waist belt; her fingers flexed, ready to draw and strike at a moment's notice.

Behind her was a tiger-beastmen, not unlike some of the Zoastia Ainz had encountered amongst the demi-human alliance in the Abelion Hills. Its gold-orange fur rippled atop a well-muscled physique, and it prowled along with surprising grace and agility for its build. A long, slim feline tail trailed behind the demi-human as it moved, occasionally alternating between a four legged sprawl and a bipedal gait.

Walking alongside the beastman was a male elf draped in an expensive-looking blue robe. An agitated expression hung upon his youthful features, and his eyes skirted about with a fretful anxiety. Gripped perhaps a bit too tightly in his left hand was a staff crafted from fine wood, engraved with an intricate marking on the tip of the wooden rod.

The one that caught Ainz's eye the most, however, was the fourth member of the group. Slinking along at the very back was what seemed to be a black, human-sized praying mantis. Its obsidian carapace reflected no light, and a black-green cloak was draped around its shoulders that trailed all the way to the ground, covering most of its lower body. The raptoriales on its front legs were reinforced with steel, and on its insectoid head was a smooth white mask that covered all but a pair of glittering black eyes.

Ainz brought his hand up, but stopped when he realised there was no longer any skin on his chin for him to scratch.

The five years he had spent on Earth had resulted in him gradually forgetting some of the details he had gathered regarding the New World. However, to his knowledge, there were very few places where such a varied assortment of races could be found working together-at least, in the small part of the New World he was familiar with.

There was always the possibility that he had been whisked away to the far East of the continent, where great beastmen nations were rumored to dominate vast swathes of land. That, or major changes had taken place during his absence in which humans and demihumans began to mend their relations.

As he considered the frightening scope of such potential circumstances, Ainz fought the mounting urge to simply cast [Fly] and soar far above the trees to gaze at the world around him. However, he knew he could not risk letting himself be seen all the way up in the air. It was too risky when he had no information regarding his surroundings.

And so he refocused on the group the Eyeball Corpse was now surveilling. The four individuals seemed to be talking amongst themselves, but his summon did not have ears through which he could hear their conversation.

As Ainz monitored them drawing closer and closer in his direction, he considered his options.

He could cast [Perfect Unknowable], and then follow the group to hear whatever they had to say.

He could engage them and incapacitate them, and then use [Charm Person] or [Dominate] to extract information.

Ainz narrowed his crimson gaze at the four figures through the now squinted eyes of the Eyeball Corpse. None of them seemed to have detected the Eyeball Corpse's presence as it silently glided, out of sight, atop the trees. As the undead summon did not have any strong stealth attributes, this implied that the sensory capabilities of the group were quite weak.

As the Overlord contemplated which actions to take next, the female warrior at the lead stopped suddenly in her tracks to urgently look around. She unsheathed her scimitar to reveal a blade wreathed in a crystal flame, gripping the hilt firmly in both hands as her lips moved to address the rest of the group, presumably telling them to stop.

Her purple eyes finally snapped towards what she had been looking for. Her pupils gleamed like precious discs of violet light as she stared straight in Ainz's direction.

[Cancel Summon]

The Eyeball Corpse vanished at once, and Ainz's mental image of the blonde woman disappeared.

The crimson light in the Overlord's eye sockets flared briefly before dimming back to a normal flicker.

<Interesting…..>

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Solina's gaze remained fixed upon the canopy above, her eyes narrowing in suspicion as the intuition from her [Detect Evil] talent suddenly disappeared.

"What's wrong?" frowned the beastman behind her as it spoke with a gruff voice: "I thought you sensed something?"

"I thought I did as well." she replied, her eyes still fixed on that same spot. "Would you mind checking for me, Vamir? I'd prefer to reserve my mana."

Vamir nodded, lowering himself on all fours like a crouching tiger before propelling himself into the air and latching onto one of the trees with his claws. He climbed up to the very top with ease before looking around the canopy for any sign of unusual movement. Seeing nothing, the tiger beastman climbed halfway down the trunk before leaping back down onto the ground, landing softly on his padded feet.

"Didn't see nothin'." he said as he strode back towards the group.

"Perhaps Lady Mathis detected some sort of flying monster passing through overhead? It wouldn't be the first time..." suggested the elf, just a hint of self-reassurance in his voice.

Solina frowned. While her [Detect Evil] talent did indeed trigger randomly to all sorts of monsters, rarely did it ever elicit a reaction as strong as the one she had experienced just now. However, she couldn't deny Vamir's observations, and the feeling had indeed disappeared.

Solina flicked her flaming scimitar at the air as she reluctantly nodded, cancelling the enchantment she had placed on the blade.

"Let us assume for now that you are correct, Horith." she replied while sheathing her weapon. "We should-"

Solina stopped mid-sentence, her eyes widening in shock. A sickly feeling washed over her as the passive intuition from [Detect Evil] went into overdrive. She forced down the bile rising from her throat as she shifted her gaze in the direction of a sudden presence that caused shivers throughout every fiber of her being. A presence of absolute malevolence.

Emerging from the trees like an unholy statue brought to life was the most terrifying monster she had ever seen. It towered above her group in all its monstrous glory, two eyes of blood-red fire blistering with an endless hatred beneath demonic horns. Black armor covered its body; a color so dark she could hardly tell if it was metal or carapace. Tendrils of thorns wrapped around its body like vines of death, and gripped within each hand was a massive flamberge and tower shield each larger than Solina herself.

The rest of her group laid eyes on the undead monster soon after. Vamir made an audible squeal at the terrifying sight, but readied himself into a combat stance nonetheless. Hothris did not fare quite as well, his legs visibly wobbling as he hugged his staff in an effort to keep himself from crumpling to the ground. As for the last member of the group, Se'zak…

The mantid's shadowy silhouette re-emerged at the side of the monster, his steel-edged raptoriales lashing out towards the undead creature's body. Seeing their comrade already in action, Vamir and Solina sprung into battle as well. A pair of spiked steel knuckles appeared upon the tiger-beastman's fists as he pounced at the monster, while the human woman renewed the enchantment on her blade before rushing into the fray.

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Concealed under [Complete Invisibility], Ainz observed the heated battle several feet from where the Death Knight emerged before the four fighters. It had been a simple task to arrive there quickly through [Greater Teleportation], and as expected: the Death Knight's special ability allowed it to immediately draw the ire and aggression of one of the members of the group upon them seeing its appearance.

Once the giant mantis attacked, the rest were soon to follow…with one exception….

Ainz frowned as he looked at the elf mage cowering at the back. He had assumed that the group of four were adventurers, but it seemed unlikely that such a weak link would exist in a seasoned adventurer group. Ainz considered that he was perhaps the person who submitted the request.

The other three were surprisingly strong, at least for New World standards. The two demihumans were likely around Mithril level, whereas the human looked to be around Orichalcum. Her build fascinated him, an interesting spellblade style of fighting he had yet to see used by anyone else in the New World. He had been under the impression that most New World weapon enchantments were charge-based activations, but her enchantments looked to be activated at will.

Her job classes seem kind of all over the place though…

As he considered the woman's bizarre hybrid of a build, Ainz recalled the experiments he had conducted during his last few years in the New World before his banishment. He had singled out several individuals and had gone about trying to optimize their builds to maximise their specializations. Some of them had allowed themselves to be killed and resurrected for a clean slate to build off of. The most loyal ones had even been granted race change items to offset their human limitations for further growth. He wondered if any of them were still alive.

Ainz observed the battle for a bit longer. The mantis warrior had an interesting way of moving and attacking, using its unique physique to weave in all directions to attack sequentially in many different angles. The beastman fought with a keen ferocity befitting its powerful stature, yet each movement flowed with an impressive cat-like agility. The human's scimitar shifted between a fiery whip and a flaming blade as she launched attack after attack on the Death Knight, occasionally weaving a cast of [Acid Arrow] or [Shockwave] in between melee strikes.

While they seemed to be doing some damage to the Death Knight, their efforts appeared increasingly strained as the sheer power and indomitability of Ainz's undead minion pushed them back harder and harder.

Ainz decided that it was almost time. He walked further into the trees, out of sight of the combatants. He removed the effects of [Complete Invisibility] before using [Create Greater Item] to equip once more the set of Momon of Darkness.

Ainz had decided not to risk [Perfect Warrior] without first knowing more about his surrounding area. Locking himself out of spellcasting would be a fatal mistake if the world he had returned to had transformed into something entirely different without his knowledge. Orichalcum-level individuals were quite rare, and to immediately find one upon returning could imply that the average power level of the current status of the New World was much higher than what he was familiar with.

All sorts of wary conjectures and conspiracies raced through the Dark Hero's mind as he made his way towards the scene of battle, his Necroplasmic Mantle flowing behind him in his powerful stride.

The cowering elven mage was the first to spot him, yelping in surprise as yet another dark figure emerged from the woods into the clearing. The other three seemed not to have noticed him, too busy trying to survive the relentless onslaught of the Death Knight's blows.

Ainz walked into the edge of the Death Knight's line of sight and gave a tiny nod of command.

<Now.>

An aura of intense bloodlust exploded from the undead monstrosity. It unleashed a blood-curdling howl, and with renewed speed and power it pivoted with a newfound dexterity, slamming the tower shield into the attacking beastman and knocking him to the ground.

The great flamberge cleaved straight to meet the path of the mantis warrior's reptoriale attacks, shattering the reinforced steel and causing the appendage to recoil and twist backwards into an abnormal position. The giant mantis released a pained clicking noise with its mandibles as it skirted away.

Finally, the Death Knight's black sabaton lashed out in a shadowy blur, striking the human right in the abdomen. She crashed backwards in pain, dropping her weapon as she hit the dirt. The woman gazed upward as a great shadow fell upon her, her violet eyes reflecting the great black blade of the flamberge descending upon her hapless body.

Suddenly, a black figure almost as large as the Death Knight rammed into the monster and knocked it back. The Dark Hero drew his massive twin swords and launched into a flurry of devastating strikes against the Death Knight, each strike smashing against its armor and shield with enough force to send gales of wind rippling through the forest with each consecutive blow.

The two remained locked in a heated duel for an entire minute, but the black-armored warrior steadily began to gain the upper hand, and the lifeforce of the Death Knight began to wane.

Ainz felt a pang of guilt as his strikes slowly tore apart his own creation. However, he could see the Death Knight's dessicated features crease into an almost jubilant expression as its body crumpled under the force of his attacks. Not for the first time, the Overlord could feel beads of non-existent sweat roll down his skeleton neck as he witnessed yet another example of his servants' disturbing masochism. The Death Knight was finally destroyed after several more seconds, an expression of contentment on its face as its essence scattered into the wind.

Ainz glanced around upon his "victory." The two demi-humans gazed at him with shocked and wary eyes, whereas the elf mage had finally moved from his position to heal the human woman on the ground. Ainz's gaze focused especially on the blonde woman, but she did not seem to react strongly again to his presence.

Ideally, if the woman relied on some sort of sensory talent or ability to detect hostile and evil entities, she would automatically assume that he was not a threat if interaction with him did not trigger her intuition. Throughout the decade he had spent in the New World, Ainz had found that the natives often over-relied on their natural talents, not knowing that they could be easily countered through certain equipment.

There were exceptions, of course, where talents manifested in a way that broke even the standards of Yggdrasil's systems, but those were extremely few and far between.

If such a thing were to happen now, and the woman saw him as what he truly was, he could always just use [Temporal Stasis] on one of them and kill the rest. After that, [Dominate] could be utilised for a more direct form of interrogation on the sole survivor.

As it stood, it seemed that such extra measures would not be necessary. If Ainz did not immediately register as a threat to the woman, perhaps the group would be open to assisting him of their own volition. While [Dominate] and [Charm Person] were useful tools for interrogation, he found that certain valuable details and nuances could often be lost through such one-sided questioning.

Ideally, they could assist somehow in his re-adjustment to whatever circumstances he had been inexplicably transported into. While he wanted answers, establishing some connections and developing a foothold from which to expand his search were also important priorities.

<Gah, but what should I say to them..? Was my timing too random? I've never been good at initiating these->

"Who are you…?"

The giant mantis was the first to address him. Its strange clicking voice was devoid of emotion, and its features were indiscernible behind that smooth white mask. Ainz could not read its emotional profile at all; he wondered if that was how most people felt when they spoke to him.

"I apologise for the sudden intrusion. My name is-"

Ainz hesitated for a brief moment, not quite sure whether to resume his old alias. However, his resolve soon hardened: If any NPCs of Nazarick were still out there, the name would almost certainly draw their attention.

"-Momon. I am a traveller from the Far South."

Ainz silently observed the expression of the four individuals as he uttered the name, but they did not seem to display any visible reaction.

"What was that thing, just now? How did you manage to defeat it so easily?" muttered the human woman in a weak voice as she forced herself back to her feet with the elf's assistance.

Ainz's curiosity deepened as he heard this. There was a time when almost everyone knew what a Death Knight was. It was the face of the Sorcerer Kingdom itself, the signature enforcer of a nation that swept all in its path. Either he was in a country that had been relatively uninvolved during his conquest, or a great amount of time had passed since he last walked these lands.

"The creature just now was an undead being known as the Death Knight. I have been tracking it for years, and have ventured far from my homeland in my quest to slay the dreadful monster."

Further reassured that the woman's ability was unable to penetrate through his anti-divination measures, Ainz settled back into his long ingrained Momon mannerism and routine.

"Would you and your group happen to be a team of adventurers? I admit that I've gotten a bit lost in my travels, and I would be grateful if you would be kind enough to grant me some assistance."

The woman blinked in surprise at his response. "Adventurers? No, we are representatives from the city of Oaknys. Our city Oracle has divined that a dark, unholy presence has emerged somewhere in these woods, and we've been dispatched to investigate. I suppose she was referring to the Death Knight you just saved us from."

"Ah?" Ainz replied, the hint of a crimson glint flashing through his visor.

"I suppose that would be the case."

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