Just as he was about to take his fourth step, an arc of silver brilliance cleaved his body in two. The bisected left and right halves of his body collapsed in opposite directions. A sour stench filled the air as his pink internal organs spilled out.
"GUWOOOOOOOOOOHHH!" the blood-covered Death Knight roared as it swung its sword.
It was a roar of joy.
The look of delight was unmistakeable, even on its rotted face. As an overwhelmingly superior slaughterer, it savored the despair and terror of the pitiful humans who could not even survive a single one of its blows.
Nobody dared attack, though they had swords in hand.
At first, they had tried an attack, though they were afraid. But even those blades which had made it past their foe's defense could not strike a telling blow through the Death Knight's armor.
In contrast, the Death Knight did not use its sword, but sent Londes flying with a shield bash, and it did so without using enough force to kill.
It was clearly toying with them, given the way it did not use its full strength. It was plain to see that the Death Knight wanted to enjoy the dying struggles of these humans.
The Death Knight only dealt fatal blows in earnest when the knights tried to escape.
The first knight to run was Ririk. He was a nice guy but a bad drunk. His limbs were chopped off, followed by his head.
After seeing the two deaths, the other knights knew the score, so they did not dare to flee.
Their attacks were ineffective, and they would be killed if they tried to run.
The only thing they could do was wait their turn to be tortured to death.
Although there was no way to see their faces below the full helms they wore, everyone present was keenly aware of their fate. The wails of grown men reduced to children echoed throughout the village. These men who had always oppressed the weak had not thought that one day, they would be on the receiving end of that treatment.
"Oh god, please save me…"
"Oh god…"
After hearing these cries for salvation, the strength left Londes's legs and he almost fell to his knees. He loudly cursed the gods — or was it a prayer to them?
"You, you lot, go hold that monster back!" a desperate knight shouted. He knew that his fate was sealed. His words sounded like an off-key psalm.
The man who spoke was standing next to the Death Knight. The way he was stumbling back on his tiptoes to back away from the corpse of his comrade was quite comical.
Londes frowned as he looked on that man in his pathetic state. It was hard to tell who had spoken those words because their closed helmets covered their faces and their voices were distorted by fear. Still, he knew that only one man would speak like that.
…Captain Belius.
Londes's frown deepened.
Overcome by his lewd desires, he had tried to rape a village girl and then sought help from others after he got into a fight with her father. After he was pulled off the other man, he vented his anger by stabbing the father with his sword. That was the kind of man he was. However, his family was quite wealthy in their country, and he had joined this unit because of his family's riches.
Everything had gone wrong because he had been made their leader.
"I'm not someone who should die here! All of you, hurry up and protect me! Be my shields!"
Nobody moved. He might have been appointed their leader, but he was not popular at all. Nobody would throw their lives away for a man like this.
However, the Death Knight responded to his shouting, and it slowly turned to face Belius.
"Aiiiiiieeeeee—!"
The only thing praiseworthy about him was that he could make so much noise while standing in front of the Death Knight.
Just as Londes began to respect this odd quality of Belius's, he heard the man shriek in terror:
"Money, I'll give you money! Two hundred gold pieces!! No, five hundred gold pieces!!!"
Those were considerable amounts he was talking about. However, right now, it was like telling them that he would pay them to jump off a five hundred meter cliff.
Although nobody responded, one person — no, half a person moved as though in reply to him.
"Uboooooarrr…"
The right half of the bisected corpse gripped Belius's ankles firmly. The bloody gargling from its mouth hardly sounded like words.
"—Ogyaaaaaahhhhh!!!!" Belius screamed in an unnaturally high-pitched voice. The onlooking knights and villagers were frozen in fear, their skin covered in goosebumps.
Squire Zombies.
In YGGDRASIL, creatures killed by the Death Knight would become undead of comparable power, haunting the place where they were killed. According to the game's rules, those damned souls who fell to the Death Knight's blade would become its slaves for all eternity.
Belius stopped screaming, and fell like a puppet whose strings had been cut, facing the sky. He must have passed out. The Death Knight drew closer to the defenseless man and stabbed its wavy-blade flamberge down.
Belius's body twitched, and—
"Gu-Guwaaaaaaargh!"
Woken by the incredible pain, Belius screamed, "Leh, leh me guh!!!!! Ah beggehg yeh!!!!!! Ah duh anythuh!!!!!!!"
Using both hands, Belius desperately grabbed the flamberge that had already penetrated his body, but the Death Knight paid his futile struggles no heed and worked the flamberge like a saw. His flesh and armor were cruelly torn open, and fresh blood flew everywhere.
"—Aah—eeeh—ah gib ya munni, leh, leh meh guh—"
Belius's body shuddered, and then he breathed his last. Only then was the Death Knight satisfied, and it stepped away from Belius's corpse.
"No… no… please, no…"
"Oh god!"
Their screams came from seeing the ghastly sight before them. If they ran, they would die swiftly, but if they stayed, they would die horribly. They knew that perfectly well, but still, they could not bring themselves to move.
"—Get a grip!"
Londes's shout tore through their wailing. The world was filled with silence, as though time was standing still.
"—Fall back! Sound the horn for the horsemen and archers to come here! The rest of you, do your best to buy some time for the hornblower! I'd rather not die like that, if you don't mind! Now move!"
Everyone moved in an instant.
There was no sign of their earlier panic. Everyone moved in silent unison, like a raging waterfall.
Their mechanical obedience to their orders without thinking created a miracle. There was no way they could move so immaculately again.
The knights each did what they were supposed to do. They had to protect the knight who would blow the horn and signal the others.
One of the soldiers who had taken several steps back lowered his sword and withdrew his horn from his bag.
"OOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The Death Knight charged, as though reacting to the horn being taken out. Everyone was shocked. Could it be that the Death Knight wanted to destroy their means of escape so he could kill them to the last man?
The flood of darkness drew closer and closer, and everyone knew that stepping forward to try and stop it was certain death. However, the knights still climbed over each other to block the Death Knight one after the other. Their fear was wiped away by an even greater fear and they surged forward to become obstacles.
Every time its shield moved, a knight was smashed through the air.
Every time its blade flashed, a knight was cut in two.
"Dezun! Morett! Behead the fallen! Hurry, before they come back as monsters!"
The named knights hurriedly ran toward their murdered comrades.
The shield swung, and a knight was thrown into the air. His body was bisected by the flamberge.
Four men had lost their lives in the blink of an eye. Though Londes was still gripped with fear, he readied his sword against the coming of the jet-black storm, like a martyr preparing to give his life for his faith.
"Ohhhh!"
It might have been a meaningless gesture, but Londes did not intend to wait for death. Giving voice to a battlecry, he swung his sword with all his strength at the oncoming Death Knight.
Perhaps it was because of his circumstances, but Londes's muscles broke their limit and surprised him. It might have been the best blow Londes had ever struck in his life.
The Death Knight swung its flamberge as well.
In an instant, the world before Londes spun—
And he saw his decapitated corpse collapse to the ground, as his sword swung through thin air.
Just then, at that moment, the horn rang out—
♦ ♦ ♦
Momonga — Ainz raised his head as the sound of the horn reached him from the direction of the village.
The area around him was covered with the corpses of the knights who had been standing guard here. The stink of blood hung heavy in the air, but Ainz paid it no heed as he ran his experiments. Just then, he chided himself for getting his priorities wrong.
Ainz cast down the sword in his hand. The sword which had originally belonged to a knight fell to the ground, its gleaming, razor-sharp edge now stained with dirt.
"…Well, I've said it before, but this physical damage reduction is quite something."
"Ainz Ooal Gown-sama."
"…Ainz will do, Albedo."
Ainz's request to be called by a truncated version of his name threw Albedo into confusion.
"Ku, kufu! Am, am I really allowed to do that? Would it not be disrespectful to shorten the name of the leader of the Forty One Supreme Beings, especially if it is also the name of Nazarick's rulers!?"
Ainz did not think that it was a big deal. However, her words meant that she respected the name of Ainz Ooal Gown, which pleased Ainz. Therefore, his reply was phrased in a gentle tone:
"It's fine, Albedo. Until my former comrades arrive, that is my name. I permit you to shorten it."
"I understand… no, but please let me address you with the appropriate respect. Then, then… my master, Ai-Ainz-sama… kukuku… yes, that's right…"
Albedo twisted her body shyly.
However, since she was in full body armor, Ainz could not see her beautiful face. To him, she was just acting strangely.
"Could, could it be… kukuku… could it be that I'm the only one who's allowed to address you in such a way?"
"No. Having someone address me by such a long name all the time would be annoying, so I would like to have everyone do the same thing."
"…Is that so… ah, that's right. Yes, that's what I thought—"
Albedo's mood turned gloomy all of a sudden. In an uneasy voice, Ainz asked:
"…Albedo, what do you think of the name I chose?"
"I think that name suits you very well. It fits my beloved — cough, cough — it fits you, in your capacity as the one who united the Supreme Beings."
"…This name was intended to represent the forty one of us, and this includes your maker, Tabula Smaragdina-san. However, I ignored the feelings of your master and the others, and took that name for myself on a whim. How do you think they would feel about that?"
"…Although I fear to anger you… I pray you will allow me to speak. If my words displease you, then I will gladly take my own life if you command it. I feel that some of the Supreme Beings who abandoned us might object to that name being used by the one who stayed with us until now, Momonga-sama. However, they are not here, so if you wish to use that name, all I feel is happiness, Momonga-sama ."
Albedo lowered her head after she finished speaking, and Ainz remained silent.
The phrase "abandoned us" swirled in his mind like a vortex.
His past companions had left him for their own reasons. YGGDRASIL was just a game, and they could not abandon their real lives for a game. Momonga felt the same way too. Yet could it really be said that he — who had been fixated on Ainz Ooal Gown and the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick — had not been suppressing his anger toward his former comrades?
They abandoned me.
"…That might be so, but it might not be. Human emotions are a complicated matter, and there is no right answer. Raise your head, Albedo. I understand your feelings. All right, it's decided… this shall be my name. Until my comrades object, I shall be Ainz Ooal Gown."
"Understood. The thought that our most exalted master… and the man I love most would bear this glorious name fills me with joy."
The man I love most… ah.
The uneasy Ainz decided not to worry about this for now.
"…Is that so? I'm glad to hear that."
"Then, Ainz-sama, would you like to spend some time here? Although I would be happy to stand by Ainz-sama's side, I… right, a stroll through the woods would be fine too."
He could not do that. Ainz had come to save this village.
The parents that his sisters had asked him to save were already dead.
As he thought of their corpses, he scratched his head.
The sight of their bodies reminded him of a dead insect by the roadside. There was no pity, no sadness, no anger.
"Hm, well, a stroll might be all right. After all, there is nothing of importance to do. The Death Knight seems quite happy to do his job."
"As expected of an undead being that Ainz-sama made. His marvellous execution of his duties is truly praiseworthy."
The undead made by Ainz's magic and his skills were stronger than ordinary monsters of their kind due to Ainz's class skills. Naturally the same applied to the Death Knight he had just created. However, it was only a level thirty five monster, and it was nothing in comparison to the monsters which required XP to create, like Overlord Wiseman and Grim Reaper Thanatos.
The fact that it was still fighting until now meant that the enemies were weak.
In other words, there was no danger.
He wanted to jump for joy when he thought about it, but he had to okay the role of the dignified master, so Ainz quashed that thought. However, he clenched his fists tightly, under his robe.
"The enemies who attacked the village were too weak. Then, let us go check on the survivors."
Before Momonga set out, he realised that he had some things to do first.
To begin with, he deactivated the special effects of the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown. The malevolent aura which wreathed it vanished like a candle flame in the wind.
Next, he withdrew a full-face mask from his inventory. It was gaudily decorated, and its expression was hard to describe, being somewhere between crying and anger. It resembled a Balinese barong mask.
The mask looked creepy, but it had no special powers. It was a simple cosmetic item which did not contain a trace of data.
Only those who were logged onto YGGDRASIL for more than two hours, between seven pm and ten pm on Christmas Eve, would possess this mask — no, as long as they were in the game during that period of time, they would automatically receive it. It could be called a cursed item.
This mask was known as the Mask of the Jealous, or the Jealous Mask.
Once, when he wore this mask, he was flooded by messages. "Has the company gone mad? We've been waiting for this. Nobody in our guild has it, can I PK him? I'm done with being a human being~" and other such things in a certain large message board.
Then, he took out a pair of gloves. Their rough exterior betrayed the fact that they were crudely made and had no special properties.
These gloves were called Jarngreipr, and they were an armor item made by one of Ainz Ooal Gown's members for fun. Their only ability was to increase the wearer's strength.
He used these items to hide his skeletal appearance.
Naturally, there was a reason for this emergency camouflage. It was because Ainz realised he had made a fatal mistake.
Ainz was used to YGGDRASIL, and looking like a skeleton did not frighten him. However, to the people of this world, Ainz's appearance was synonymous with terror. Both the sisters who had nearly lost their lives and the fully armored knights were afraid of him.
For the time being, he would use magic items to change his appearance from a "dreadful monster" to "menacing magic caster." That ought to reduce how frightening he appeared. Then he thought about the Staff. In the end, he decided to keep it with him. Besides, it was not a problem for him.
"Rather than beg your god for aid, you should not have massacred these people in the first place."
With that line which only an atheist could come up with, Ainz looked away from the corpse, whose fingers were folded into a gesture of prayer, and cast a spell.
"「Fly」."
Ainz floated lightly into the sky, Albedo soon followed him shortly afterwards.
"『Death Knight, if there are any surviving knights, leave them alive. They are useful to me.』"
The Death Knight sent its acknowledgement of Ainz's will back through the mental link they shared. It was difficult to put the distant Death Knight's thoughts into words.
Ainz flew toward the place from whence the horn blast had come, as quickly as he could. The wind lashed at his body, because he had never flown this fast before in YGGDRASIL. The robe plastered to his body felt a little uncomfortable, but that passed swiftly.
He soon reached the sky above the village, and Ainz looked down on the landscape beneath him.
Ainz discovered that part of the village square was darkened, as though it had absorbed water. There were many corpses and a few trembling knights, as well as the Death Knight.
Ainz counted the panting knights, who were too tired even to move. There were four of them in total. Though there were more than he expected, a few extra would not be a problem.
"Death Knight. That will be all for now."
His words seemed strangely incongruous with the surroundings, like he were buying something at a store. But to Ainz, this situation was as casual as going shopping.
He slowly descended to the ground, accompanied by Albedo.
The false knights stared at Ainz with mouths agape. They had been hoping for a rescue, but what had come was the man responsible for everything, and his arrival shattered their hopes.
"Greetings, gentlemen. My name is Ainz Ooal Gown."
Nobody answered.
"If you throw down your arms, I can guarantee your lives. Of course, if you would rather fight—"
One sword was cast to the ground. It was shortly followed by the other swords being thrown down until there were four blades on the ground.
Nobody spoke during this time.
"…You seem quite tired. Although, don't you think your heads are held a bit too high before the master of the Death Knight?"
The knights immediately prostrated themselves before him without a single sound.
They did not look like vassals before their lord so much as convicts awaiting execution.
"…I will permit you to leave with your lives. In exchange, tell your master — your owner — this."
Ainz used the effects of the 「Fly」 spell to move near one of the knights, and then he removed his helmet with the hand that was not holding the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown. He noted the man's exhausted eyes, and their gazes met through the mask.
"Do not make trouble around here. If you make a disturbance here, I will slay you with the rest of your country."
The trembling knight nodded as hard as he could. His frantic gesture looked quite comical.
"Get lost. And make sure to relay this to your master."
He jerked his chin, and the knights fled like rabbits.
"…Ah, this act is tiring," Momonga quietly grumbled as he watched the knights run away.
If there were no villagers around, he might even have stretched his shoulders. Although he was doing the same thing in the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick, playing the role of a dignified person was very tiring for an average salaryman like Ainz. Yet, until the curtains closed on this act of his, he had to wear yet another mask.
Ainz resisted the urge to sigh and walked toward the villagers. Albedo followed behind him, her every step accompanied by the clanking of metal.
"『—Clear up your zombie slaves』," Ainz ordered the Death Knight.
As Ainz drew closer to them, he could more clearly see the confusion and unease on the villagers' faces.
It was not that they were not happy at being rescued from the knights, but frightened by the person before them.
Ainz finally realised this. He was powerful, much more so than those knights, so he did not consider this situation from a weak person's point of view.
He decided to reflect on this, and pondered it quietly.
If he went too close to them, the outcome would be the opposite of what he was hoping for. Therefore, Ainz decided to stop at a distance from them, and spoke in a kindly tone.
"You have been saved. Be at ease."
"You, you are…"
One of the villagers was saying that, but even in the middle of speaking to Ainz, his eyes never left the Death Knight.
"I saw someone attacking this village, so I came here to help."
"Ohh…"
As the noises spilled out, looks of relief dawned on the faces of the villagers. Even so, they could not be completely at ease.
What a pain. Should I try a different approach?
Ainz decided to handle this in a way he did not like much.
"…That said, this was not for free. I expect a reward commensurate with the number of villagers whom I saved."
The villagers looked at each other. It would seem that they were worried about money. However, their doubtful looks faded away. This crass demand for money in exchange for salvation seemed to have allayed their suspicions somewhat.
"With, with the village in its present state…"
Ainz raised his hand to silence the other man before continuing.
"We'll discuss that later. I rescued a pair of sisters before I came here. I will go bring them over now. Can you wait here for me?"
He had to make sure those sisters did not talk and give away his true identity.
Without waiting for them to reply, Ainz slowly headed off. At the same time, he thought about using magic to alter memories.