The military headquarters, located deep within the heart of Tob, was currently mostly for decoration rather than anything else. Although Buku was the de facto military leader of all Nazarick's external military, as of now, said military was no better than a ragtag legion of goblins and ogres. Additionally, the few hundred soldiers under Nazarick's patrols guarding the budding Empire's border were under her jurisdiction as well. In actuality, she had done none of her new duties and left everything in the capable hands of her second in command, Cocytus, since he was quite competent.
Today it had to change. Sitting in her seat in the war room, Buku studied the map and listened to Cocytus explain what he had done so far.
"So these lizardmen attacked us once and then kept away and you didn't retaliate?" Buku asked once the insectoid had done either his presentation.
"I THOUGHT THAT DECISION WAS BETTER LEFT TO YOU GRAND MARSHAL AND ONLY REINFORCED BORDER IN CASE MORE ATTACKS CAME FROM THESE CREATURES," Cocytus explained, his voice giving a hint of anxiety.
'No need to push it in my face that I have been slacking off. At least he didn't run off to complain to Ainz while I was on my adventure,' Buku nervously tapped her fingers against the table, pretending to be in deep thought.
Noticing Cocytus nervously shift around, she spoke up. "In the future, please just contact me if there is something requiring my input. I think we should deal with this problem right away, otherwise we might have to face a full-blown lizardmen invasion."
Buku settled on a decisive and aggressive approach. Ever since she claimed the title of the Goddess of War, there had been this craving for battle and bloodshed lurking deep within her heart. Crushing some foolish reptile souls was just the thing to satiate these cravings. She would drink their dying screams and revel in the victory, and she knew Nazarick's forces were overall stronger than some mere tribal reptiles.
'Damn, I really am turning into a monster. Too late for regrets now,' She resolved to embrace this side of herself and not shy away from it.
"I WILL DO AS YOU COMMAND, GRAND MARSHAL. PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR NOT DOING SO," Cocytus got out of his seat and kneeled.
"It's fine. We both are learning how to keep the military command going smoothly," Buku gave him a reassuring smile and motioned for Cocytus to return to his seat.
Once the massive insectoid had sat back down, she continued, "Do you think we can deal with the lizardmen with just our current standing forces?"
"WITH MY DIRECT INVOLVEMENT OR YOURS, LADY BUKU, IT SHOULD BE EASY, BUT IF WE JUST USE THE GOBLIN LEGION CHANCES OF VICTORY ARE ONE TO TWENTY IN LIZARDMEN FAVOR."
"Hmm, I'll ask Ainz for a bigger army then. What sort of numbers do we need to have a crushing victory?"
"ABOUT A THOUSAND OLD GUARDERS UNDER YOUR DIRECT COMMAND SHOULD BE ENOUGH."
"Great, I'll return soon. Meanwhile, can you draw up the general assault plan?"
"I WILL DO MY BEST," Cocytus replied, grabbing a sheet of paper to begin the task entrusted to him.
It took less than an hour to get the army she asked for, much to her surprise. In fact, Ainz pretty much gave free rein in taking pop monsters from the first six floors, and on top of it, Ulbert gave permission to take forces from the seventh floor as well, meaning her forces were very well enlarged and sufficient for the task at hand.
The first harvest had granted her four thousand old guarders, fifteen hundred elite guarders, twelve thousand regular skeletons, and four hundred liches from the first three floors alone. There also were the frozen and demon divisions on top of it, both much stronger than individual undead divisions. Additionally, Aura had spawned a few mid-tier beasts that could be used as elite shocktroopers, of which Buku knew could be useful if push came to shove.
When it came to long-term solutions, Buku knew she needed to look into summoning her own elite troops. The main issue was that not only was her mana pool minuscule, but she also knew no spells. These obstacles could be overcome with practice and time, but there were also questions about what sort of units would be suitable as her summons, and that came with its own implications.
As someone who mostly relied on her friends to know what abilities and classes to pick, she was at a loss. There was always an option to ask for help, but that raised the question of who to ask. Her brother would likely make fun of her for months for asking such a basic question since he had dabbled in summonings for a while. Tabula was busy with who knew what, and Ulbert only cared about magic and demons, so he wasn't likely to know about other summons. That left only Ainz, whom she had been pestering the most in the past.
And that wasn't even considering that if she took advice at all, it could result in overlap in their armies, which she didn't want to begin doing since it could possibly cause chaos in this new world since NPCs weren't bound entirely by the same rules as in the game. But nevertheless, that was a small worry, and things had to move forward.
'I guess I'll have to bother Momo once again,' She decided while Cocytus was sorting the armies into coherent units and adjusting his plan with a much larger force in mind.
{ Hey. I have a question about what units I could choose as my summons. You do know most summon types right? }
{ Only most types. I have not memorized all elite summons, but there should be enough literature in the library. }
{ OK, I'll look into myself once I have a general idea. You know I need something that would fit me as the Goddess of War. } Buku raised the pitch of her voice, practically hearing Ainz groan on the other end.
{ Asgard summons probably are the most fitting. Immortals and Valkyries were the most common in low to mid tiers. I'm unsure if there are level ninety to one hundred summons of that type though. } Ainz replied.
{ That's a start. I guess I need to hit the library. }
{ If you have time, just ask Titus to gather all summoning-related literature for you. } Ainz added additional suggestions before she ended the conversation.
After giving general orders to Cocytus to move armies in position and inform her when the assault could be started, Buku teleported to the library. Though she rarely visited the place and her section was primarily filled with manga that danced dangerously close to being adult-only material, the librarians were more than eager to assist her.
The pile of books wasn't encouraging to say the least, but she needed to start somewhere. The first and obvious choice was the Asgard lore book. With her reading speed now being fifteen seconds per page thanks to bodily enhancements, she skimmed through the book in no time.
Ainz was on the point with the suggestion, as both the immortal and Valkyrie group summons were just what she needed.
Immortals, according to lore, were the mortals who had earned their place in Valhalla and thrived in endless battles. The lowest tier was just the level ten soldiers, but like all immortals, they would endlessly respawn in the anchor place, rejoining battle again and again until the enemy was crushed through raw numbers.
The next tier had the same properties but obviously was much stronger. Immortal archers and cavaliers were level twenty-five, berserkers forty, and champions level sixty, and each came with their own respective abilities. And it didn't stop there. Level sixty summons were called Odin's blessed, which made Buku wonder if she could give her own blessing since according to the lore book, God race players with appropriate summoning class could do just that to increase the level of summons in a similar manner; Ainz's summons were stronger than regular ones summoned by other undead players thanks to his unique specialization.
The last tier contained the level ninety immortal demigods, which required the blood of a God to summon.
'I wonder if I could summon them? I am a Goddess, at least in theory,' Having such powerful soldiers at her disposal surely would make her less reliant on her friends providing her with the necessary forces, and would act as her elite warriors for the time being.
Valkyries fell in the same level brackets for the most part, but they started at twenty-five and ended at level one hundred. All of them could be used as anchors for immortals and bring back slain summons connected to their own summoner, making them somewhat similar to high-tier angels in appearance, although they had nothing to do with the holy element. They also were excellent melee combatants, and in larger battles were walking mini-summoners if the battles got intense enough.
The next thing that caught Buku's attention was the flavor text of both types of summons. Both Valkyries and immortals were created out of mortals, women and men respectively if they showed great valor in battle or died an honorable death. 'Interesting.'
'It seems I'll need to channel my inner Tabula and experiment with this when I get my hands on human armies. Hey, maybe this could work on goblins as well since they're both sentient! It surely doesn't hurt to try.'
It was unclear if she would have time to test things out before Cocytus was done with battle preparations, but until then she could at least try to summon basic immortal warriors.
X
Zenberu, the chieftain of the Dragon Tusk clan, was massive even for standards of his own kind, towering over the others. He was so much stronger and more resilient than his clan members that none had challenged him for the chieftain position for over a year, and his reputation had spread among even the younglings. Resembling a bipedal crocodile, he was covered with a thick layer of green scales that were hard as steel, making him insanely difficult to actually harm. One of his arms was much larger than others, and to someone unfamiliar with him looked like a birth defect, but in truth, his asymmetrical look was the result of monk training.
Zenberu was the only one ever of his tribe who had traveled around the world, a practice generally looked down upon among his people. As a result, he had the traveler's marking on his chest. Usually, that would make him a lesser compared to his peers, but his fighting prowess was far too powerful to be held down by the outdated traditions of his older kinsmen.
That didn't mean there weren't any fights to participate in. The toadmen were becoming increasingly aggressive these past few days and constantly clashed with the lizardmen tribes over territory and resources. And then there were the undead roaming around the forest beast's territory.
One of the tribe's patrols decided to attack them against his orders and ended up dead. Such reckless action could've spelled doom for the entire tribe, but luckily the monsters didn't retaliate. Still, the aggression had some consequences. The undead patrols near the borders became much more frequent and more powerful.
Today his first task was to inspect the food supply. The colder season wasn't that far away, and it was much harder to catch fish when the lake was frozen. Strong or not, food had to come first.
With a confident stride, he walked among the huts made out of wood and reeds. Compared to more developed human towns, his home was very simple and lacked advanced buildings, or any other development, the weaker kind enjoyed. Their lives were simple, spent hunting, fishing, drinking, and mating. He mostly participated in the first three, despite being a tribe chieftain and having the right of the first pick among the single females. The thought of producing children had crossed his mind, but the uncertain times the lizardmen currently faced took too much of his attention to create a family on top of it.
The central hut where all the dried fish and meat were stored stood in the middle of the village, for easy access to deposit preserved foods. Both guards stepped away from the entrance upon his approach. Inside, he found an old lizardman going over the piles of food, looking for any signs of spoilage.
"Hey old fossil, how's it going?" Zenberu slapped him on the shoulder as he cheerfully shouted.
"Was having a wonderful morning until you showed up," The old lizardman grumbled.
"I do need to check if you haven't died on me," Zenberu ignored the insult as always. Their friendship might be seen as strange from an outsider's perspective, but there were few who he trusted more than this elder.
"I'll outlive you. But since you're here, I might as well report."
"So, what is the situation?"
"If we take into account that a dozen or so more will be born til the cold season we have about two-thirds of what we need to survive."
"Not bad. Still, if we get the same cold winter as last year, it would be better to have reserves," Zenberu picked up one of the dried fish and bit into it.
"We all need a lot more health grass," The elder commented.
"I'll tell hunters and females to look out for it," Zenberu nodded his head in agreement. The health of the tribe was the top priority, and relying on the shaman's healing abilities alone was an unnecessary risk if he could pursue other pathways of healing.
He was about to go over a few other things the tribe would need, but some commotion outside interrupted him. Zenberu stepped out of the hut to see what was going on and saw one of his lieutenants motion towards the forest beast's lands while motioning for him to get on the top of the wall.
One of the patrols, or more precisely what was remaining of it, was rushing towards the village chased by a group of ax-wielding humans and a winged creature resembling a metal-clad human woman.
"Humans? What are they doing here?" He mumbled in surprise. They were rare visitors and usually avoided lizardmen, given their usually inferior body strength.
There were fifteen of them, their faces filled with bloodlust. One of the lizardmen scouts tripped and the humans descended on him like vultures, ending the scout's life instantly.
"Shoot at them!" Zenberu shouted an order and watched in nervous anticipation. The flying creature likely was a healer, and arrows alone might not be enough to stop the group.
The volley hit the group of men, and he expected at least a few of them to fall, but they didn't. It seemed that they didn't even register the attack as they rushed forward, arrows sticking out of their leather and fur-clad bodies.
'What!? There's something wrong with them.' Zenberu steeled himself for close combat. With fists as his prime weapon, he would pound them into dust no matter how resilient they were. Even if they ignored the pain, broken bones and torn ligaments would still immobilize them.
"Warriors, with me! Let's show these humans what mistake they have made!" He shouted full of conviction, jumping over the fence. About three dozen lizardmen quickly followed his lead and together charged the enemy.
Zenberu struck one of them the moment both groups collided, crushing the man's skull. His opponent crumbled into dust, leaving no remains behind.
'What are these creatures?' To his knowledge, humans bled and left corpses behind, just like his kind. But that was not the only surprise. A figure rose out of the ground under the floating woman, who had stayed behind a good twenty meters away, fending off arrows with little difficulty. The man he had killed was back in the battle again.
Whatever these creatures were, they couldn't match a lizardman in one-on-one combat. But with the ability to raise again and again, they didn't need to. All it took was lucky strikes and his brethren would fall one by one, replaced by nothing. If the enemy couldn't be tired out, his lizardmen would inevitably lose.
'That flying creature, could she be the source of their immortality? I need to take her out,' Zenberu kicked one of the men out of the way and charged. Thinking herself unreachable, the woman didn't pay much attention to his advance. But this is where she was mistaken, by slamming his fists together he sent a shockwave in the woman's direction.
A cloud of feathers left the woman's snow-white wings and with a scream of surprise, she plummeted to the ground. Taking no chances, Zenberu reached the woman in a heartbeat and aimed his massive fist at her head. Although the woman was just getting up, she managed to block the attack with the spear she held in both hands. But this one strike was enough for her to stagger.
Unfortunately for Zenberu, one of the men rose up from the ground beside her.
"This one is mine. Go join the rest," The winged woman ordered the man, her voice full of anticipation.
'An honorable warrior? At least I won't get surrounded,' Zenberu raised his fists, readying himself for a duel while his kin fought the undying men.
She went for a jab, but it was easy to block her attack with a fist harder than stone. Zenberu planned to use his superior strength and either break or take the weapon away from his opponent. As he blocked and dodged a flurry of attacks, Zenberu searched for an opening.
"Tell me your name warrior? You might join the ranks of the Goddess of War's faithful after your death," The winged woman spoke while continuing to unleash an endless barrage of attacks.
"Zenberu. You?"
"I am a Valkyrie in the service of Lady Buku, the Goddess of War, not yet established myself to receive a name."
While his opponent spoke, he finally got the opening he waited for. Valkyrie overextended with her strike, giving Zenberu the opportunity to grab the spearhead and use the momentum of the attack to pull her closer. The Valkyrie received a kick in her metal armor-clad chest and stumbled backward, letting go of the spear.
Left without a weapon, the Valkyrie could only defend herself against Zenberu's onslaught of punches and kicks. She still didn't call for help or try to retreat, proudly standing her ground. Finally, after he went for a particularly powerful punch with his stronger arm, his opponent crumbled into dust.
With the source of the immortality gone, the rest of the attackers fell one by one crumbling into dust as well. Zenberu looked around assessing the losses. Out of over thirty-nine warriors, only seventeen were still standing, most covered with wounds of varying severity.
'Goddess of War, huh? This must be nothing more than a test before the real army attacks,' Zenberu couldn't help but arrive at the grim realization.
It didn't take long for the first signs of what was about to come. On the other side of the lake just behind the trees, more and more appeared. Surrounded by hostile species from three sides and inhospitable mountains from the fourth, they were all but trapped.
Zenberu did consider sending messengers to other tribes to propose an alliance, but the recent war between most of the tribes that saw the fall of two of them had left a bad taste in the mouths of many of the surviving members of said tribe members who had been absorbed in his own tribe.
With not many options left, Zemberu gathered the entire tribe in the center of the village and delivered a short speech.
"Fellow warriors, soon we will face an enemy like no other. Few of you already fought the warriors who could not be killed until their leader died, but that was nothing more than a scouting force. Dragon Tusk was always the tribe of warriors, and as the chieftain I plan to do my last stand with my head held high. If you are with me, prepare to meet your creator. The rest of you may flee to other tribes who are likely to face the same enemy after we are dealt with. Now, let us drink and feast and give them hell afterward!"
The roaring crowd filled him with pride. Not one of his tribe members decided to leave. They would face their end proudly.
X
Buku and Cocytus watched the test run of Buku's summons through a remote viewing mirror. The lizardmen's victory came as no surprise. The information they had on the scaly creatures painted not only as strong and proud but intelligent as well, and they had accurately taken down the Valkyrie at the center of it all.
After the bloody victory that had cost them fourteen warriors, they gathered to celebrate. The remote viewing mirror didn't provide any audio, preventing both observers from knowing what the leader told his people to earn cheers.
"They are either brave and celebrate their last stand, or too stupid to realize that we were just testing them," Buku commented as the lizardmen broke into celebration.
"THEY MUST BE AWARE OF OUR FORCES, LADY BUKU. IN MY OPINION, THESE BRAVE WARRIORS ARE PREPARING TO FIGHT TO THE END," Cocytus voiced his take on the situation.
"So, what do you think, should we offer them a chance to surrender or kill everyone who tries to fight and subjugate the rest?" Buku asked nonchalantly.
The valor in battle was an admirable trait and potentially could give her her first true followers, but at the same time Buku wanted to see them stand to the last just like her summons, but unlike her summons, including the Valkyrie, who all respawned in the military HQ after Valkyrie fell, these Lizardmen would stay dead and would require Ainz or Nazarick's NPCs with resurrection ability to get involved.
"I THINK IT IS PARAMOUNT THAT THE UNDISPUTED RIGHT TO RULE OF SUPREME ONES IS SHOWN. THE OFFER TO SURRENDER CAN BE ISSUED WHEN OPPONENT HAS NO HOPE FOR VICTORY LEFT."
"Sure, we can go with that approach. How long till all our forces are in positions?" Buku agreed with the plan.
"ABOUT FOUR HOURS, LADY BUKU."
"Then I have time to summon a few more. Can you send a report to Albedo meanwhile, Ainz should probably be made aware that we are about to expand Nazarick-controlled territories," Buku ordered as she left her seat.
Since lack of mana didn't really impede her combat abilities, she could spend most of it summoning more of the immortals and valkyries. In theory, a few dozen would be enough to defeat a lizardmen tribe, but it was unnecessary to hold back when her meager mana reserves were topped off and her private units could grow in number without hurry.
She didn't plan to appear on the battlefield at all, and would only inspect conquered territories afterward. Cocytus would lead the armies and freeze the lake with his natural frost aura, providing easy access to all five lizardmen villages at the same time. This strategy was devised by the insectoid himself as the most optimal way to capture the territory and prevent the unification of the tribes, which was a large possibility if they marched around the lake and captured villages one by one, resulting in constant clashes. With their superior forces, they would crush them all at once.
The summoning process was easy and straightforward without any risk of any of her summons potentially harming her in any way. Ainz's and Ulbert's experiments had already shown that all summons, no matter their disposition, were loyal to the summoner.
With the only obstacle being her meager mana reserves, Buku set out to spend it all getting new soldiers. The process was rather slow since she needed to summon each immortal and valkyrie manually for now, given her lack of experience. In the future, when her mana pool would be much larger, she would be able to do mass summonings like how Ainz could.
While she was working, Ainz sent a message. { I just received the battle recording from Cocytus. Those warriors you summoned seem impressive. I think we will have to look into ways to transfer mana so you can build your forces faster. }
{ If you plan to make me strapped to the table while Tabula experimenting on me, I want to be taken out for a dinner first. } Buku shot back with a giggle.
{L-Let us not resort to drastic measures just yet. } Ainz stammered in response.
'I can still get to him. Albedo better step up her game,' Buku giggled, having imagined the pristine white skull of Ainz becoming bright red.
{ I'm joking. I thought your woman had gotten the shyness out of you by now. Anyhow, if you have some experiment in mind to make my mana reserves bigger I'm all for it. }
{ There should be a few mana steal spells you could learn while Tabula and I look into direct ways to transfer mana. }
{ Sadly, pervbird also has next to no mana. I doubt I can take too much of yours. Someone might get jealous and I'm not stepping on that landmine. } Buku changed to an overly serious tone.
'Like I need to get murdered by his yandere girlfriend. She is suspicious of me, and any other woman for that matter, as is,' Albedo was always polite in their interactions but it wasn't hard to see she made sure Ainz was not left with other women, save for Rubedo, alone.
{ I-I'm sure Albedo won't mind. } Ainz didn't sound particularly convinced of his own words.
{ I'm staying on the safe side just in case, but you can give her a heads up when you have something to test. }
The possibility of receiving massive amounts of mana from her more caster-oriented friends and even floor guardians was an exciting prospect. Mare surely would be happy to share the massive mana reserves he rarely used, meaning he could serve in more ways than one.
For now, Buku would have to do with a few summons, but there were a lot more expansions to look forward to. The world surely wasn't about to roll over and show its belly as Nazarick expanded in all directions, and that meant she had the incentive to strive for growth and development in her military.
Proofreading by Saphire_Drake, clagan, Sluethen, nate051499j6, aidan_lo, Thea, Lightflan, and NuggetLover.
Editing by aidan_lo.
AN: Thank you for reading the story, and if you have caught up to the latest chapter, you can check out my other work or join my discord server (https://discord.gg/WmGKVU3XG2) where additional chapters are available or if you are interested in becoming a beta reader (gives access to chapters months ahead of regular readers).