"What!? How can this happen?! The Dragon Lord of Old is dead! Who… Who killed him?! How dare he rob me of my glory! How dare he!"
"W-We don't know who killed him, my Emperor. Some say to have witnessed a magnificent battle on a mountain, and what was left was a gigantic crater where once a mountain stood. B-But isn't it better if he died? Nobody can stand in your way anymore, right, my Emperor?"
Zerboros tried his best to calm the Dragon Emperor. He didn't know what the Emperor would do out of anger. It was very significant to the Dragon Emperors' pride to defeat the Dragon Lord of Old on his own. But now someone else claimed his death.
"Don't you understand! I need the last of the rings, and now some unknown has taken it before I could! Why does nothing work in this forsaken world!" He smashed a column out of anger, crushing some servants with the falling parts of it. Zerboros saw what the Dragon Emperor was doing, but could do nothing against it.
"Please my Emperor. We will find a way to please you."
In his attempt to calm the Dragon Emperor, he had a total of 50 % chance of survival.
"If not, your head will not rest on your body any longer! Now get out of my sight, you False Dragon Lord!"
"Of course, my Emperor."
Zerboros left to not get scolded anymore. He loved life and didn't want to risk it by staying near the Dragon Emperor any longer. The Dragon Emperor looked up at the sky, watching the stars glow in the darkness.
"I will find my way to you, Stars of Heaven. The last of the draconic rings will be mine, and we will finally be united. I, the Dragon Emperor, command it!"
Unknown Place:
Miriel was undercover for the last 25 years, trying not to get any attention. She would train secretly in her small hut how to swing a sword and also be able to do a few magic tricks. She was currently hiding in her hut because a wyvern appeared in front of her house. It seemed injured and would probably attack her if she came out. The wyvern was at least 3 meters tall and had blue feathers instead of scales. Its head was also more similar to a bird than a dragon. Maybe it was a bird-dragon subspecies of wyvern she didn't know about.
-Calm down Miriel. It's just a big bird, nothing serious. It will go away soon, it just made a brief pause in my garden. There is something in its leg. Looks like a spear and it's deep in there.-
The creature was in great pain, screaming for it to end. It seemed the wyvern got attacked by humans.
-I can't just let it be like that, maybe it will leave if I help it.-
Slowly, she opened her door and came outside, making the wyvern focus on her. It wasn't in the best mood as it targeted her with its gaze.
"It's alright, I just want to help you. If you let me help you, the pain will go away, ok?"
The wyvern calmed down and wasn't letting out the sounds from before, which made Miriel believe it would not attack her. She came closer to the creature while holding one hand before her, signalizing the wyvern not to attack.
"It's going to be alright. No worries."
She took her sight of the beast's head and inspected the wound. The spear was deep in the monster's flesh. She would have to pull it out first before making any other moves.
"I'm sorry, but this is going to hurt a little. Promise me you won't attack me, ok?"
The wyvern nodded as it would understand what she was speaking, which would mean it was intelligent enough to understand her. In a fast motion, she removed the spear from the body, letting the blood rush out of the wound. The wyvern let a cry out at the action and almost went overboard. Yet Miriel quickly aided the beast.
"[Lion's Heart] [Cure Wounds]"
The wound closed, and the wyvern wasn't in pain any longer. Miriel hoped for it to disappear, but it did an unexpected gesture towards her. It licked her head with its tongue, showing her it liked her and that it was thankful for her help.
"You really like me that much? Maybe I'll keep you as a pet. And your name will be…Remmon!"
The wyvern accepted the name her new master gave her. As his savior, it was now loyal to her by any means.
"You can understand me a bit? The first thing I wanted to do if I ever got a flying beast is to fly in the sky. What do you think?"
Remmon would love to fly with her and nodded at Miriel. She hopped on top of Remmon, and he started flapping his wings to lift off. Suddenly he launched into the air and Miriel was having the ride of her life.
"Wohooo. Look at the beautiful clouds. And from up here, everything seems so small. The world is really magnificent."
From far away, someone else also saw her perspective and agreed with her.
"You want to spy on that girl all day, Momonga?"
"Tachimi, it is important that I witness her accomplishments. She just tamed a wyvern that landed in front of her hideout randomly. And I also have to watch out if she has useful information that could help me."
Both Tachimi and Ainz were in the throne room, watching the mirror that showed the young Miriel flying in the air.
"I would never doubt you, Momonga, yet it is a little overdrive on your part. You watched her for about ten days in a row. It is time to stop."
"As I said, I want to see her growth with my own eyes. But you're right, I should let her alone for a while."
Momonga stood up from his throne and looked at Tachimis's ghostly appearance.
"I only did this because I fought a godlike Dragon ten days ago and won and had to regain my Mana and HP. And what way wouldn't be greater to have a little entertainment when doing so?"
This was a valid argument. Ainz needs some time for his Mana to fill up completely, but his HP could be easily regenerated with the use of some items.
"If you were a warrior, you would not need to sit on your throne until you were full of Mana. The sword is the only way to victory, remember this, Momonga."
"You're getting on my nerves, Tachimi. Maybe it's time for you to get some free time, too."
"Wait Momo-..."
Momonga snapped his fingers and Tachimi was no more.
"I thought it would be great to have you here, Tachimi. Yet you always disagree with my plans. Well, it's just who you are. I can't blame you."
Ainz was lost in his thought until he felt a disturbance in the astral realm. Something happened that didn't please Ainz one bit, and he feared of it happening.
"No… The one thing I was afraid of happened just now. I felt it. I felt my divine powers traveling through the astral realm to me, but just now something seemingly…ate my divine powers."
Only one being could eat gods and World Enemies for dinner. And it was not good news for Ainz.
"The World-Eater, Devourer of the Nine Worlds. And it is making its way to me using the artifact I used to pull my powers to this world…"
This meant the end of this world. If the World Eater made its eyes on the new world, it would be devoured in seconds. And it was his fault for this world to be destroyed like that. Not that Ainz cared for the fate of this world, but he cared for himself. The World Eater could kill one permanently. No items and no resurrection powers would help. Not even a revival of a god could happen if it got eaten by the Devourer.
The blue beacon that was coming out of the Eternal Tower began to show a little purple in it. If it got red, it would indicate that the pulled target from the beacon is near. Yet, Ainz had still time to prepare for the World Eaters' arrival.
"I will have to fight the Devourer with only Tier Magic and Wild Magic. But who said I would do so alone? World Items don't have an effect on the World-Eater, which is bad because I heavily rely on items to win. And the entities of this world are very under-leveled, and I just killed someone who could be called my equal. This is too suspicious. These problems appear as if in a fantasy story and I am the main protagonist who has to solve the problem… No… I won't be the hero this story wants. I will be the one pulling the strings from the background, controlling this world to defeat the World Eater. I must be the villain for the beings of this world, for them to become truly strong."
Ainz was thinking of the possibilities of how to gain power beyond his current one. And Wild Magic would be the key to his godhood.
"Wild Magic and Tier Magic are two different Magic Systems. Tier Magic is more efficient because it uses the Mana of the person and Wild Magic relies on life force, which would be stronger if one had a huge amount of life force in the form of other beings. But he needed to sacrifice them to fulfill a spell that tells Wild Magic is also limited. Yet with the two of them, I could give myself the status [Primitive God] which would offer me a boost to my stats and new abilities the more people see me as their god. Not as efficient as the Deity System in Yggdrasil, where you could get stronger by yourself instead of relying on believers."
In Yggdrasil, there were multiple celestial classes, if one could say that so. A [True God] were the ones controlling Yggdrasil, yet had no actual power without a claim to use them. But they would always find a way to abuse their powers. [Higher God/Deity] or [Elder God/Deity] were the strongest gods of the nine realms and beyond. Ainz was a [Elder God/Deity] which would also give him a sub-deity class as Void God. [Higher God/Deity] didn't receive a sub-deity class, but a general buff to their powers. [God] was the typical class for any god, not being a higher or lower deity. [Half Gods] or [False/Fake Gods] were mortals that gained much power and had risen from their kind. [Empyrean] were children of one god, and a [Demi-God] was a child of a god and a mortal. A [Demi-God] could possibly become a [God] and reject his mortality with it.
By achieving the status [Primitive God] and having a few believers, Ainz could gain back access to the Void Dimension and reclaim himself as a Void Deity.
"Tabula mentioned a ritual in one of his books on how to accomplish this. But I would need to use up all my Mana even if I have more than anyone else. I should do this before something else."
Ainz spread his hand and spoke the words to begin the ritual. In the throne room, golden circles appeared around Ainz. "[Activate: Primitive Godhood]"
Light enveloped the room and Ainz wasn't in his throne room anymore but in a white dimension. The golden circles were still around him, but something new appeared in front of him. It was a golden hologram that detailed everything Ainz needed to know:
Recognized Previous [Elder God]: Momonga
Request: [Primitive Godhood]
Available Titles: God of Magic and Death, God of the Undead
Unavailable Titles: God of Life and Death, God of Knowledge, God of the Void
Notice: A title with two specialties will cost all Mana resources.
"I chose God of Magic and Death."
Ainz was drained of all of his Mana and sent back to his throne room with nothing special happening. Now he finally got some divinity back.
"I lost some experience and all my Mana but nothing serious. But I'm curious what new or old abilities I gained or regained."
Classes Unlocked:
-Previously Locked: The Strongest Undead Deity
-Fully Unlocked: World Enemy
-Fully Unlocked: False World Disaster
Classes Locked:
-Void Deity
-Elder Undead God/Deity
Notice: With achieving two god titles and not holding the status [Elder God/Deity] or [Higher God/Deity] growth will be halved.
Notice: [Void Deity] can not be unlocked until [Elder God/Deity] status is applied. If instead [Higher God/Deity] is achieved, [Void Deity] cannot be regained.
"Interesting. I still have much to do to regain my former strength. Omnipotence and omniscience are still out of reach. But it's nice that the [True Gods] made such a clean interface for me. I wonder what happened to them. Maybe the Devourer ate them."
Ainz was halfway happy with the results. His growth was halved because he chose two titles at the same time. Yet he didn't regret the decision.
"If I have enough power, I will also make an Empyrean aid me in this world as my right hand."
Ainz didn't fear the Devourer very much any longer. Time would pass by and so his power would only increase. When the time comes, he will be ready to face him. Not as a hero, but as a villain.
"Now the only thing I need is some believers. Maybe the villagers nearby could become my believers. It wouldn't be an awful choice. The strength of religious belief of a person is important, and not the number of people seeing me as their god. I will have to save them again for them to see me as an absolute being that shows them mercy and protection. I got it. Forcing a beast into their village, letting it kill a bunch of them, and then saving the day and resurrecting the fallen family members back to life. This… This is more like me. Hahaha…" Ainz chuckled at his brilliance until he continued to talk to himself. "What beast should I send to them… A demon would be great to terrorize them. And that demon will be an Evil Lord Wrath. He is big, strong, and fearsome. The perfect instrument for my success."
Ainz quickly summoned one to fulfill his plan. The Evil Lord quickly bowed and questioned what his mission was.
"What do you require of me, Master?"
"Evil Lord Wrath. I want you to attack a village that is near my tower, right at the end of the forest. You will kill some villagers, but not all of them. I will then come to save them by fighting you and so gain the loyalty and faith of the village. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Master. I will fulfill your command. Shall I make my way to them right now?"
Ainz sat on his throne, thought for a moment, and replied: "Mmh… I have to use a sealed spell to fight you. I just drained all my mana to perform a ritual. But the spell will not have a great effect if you resist. With that said, you can fly to them right now. I will be there soon."
"As you command, Master"
The demon exited the tower, spread its large wings, and flew towards the village that didn't know what was coming to them.
Ainz was carefully watching the movements of the demon through the [Mirror of Remote Viewing].
It took a while, but the Evil Lord found his way to the village. It killed, rampaged, and destroyed everything in its way.
"Fear me, Humans, and let me steal your souls, hahaha."
The terror was visible in the eyes of every villager. The new Village Chief Dain could not do much other than to organize the escape of the village. However, he had faith someone else would come to save them in due time. And he was right.
A purple hole in space appeared in the middle of the village square, and out of it stepped the same person Dain had first seen 25 years earlier.
"Fiend! You are in a village that is under my protection, and thus I must kill you for bringing such destruction to this place. Remember the face of the person who killed you, demon!"
[Release Seal: Black Hole]
Blackness appeared and sucked the demon into a realm without light. The fear of death went away, and the villagers approached Ainz.
"Truly Incredible… Your powers are truly infinite. I-I don't know if you remember me, but my name is Dain. Y-You saved me the first time you came here. I am sorry that you had to come here personally because we didn't have the strength to defend ourselves."
"Of course, I remember you. You were a small kid then and now look at you. And you don't have to hate yourself for being weak. There are things humans will never be able to reach, and they don't have to, really."
"Brother! Are you ok?... Wait…Is…Is that…. Lord Ainz you came!" Said a feminine voice coming from a beautiful girl that was now more of a woman. Ainz remembered her to be the little sister of Dain. She looked really different from when she was a kid. She ran towards him with a cheerful face.
"Yes, I promised I would come to your aid, didn't I. But unfortunately, some didn't survive the attack because I was late. Let me fix my mistake for you"
"[Mass Resurrection]"
The previously dead bodies gained their lost limbs back and stood up. In the end, nobody stayed dead, and the villagers could only thank one person for that.
"My brother and I can't recall what mercy you showed us… You are truly a hero… No, a god that showed his mercy to us."
It was too easy for Ainz to gain the absolute loyalty of these peasants. He could feel their faith-strengthening him by a little percentage.
"I thank you for your faith, people of this village. And I promise it will not go to waste. I shall depart from this place to leave you to yourself."
Ainz disappeared through a gate before the villagers could say anything else.
Dain: "Lena. Do you think we will see him ever again?"
"I hope so, brother. I hope so. We can only hope for it."
Ainz was back in his throne room. He continued his watch over the young Miriel through the mirror. Previously, she was flying in the skies, but now she was feeding her new wyvern food.
"Remmel! You have to eat something! Don't be so stubborn."
The wyvern didn't want to eat cooked meat. It wanted to eat raw, fresh meat right from the source.
"Ok, I know what you want. Go on and find yourself some animal in the forest, but you will be back in an hour. Promise me that."
The wyvern nodded and flew into the woods to search for food. Somehow, Miriel didn't think Remmel took her words seriously.
"That damn wyvern acts like a child sometimes. Well, maybe it's just how he is. I can't blame him for it."
Miriel found on one of her journeys, something very important. A map to show the location of an ancient Tomb, which housed a powerful artifact. But the way to it was unreachable for her.
The Tomb of Azhul was the grave of the greatest High Elf that ever existed in this world. He possessed an item that was described as powerful, yet the effect was unknown. Miriel was sure it was a World Item. If the being was from Yggdrasil or gained it from one of Yggdrasil was still uncertain.
"This map shows the location. Yet not as any other map. You have to start from a specific point, and I don't know where that place is. This puzzle is really out of my league."
Frustrated, she put the old map on the side of her desk. On her own, it was impossible to solve the puzzle.
"Wait. From my knowledge, it is a tomb for a great High Elf that brought power to the elves. So I should go to them first, maybe they know where I have to start. But that brings the question of where the High Elves live. Someone in the city might know that. I should make my way there when Remmel arrives."
And as the wyvern landed in front of her house, with a full belly and a satisfied smile. She made her way to the nearby city. It would take one day to travel there by foot. Yet, to go with her wyvern was out of the question. If someone saw her riding on Remmel it would be over for her.
One day later:
Miriel arrived at a lively town full of human life. On her way, she had to fight a gang of bandits that tried to rob and do nasty things to her. However, she quickly disposed of them with her sword skills.
If she wanted to find someone who knows where the High Elves live, she had to go to the traveler's tavern, where most travelers go to stay for the night.
As she entered the building, faces surrounded her, seemingly staring at her with curiosity. Maybe it was because they never saw a woman traveling on her own. She quickly used a spell to identify her target. She received information from one of the farmers that a certain Gustav once traveled to the land of the High Elves. The farmer described him to be a man in his forties with white hair, a beard, and brown eyes. He mostly sits in the back of the tavern and orders cooked bread with beer most of the time.
[Discern Enemy]
The traveler wasn't her enemy, but she used the spell to locate him in the tavern.
"Got you, Gustav."
She made her way to the back of the tavern. On her right were some trouble-looking fellows and on the left were just some old men. But in the middle was a lone person sitting and eating cooked bread, as the farmer described. He seemed to not want someone to approach him, however, Miriel wasn't here to beg him for information.
"You're Gustav, am I right?"
Nothing. The man simply ate his bread like there was no one talking to him.
"You know how to get to the land of the High Elves, and I need to know how you traveled there."
Still, the man showed no motion to recognize her.
"You have to forgive the old Gustav. He has told nobody about how he found the land of the elves."
"And who are you?"
The man turned around. His appearance showed that he was of old age. He had no hair, but a long white beard. He wore simple commoner clothes.
"My name is Gauff. I am a simple farmer in this town. And I suggest that you leave Gustav be, not that you're ever going to get the secret out of him, hahaha…"
He laughed, and the rest of the old men from his table did too.
"My business is only with this man here, and not with you, Gauff the Farmer."
"Woah, no need to be so angry, young lady. I'm even surprised your husband or father lets you walk around all alone. There are some dangerous people, girl, that would wish to get their hands on you. And I just wanted to help you not spend your time on that old fool. If the young folks would just listen to their elders…"
And the man spoke way more unreasonable things, but Miriel simply ignored him and put her attention back on the mysterious traveler. Yet he disappeared from his previous seat and when Miriel turned around, she saw him sprint out of the tavern.
"Wait! Dammit!"
She followed the man out of the building and saw him turning into a small alley. As she arrived there, she saw Gustav being held by two thugs and a third punching him in the stomach.
"You got no money. So we're gonna punch the shit out of you, old man, hahaha…"
Miriel adapted to the situation and made her way towards the three criminals.
"Oh, look at that, boss. A small young girl wants to come to play with us."
The two lost their interest in the old man and let him fall to the ground. Now they had the new girl insight that just entered their territory.
"You're a brave little girl com-"
Nothing came out of his mouth after Miriel put a knife in his throat.
"Wait sto-"
The other two were killed with ease by separating their head from their shoulders. She wasn't playing games any longer, and she would probably do the same to the old man if he didn't tell her the secret.
"Now, old man, you're going to tell me everything you know. Or you can join these bandits in their sleep."
Gustav was trapped by this little girl that killed three grown men on her own. He had no other choice than to accept her terms.
"Fine… What do you want to know?"
He looked at her with a face full of hatred, not wanting to tell the secret he knew.
"You, old man, are going to tell me step by step where you found the land of the High Elves and how to get there."
"Hah. You're also one of those people who want to claim fame by traveling where no human was before. But I tell you, the journey will be difficult. I made a map of where to find the way to the elves. Now, let me alone, I gave you every bit of information I know of."
He was hoping to lose the girl with this attempt, yet failed to recognize the intellect of the girl.
"And what's that in your backpack? Maybe give me that too."
"Nooo! Never! I won't be able to find that place ever aga-" He stopped since a sharp blade was near his throat. "Fine. Here! Take it!"
"Isn't that better? Have a nice day, old man."
She left the alley, leaving the old man alone, surrounded by corpses. She gained new information on how to reach the High Elves with her new map and an odd compass. With her new Intel, she left the city and went back to her hideout.
Eternal Tower, Throne Room:
Ainz was pleased with all the information the young slime gave him on her journey. A concealed place where a part of the High Elves lived, separated from the rest of the world, sounded very interesting to him.
"She will lead me to the hidden High Elf city without even knowing it. A perfect spy."
Now, Ainz left the throne to go to his research lab. Seeing that on the left there was an empty pod where once was slime in it. The right one was still intact. The red liquid was inside, hiding something from sight. What was inside was a mystery.
"It seems you are not ready yet. But when the time comes. You will be the face of evil in this world. This will be thy purpose. Serve me well, and you will be rewarded greatly."
Ainz knew it could hear him even when it was inside the pod and not fully developed. He stared at it for a couple of minutes and then teleported to a faraway place. A place nobody has ever visited.
Ainz went to the moon of the new world.
As an undead, he should have no problem with the lack of oxygen. He watched the planet he was previously been with curious eyes.
"Isn't this a beautiful sight? This world is young and pure. It would be a shame for it to be destroyed." Says the skeleton on the moon.
Ainz made himself an obsidian throne and watched the new world for a long time.
"I wonder if I could hit something with a spell from up here. It would be interesting to try it out."
"[Boost Maximize Magic: Energy Blast]"
The blast flew towards the planet at high speed. Ainz predicted where the spell would impact and watched with [Remote Viewing]. It took the blast a couple of minutes to arrive, but when it did, it hit a rabbit in a forest and killed everything in a 2-meter radius.
"This spell looks like to keep its firepower even on such a long distance. Impressive."
Never did someone in history try to fire a spell from the moon, yet now it was proven possible to do so. Ainz used his last minutes to watch the planet and its beautiful green surface. Yet he wondered why he was talking to himself so often.
Palace of the Dragon Emperor:
It was a wonderful day with no clouds. The blue sky could be seen from the palace with no difficulty.
"Welcome back, my son. How was your fight with the troll nation?"
"We forced them to leave our borders, father. But I am here for something else."
"And what would be that be, my son?"
Tsain was always loyal to his father, yet he couldn't support the decision he made.
"I know what you did, father. This ritual was forbidden from happening, and you ignored the warning!"
"My son. The ritual is meant to bring forth powerful artifacts to strengthen our nation, our victory."
It was a half-lie. The Dragon Emperor wanted to only strengthen himself.
"Yet every time the ritual was performed, there was a hint of destruction in the world. Is it really worth it just to satisfy your greed?"
The Dragon Emperor didn't want to have this conversation with his son. But it was inevitable at this point.
"You don't know the worth of power, son. One day, you will see how powerful I will become."
"If the other Dragon Lords knew what you just did, they will be furious and push you from the throne!"
"What happened can't be changed, Tsain. And this is no tone to speak to the Dragon Emperor!"
"Whatever you like, father. But don't be surprised if your greed is your downfall."
And so the Platinum Dragon Lord left the palace to go wherever he went. The Dragon Emperor wasn't so happy about the opinion of his son. He should have supported him in every way. Isn't he the perfect son he always wanted? Then why did he rebel against him just now?
"Don't make me regret having an heir, Tsain."
Out of fury, the Dragon Emperor looked at the sky, finding the moon in his eyesight.
"Wait, there is something on the moon, but I cannot recognize what it is."
This was the sign for Ainz to leave the moon. He didn't want the Dragon Emperor to know about him.
"It… It disappeared. Did I go mad to such an extent that I think I saw something on the moon? I hope not."
The Dragon Emperor took his gaze off the moon and began his daily sleep.