21 Dark Young

time shot by, Dracula began training with Rubedo. which turned out to be a good idea, thanks to the many manga she had read, she had a lot of insight to give Dracula, which they began trying out and quickly began to show progress in Dracula training.

Shalltear was put in confinement for a month after her little actions, she was also awaiting another punishment from Dracula. which left Shalltear depressed. Dracula had also made another wish, a divine-grade item that could boost the XP pained by 1,000 times at the cost of making all damage they take by 1,000 times, plus making them far weaker.

Dracula used this item in training, a necklace he called the Necklace of Wisdom thanks to how much it just opened one mind to learning. with this, 1 hour of training equaled 1,000 hours. or nearly 6 weeks. this was huge as Dracula would quickly learn new things with his busy schedule which was growing by the day. he also threw the necklace into the jar Of Greed, allowing for the amount he had to double after 5 days,

and from there, he took the second one and left it in the jar for another 10 days. giving him a total of 5 jars. he gave two to the twins, another to Ainz, and one to Ninya. lastly, the other he put back in the Jar, such an item was too valuable, the more they had the better. after more was had, he gave one to Nfirea,

things were good and smooth, and Dracula was even looking towards the NPC of Nazarick to start training. the person to suffer being Shalltear, what was impressive was the fact she was growing stronger.

Anyway, 2 months went by, and the Re-Estize Kingdom and Baharuth Empire Annual Wars were about to begin. Annual Wars were a series of yearly border skirmishes between the Re-Estize Kingdom and the Baharuth Empire.

After ascending the throne of the Baharuth Empire, Emperor Jircniv's main goal was to create a great empire that would survive the test of time. To this end, he set out to conquer the neighboring Re-Estize Kingdom.

However, rather than declare all-out war on the Kingdom, the Empire instead chose to engage them in small territorial skirmishes at the Katze Plains every year. These skirmishes mostly followed the same pattern: The Imperial Army would engage the Royal Army, there would be a short scuffle, and then the Imperial Army would retreat. Because of this, the Kingdom's nobles viewed the Annual Wars as nothing more than a "parade."

The Empire's true aim with these skirmishes was to slowly weaken the Kingdom while waiting for an opportunity to conquer them with minimal losses. While the Empire used career soldiers, the Kingdom relied on draftees. Thus, by invading during harvest seasons, farmers would be separated from their fields, causing crop failures that would eventually result in famine. By the time the Kingdom realized this, it had already fallen into decline. Furthermore, many of the Kingdom's nobles failed to realize the true gravity of the situation.

Of course, thanks to Dracula the king now had a tight hold of his kingdom and was already trying his best to fix things. This was one of the main reasons the king was so willing to just give up one city, he wanted time. another year to prepare and get a tighter hold of his kingdom would be for the best.

In this war, for the first time, Blue Roses was taken apart. mainly because Evileye wanted to see Dracula. they were not fighting, but just protecting the king. Renner had told a few people that Dracula was on his way, but there was a chance he might arrive late, so they shouldn't get their hopes up.

"Are you alright Climb?" Gazef asked while looking at the downcast Climb. he was also downcast, just a few months back a rival of his had appeared back in his life and they were just becoming the best of friends, but he suddenly disappeared.

"yeah... I'm just missing Brain." Climb said softly, but that was only part of the truth. lately, he felt like Renner was forcing herself to be that kind and sweet princess she knew. a part of him blamed Dracula, but he knew that was wrong. yet he couldn't help but feel he lost something once Dracula appeared in Renner's life.

"I miss him two..." Gazef said with a sigh, even if Brain had died, they could have brought him back to life. yet not even his body could be gound, he just disappeared like he never existed, as if he was some illusion they all dreamed of.

"what's that?" Gazef said with a frown while looking towards the Imperial Army up ahead, he saw how they were moving weirdly... as if they were scared. how could they not be?

AInz leading his army of undead, all being death knights Soul eaters, just one of such undead was enough to cause huge damage to both sides. but there were 500 of such undead. The Re-Estize Kingdom arrived on the battlefield, bringing in their army comprised of 245,000 soldiers, but honestly... they would all be slaughtered before these 500 undead.

"This is bad, you should retreat," Evileye said while looking up ahead in shock, but she lost her breath once she saw Ainz begin to cast super-tier magic. no one had ever seen such a magic spell being cast, the scene of such was breathtaking. many had the snap out of such a sight, horrified by what could be happening

"that Ainz Ooal Gown...." Gazef said while looking up ahead with a heavy heart. he was already against all of this, and seeing Ainz once more only made the instincts that were telling him this was a bad idea kick in once more

"You were fools for trying to save face before someone whose power rivals Dracula and that demon," Evileve said, she wanted to run but she was far out of range for whatever magic Ainz could be casting... even if she was within range, she could teleport away. she was far stronger thanks to an item Dracula had given her. honestly, the man had so many items he was throwing them around as they were collecting dust.

'there are no players among them, no me playing bait was pointless... I am among to kill thousands, yet all I care for is to see how I could benefit." Ainz said while touching the Necklace of Wisdom, was it foolish to wear such an item here? well, both yes and no. he had a not of items equipped to avoid anything bad happening. plus, Dracula was close by, using the eye of Odin to make sure everything was safe. he was even using scrolls to boost the effect of the eye of Odin.

'would I level up past 100? with how much XP I had back in the game, even if everyone here gives me 1 XP, the necklace would boost that to 1,000 XP... I should level up... I'm about to slaughter many yet I could care less. Have my humanity truly left?' Ainz thought while crushing an hour of class, which sped up the time needed to cast super-tier magic, this item could also be used by Dracula when using Dimensional Slash with a weapon 

'good, Dracula's brain control on their commander to attack and not retreat is working. good thing Dracula thought of the fear of seeing the death night shocking them out of mind control and giving them items to protect their minds from fear.' Ainz thought while looking at Mera who was on the side, wearing two huge gauntlets. 

The left gauntlet is an evil-looking thing that resembles the hand of a demon. It seemed to be made out of some sort of black metal, which was covered in twisted thorns. Its fingertips were sharpened into points, and the dirty radiance surrounding it resembled some sort of strange secretion. Just a single look filled all who saw it with a terror stemming from the depths of their souls.

In contrast, the right gauntlet looked like the pure, immaculate hand of a maiden. It is white and its slender proportions were covered in elaborate gold embroidery, which further emphasized its exquisite beauty. It drew the eye like bees to honey, and just like seeing a world-class beauty, the onlookers felt like they might lose their souls to it.

Avarice and Generosity have the ability to absorb experience points. In that regard, it is capable of storing them for later use whenever the wielder is ready to consume the experience points. the plan was simple, slaughter and collect a good amount of XP so Ainz in the future would have XP to cast Wish Upon The Star or for other reasons.

"Tribute to the Black Bounty!" Ainz said casting the super tier magic, and with that, a black wind blew... spreading death. everyone who was running forward, they all just dropped to the ground, like puppets with their strings cut.

Both the Re-Estize Kingdom and the Baharuth Empire stared in horror at what remained of the 70,000 soldiers who had just dropped dead. such magic... it has never been seen before,

Nimble Arc Dale Anoch is a member of the Four Imperial Knights of the Baharuth Empire. The Empire also requests for Ainz Ooal Gown to cast one of his powerful magic, to determine his power. Nimble was here to both welcome Ainz, and ensure nothing went wrong upon Ainz's Arrival... but he was horrified by the scene that was before him.

it meant something when even your enemies thought something went too far, if Ainz were to remove his mask right now and show he was undead, they would be 170% node in understanding, only a monster could slaughter and feel nothing about this.

"Is there something wrong?" AInz asked calmly, making Nimble jump slightly while letting out an embarrassing sound. but no one mocked him, no... many jumped upon hearing Ainz's words as well.

"No-nothing's wrong. That, that spell just now, it was magnificent." Nimble gave silent thanks that he was still able to speak. More than that, the fact that he could praise Ainz under such circumstances was nothing short of laudable.

 Suddenly, Ainz laughed at that statement. Nimble turned around and apologized, hoping he did not offend him. Ainz corrected Nimble that the event that he watched was only part of the spell. The spell required sacrificial offerings as fuel to complete it. Now that it was done, the real spell was about to start, much to Nimble's growing fear... no, he was not the only one who was growing fearful. be it the trained war horses or the shoulders, all of them were scared.

"what's that in the sky," Tai said in shock and horror, at her words, everyone turned their head into the sky. Up at the clouds, a black sphere appeared above the corpses of the left wing. It slowly touched onto the ground and began spreading out like a black sea consuming all of the bodies. it was a scene out of nightmares...

When it was done, taking its place were eldritch abominations that looked like black masses with elephant-like legs, human-like teeth, and dozens of tentacles covered over their bodies. Ainz revealed to his allies that they were called Dark Young and he was surprised that he had summoned five of them, an achievement surpassing the one that had summoned two.

"What?! 5" Dracula who was watching this scene jumped in shock, this was a new record when others could only summon 2 or 1, 5 was a never-before-scene feat. truly, a new record that Ainz could be proud of...

"damn, should I try and make my record? then again, Ainz just killed 70,000 with a spell. thats in itself is a new record. what record should I aim for? most heads are cut with a sword. how about most dark youngs destroyed with one attack?" Dracula thought, leaving Albedo speechless.

"My lord, we are on the same side," Albedo said, not wanting the man she loved Joy to be destroyed so soon. I looked at her for a moment, before shrugging while sitting back. Albedo held a world item, and so did it. we couldn't be risking things now, could we? My original 3 world items were in a cool-down time, and after some tests, we found they couldn't help me defend against world items. so I was given another one, a scroll that Aura normally was given during risky moments,

Sighing, Dracula looked at the mirror in front of him. it was absolute chaos as the royal army was on full retreat. the soldiers ran for their lives, but of course, they couldn't outrun the dark young, as the dark young stepped on them, a sickening, disgusting sound was heard.

Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. 

The sounds of humans being crushed to death and turned into chunks of meat went on and on. The Imperial soldiers all watched on, the screams of their enemies being overwhelmed by that disgusting sound

Blue Rose tried to go and face one of the beautiful adorable dark young, but they quickly realized that they couldn't even stand up to such a monster. Lakyus gritted her teeth, and using her sword Kilineiram gendered the power of darkness, and with everything she had, she launched an attack at the Dark Yong, with enough power to that the tentacle shooting towards them was cut... a deep cut, not cut off.

The dark young cried in pain, Lakyus seeing this ordered her team to retreat while she held off the dark young... no, she was planning on drawing all of the dark young towards her, Gazef came rushing forward,

"no, protect the king. I will hold them off." Gazef said, stunning Lakyus, Gazef said nothing, and using the boost of power from the ring Dracula had given the king, his power skyrocketed. he roared while swinging one of the kingdom treasures, Razor Edge, a blade capable of cutting through just about anything towards the dark Young in coming tentless, cutting cleanly through it,

"GO!" Gazef roared, from the very start he had come here with the idea he might lose his life. when he went to personally see if Momon would help them, and he refused while speaking about how foolish they were, he understood they were in for a show... and oh boy was the show unforgettable 

"No, I will hold them off with you Gazef," Lakyus said while standing next to Gazef, but the Dark Young which they were facing suddenly ignored them, running off to hunt for more humans. Gazef and Blue Roses were stunned by the sight, but they quickly noticed another dark young heading their way... and on top was an undead.

"So he was undead..." Evileye said, uneasy overwhelming her, she wanted to flee, she wanted to run... but that wouldn't make her worthy of being Dracula's lover. yes, as his woman, she had to stand to fall and buy him time.

"Gazef Stronoff, you look well since the last time we met," Ainz said while standing on a tentacle of the dark young, which lowered him onto the ground.

"It's been well Sir Ainz Ooal Gown... I now understand Dracula's words, when he spoke of you." Gazef said softly, making Blue Roses remember Dracula's worlds.

"Oh? Dracula is at it again, running around with humans. it seems like the fact he was once human draws him toward humans... but I'm curious, what did that fool say?" Ainz asked, making Gazef smile slightly, it seemed like Dracula and Ainz had a unique connection

"Don't you dare call him a fool!" Evileye said in rage, leaving Ainz stunned for a moment. he looked at Evileye, causing the members of Blue ROses to go on guard

"'That bag of bones is up and walking? damn... that sucks for you.' those are the words he spoke." Gazef said, making Ainz rub his skull for a moment, annoyance that although couldn't be seen on his flashless head, they felt it.

"Why are you doing this? I didn't get the feeling of you being so cruel back then. I'm sure." Gazef said to which Ainz went quiet for a moment.

"I have awakened for a reason, Jaldabaoth is just the first person to appear. there would be more, even demonic than him. I blame myself honestly, if I hadn't gone into my sleep, and remained the supreme overlord of this world, the 6 gods, or the 8 greedy kings would have done so much trouble to my land." Ainz said while looking towards the sky

"I was not always undead, I was once also human. but I turned myself into undead to maintain my rule... well, Jaidabaoth would have never appeared, and the evil that would soon befall this world would not have followed." AInz said making Gazef stunned for a moment,

"Gazef, join me. a warrior as skilled as yourself, I could train you and make you a warrior who would one day rival even Dracula. Dracula was not always so strong, back then he was hunted by humans after he was turned into a vampire. I saved him and under my perfect, he went on to become the king of all vampires. I need a King of Humans... since I can't take that rule anymore." Ainz said making everyone's hearts drop, was Dracula under Ainz's rule?

"Haha, no need to misunderstand. Dracula isn't under my rule, but in a battle, he isn't my match." Ainz said, feeling slightly embarrassed to say such a lie. Good thing his face remained the same

"I plan to rule this world once more, as undead, I fear I might have lost touch with my human side. so to be the king I was once, I plan to have kings for each race. Gazef, your heart has won me over. becoming my subordinate, and all that would be yours... plus." Ainz said while snapping his finger, which should have been impossible since it was all bones.

but everyone looked around and found that the dark young had all stopped moving as if someone had stopped time. they all froze in their footsteps, not even losing balance,

"you stop them... so easily at that?" Gazef and Blue Roses were in shock, to which Ainz just nodded as if this was nothing

"thats right, but only for a moment. your answer you pant the future of the order I will give these children." Ainz said Gazef looked all around him for a moment... and after a moment, he closed his eyes while in deep thought.

"My loyalty... is to my kingdom. I'm the sword of the kingdom. I owe my king too much," Gazef said making Ainz frown on his nonexistences face

"You're a man who sacrificed himself to save Carna village, yet right now when the opportunity to save so many lives you do this? what a shame," Ainz said before his nonexisting eyebrow raised seeing Gazef point his sword toward him

"Gown-dono. As one who has benefited from your kindness, I wish to apologize for this disrespectful act… I wish to request a one-on-one duel with you." Gazef said, looking straight into Ainz's eyes, Lakyus's eyes widened upon hearing this. she wanted to join Gazef in this battle, but Ainz's next action caused her and everyone else to freeze

"..." Ainz was about to speak when he slowly looked into the sky, far away, Gazef and Blue Roses looked, and saw ripples appearing in the sky. followed by a huge shock wave that spread out, while 2 huge vampire bats appeared out of space as if it was the sea.

a blinding speed, the dragons flew, pulling a carriage. the dragons flew towards Ainz, Ainz didn't even bother to move and simply watched as the dragons slowly came to a stop in front of him. Driving the carriage was a Vampire King, his aura sending chills down Blue Roses and Gazef spines. after all, this was a level 100 monster Dracula summoned,

normally, summons had a time limit. but one could increase the time for this using special items, or even skills. Dracula had used an item that allowed a summon to remain in this world for as long as one feeds the summon the MP needed for it to remain in this world

"My lord, we have arrived." the Vampire King said respectfully, slowly Dracul wearing his world-class gear,

"Bones, it's been ages," Dracula said with a smile, Evileyes almost let out a girly scream seeing Dracula arrive. but feeling the air, she didn't say a thing and just watched as the Vampire Lord and the Lord Of Death met.

"Dracula, the name is Ainz Ooal Gown," Ainz said annoyed, but Dracula ignored him while looking around, and seeing the Dark Young he sighed.

"the dark young... isn't your undead and large enough show of power? isn't this overkill?" Dracula asked his smile disappearing.

"do you want to help them?" Ainz asked, a dangerous look flashing through his eyes, to which Dracula shook his head.

"I came here to act as the middleman. I'm sure this is more than enough for the empire to give you more than half of its land. let's talk peace, you, me, and the king." Dracula said with a smile, Ainz nonexisting eyes narrowed slightly before he laughed

"to think the brat I saved all those years ago has grown... this was enough slaughter, but you and I both know why I do this," AInz said while looking at Dracula who nodded with a serious look.

"I'm in full support, but let's try a peaceful means. Your actions would only make you the enemy of the living. You're undead, the main reason you went into your sleep is that you lost interest in protecting this world. the very world you turned yourself into undead to ensure its protection." Dracula said making Ainz go quiet

"You are correct... I might have gone overboard." Ainz said while looking around, he sighed softly before nodding at Dracula's words.

"then let's have our meeting," Ainz said softly, remembering Dracula's worlds. A world where a fist thats thrown isn't a perfect war. Now that he thought of it, there were many better ways to go about this thing... but the war needed to know his might.