There was still a lot of forest that wasn't under Nazarick's control, and it fell onto her shoulders to continue the conquest for Nazarick's glory. Cocytus had done the lion's share of work so far, conquering huge swathes of land, but that had to change today. Buku had finally decided to dive head first into her role and perform the duties she agreed upon, on the front lines.
The two main expansion directions were the troll territories to the east and the Naga territories to the west. The initial exploration had shown that the nagas were far more advanced and if subjugated could become a decent addition to the growing group of locally sourced servants. Trolls, meanwhile, were dull creatures that valued only brute strength and had very little intelligence, even spread across their entire species. Hence she settled on conquering the Nagas first.
There always was an option to ask either Cocytus or Demiurge to draw the battle plan, but then it would defeat her whole purpose of being the Goddess of War, the entity those who wanted battle wisdom or luck looked up to. Her friends slowly but surely embraced their roles and burgeoning divinity, and she would do the same.
The staging area was established near the border and it was there where Buku performed the next set of tests, channeling her powers and practicing with equipment. Around two square kilometers of the forest had been leveled and flattened out to give space to house the active invasion forces. Hastily built warehouses and tenets littered the area, her tent standing large in the middle of it all.
As she practiced summoning the Valkyries and the undying, her mana pool steadily increased with time. Her overall meager mana reserves were a far cry from the likes of Ainz and Ulbert, dedicated magic burners compared to her brute physical force build, but it was a start. After a week of practice, she had four hundred undying and twenty Valkyries as the base troops, standing at the ready. Feeling daring, she also pushed her limits and summoned a Valkyrie priest, which was a level forty summon, and twelve berserkers, which were level thirty-one. But that wasn't the only thing she wished to try. Once her mana reserves were back to full, Buku decided to test the uplifting as well, eager to see how it would turn out. With the help of Tabula, she now had the means to turn mortal creatures into immortals and Valkyries.
The price for this knowledge was an excessively prolonged lecture on the topic by the brain eater, most of which Buku spent zoned out and daydreaming about a tropical vacation, which in turn would only be possible when their domain reached a sea warm enough for such leisure activities. As useful as her peer was, Tabula's tendencies, now emboldened by Ainz's decree to listen whenever he has something of importance to tell, were filled with long bouts of overly technical and frankly unnecessary information.
As for the first candidates, or more precisely test subjects, there were plenty of volunteers. The lizardmen, being the first to taste the unrelenting might of her personal warriors, were particularly interested. Thus, every able-bodied member of their species, regardless of gender or age, had traveled to the staging area, which wasn't that far away from their main settlement in anticipation of the event.
Buku walked among the scaly creatures standing in orderly rows, enjoying their eagerness and fear with Cocytus walking beside her. The recently made clearing wasn't only evened out to make for easier forming of military units, but also hardened with druidic magic, thus making her path relatively smooth and her slightly elevated plate boots with full heels not sink into the soil.
She had to carefully pick the first one and make sure she didn't botch the whole process. Since only females could become Valkyries while both sexes could be turned into immortals, she decided to start making a male lizardman into an undying immortal. If it went well, great. If not, not much would be lost.
There was one who caught her eye, both from viewing in-person and past reports. Zenberu, the clan leader who had fought off her first test run, met her gaze with determination, although he did start to shake slightly when she turned her full attention to him, letting her aura wash over the masses.
'He will do. In the worst-case scenario, I can call Pestonya to resurrect him and pin the blame on the lizard for not being strong enough.' She planned out what to do in the worst-case scenario.
"Step forward, you'll have the honor to be the first to ascend!" Buku declared as confidently as she could. Despite a long career in voice acting in numerous genres for even more numerous audiences, a live performance still occasionally gave her stage fright, even for a career as successful as hers.
Zenberu emerged from his row and knelt without saying a word. Buku glanced at the green figure without a need to look down, as the creature was that enormous and mentally prepared for her experiments. Wanting to put up a small show, she extended her hand with an elegant motion and pressed against the slightly damp forehead of her first test subject, injecting her magical power.
The spell to make someone into an undying immortal was simple. In fact, after the first dozens of summons, it felt practically natural. No wonder Ainz never hesitated to summon undead for his cause with how easy it was. She poured mana into Zenberu as she watched his very being change before her. The crowd watched with bated breath, unsure if anything was happening at all for one of their strongest. With the changes primarily being internal, there wasn't any outward indication that the clan leader was experiencing any changes at all.
Inwardly, however, the lizardman felt his mortality seeping away as his soul basked in the unshielded presence of his Goddess, becoming something more. Zenberu gasped. "I have never felt anything like this. Your power… I cannot grasp…"
"Now you know me. Rise and know you are an eternal servant in my armies. As long as you believe, you will never taste death," Buku announced, removing her hands.
Zenberu did as told and rose, his muscles twitching, his eyes glistening with determination and, by New World standards, power. "I am ready to serve!"
"Good. Let's make sure you know what you are now." Buku's hand blitzed too fast for anyone but Cocytus to see. What the crowd experienced was a loud soundwave, followed by a blast of air and Zenberu missing his midsection entirely in a single moment.
The surprised Lizardman blinked and crumbled into dust before their eyes, only to reappear next to the nearest Valkyrie.
"That was strange. I expected a lot more pain. Now I understand." Zenberu dusted himself off and let out a laugh, chuckling.
"That doesn't mean I can't put you through hell, should you decide to disobey me," Buku remarked.
"No, of course, I wouldn't dare." Zenberu gulped nervously. Now that he knew the true power of the Goddess, he couldn't imagine ever defying her will ever again.
"Good. Let's carry on then." Buku already turned her attention to the next target. With the majority of volunteers being male, there weren't as many notable options for creating a Valkyrie, but more immortals could always be made later.
She randomly picked one of the lizardmen women and beckoned for her to walk forward. Unlike Zenberu, the female wasn't taller than her, unassuming in every way.
Now assured that nothing would go wrong, Buku started the spell without hesitation. This time there were outward changes, distinct ones that drew the awe of everyone around. A pair of white wings sprouted out of the woman's back and a silvery plate armor seemingly grew out of her skin and took shape around her body, all while still retaining body proportions.
Same as with Zenberu, Buku killed the woman the moment the transformation had ended with a swing of her fist, and same as before, the figure crumbled to dust and reappeared a moment later next to the Valkyrie priest who was set as a respawn point for the rest of her kind. Should the Valkyrie Priest perish, she would reappear next to Buku, ready to continue fighting.
'That went without a hitch. and I still have enough mana for a few more.' Buku turned her attention to the goblins next. The race of the small green-skinned creatures was far more numerous than the lizardmen, but at the same time, much weaker individually. Still, the idea of someone having to fight off a green immortal horde immensely amused her, given how she too had once suffered as a gamer under a seemingly immortal horde of beginner traps before.
The first thing she noted after converting goblins into undying or Valkyries was that they required a lot more mana, rendering the amount she could convert lower. On the plus side, they reached the same level of power as the rest as her power compensated for their weaknesses, making it a fair tradeoff.
'I guess I will have to stop for the day. Kinda sucks that I still have so little to spend. Maybe I could… hmm, the tentacle face would treat it like an experiment and knowing him…' She weighed her options on asking for more direct Tabula's help in getting a larger mana pool.
The tug of war between the desire to be more powerful and better prepared for her role, and the fear of Tabula messing things up and putting her through pure hell, went on in her mind for a good minute. In the end, the sense of self-preservation claimed the victory and she settled on more natural growth, choosing to expand her pool through repeated ascensions instead of whatever torture the brain eater could scheme up in the name of alchemy.
"Continue preparations and make sure the new units get front rows. I will continue making more tomorrow." She ordered Cocytus and retreated into her tent that was erected in the middle of the whole clearing, acting as her temporary office for the time being.
Using gates and teleportation ten times a day was a waste of resources after all, and she couldn't abuse Aureole's desire to be useful too much should her friends take notice and start rationing Nazarick's resources too much. Albedo in particular was pushing for efficiency and a more frugal approach wherever she could, as it was how Ainz approached things, and his future wife wanted to emulate this behavior to its fullest, no matter if other Supreme Beings were involved. She had already slashed Tabula's resources by a tenth despite his protests, she could do the same for her.
There wasn't much reason to complain about the current arrangement though. The ten by ten meters sized tent was spacious and furnished to the same quality as her living space in Nazarick, more than she could've ever asked for on Earth. There was a soft sofa to take naps on, a large office table with a comfortable seat to rest on, and a dining area with magically preserved meals catered specifically to her whenever she felt hungry.
Buku plopped in the office chair and accepted a large glass of wine from the maid with a content sigh, leaning back. The work day was far from over, so a little break wouldn't hurt.
As things usually went, her peace wasn't meant to last. Pero, in the best traditions of the younger brother, had a gut instinct to bother her in the worst of times, and today was surely no exception.
"Hey, sis, slacking off as usual?" He teased right after teleporting in and crashing onto the sofa, dropping feathers everywhere.
"Go fuck yourself with a cactus!" She grumbled back and gulped down the drink in a single moment. The maid rushed over to refill the glass and then offered one Pero as well.
"Happy to see you too. No thanks. I don't drink during work hours." Pero politely declined to infuriate his sister even more.
"Why do you have to be like this?" Buku glanced at him with a tired expression.
"Giving up already?" Pero chuckled.
"I have a mountain of work and you had to come right in during the break!" She hissed.
"Hey, I was busy with morning training. Don't be grumpy, you'll get wrinkles on your face."
"Right… So are you giving me your psycho for covert ops or not?" She just gave up.
"Sure. Clementine is itching to play. You can have my whole crew actually. They've got nothing better to do anyway. Things are kinda quiet on Ulbert's end so they're just sitting around and sparring." Pero stretched himself with a crack. "Hell, I can go off something personally if you need somebody to."
"Sure, I'll take them all, but I doubt there's anyone for you to kill personally. There's nothing stronger than Wisey in the whole area. Though some locals say that sometimes dragons descend from the mountains, but that hasn't been verified," Buku replied with a yawn.
"Group encounter. That should be fun. We haven't had one in… shit, two years, I think. When did we last fight a world-level enemy?" Pero perked up, reminiscing of old times.
"Two years sounds about right. Going all out would be fun. Though Ainz wouldn't be happy if we devastated half of the forest for shits and giggles."
"Ehh, he'll be fine. Just give Albedo something kinky to wear and get them an evening off and he'll be fine." Her brother chuckled.
"Careful now. If they catch on to your devious plan, your ass is fried chicken. Anyhow, It's better if I don't find something too strong to fight at the moment. I have my hands full as it is." Buku shook her head, trying to stifle laughter at her brother's suggestion.
"The goat won't report my idea to them… probably. Just give me a heads up if there is anything for me to kill and have fun!" Pero jumped to his feet, stretched his wings, and cracked his back. "I'll be off then."
"The goat will do what benefits him the most. And I know you're listening in, you horned bastard. I can sense your agents lurking around!" Buku spoke loudly to no one in particular, flaring her aura.
Though there was no real power struggle between the players, a friendly competition existed between them all, and it seemed Ulbert was hellbent on getting ahead of others. She, by all means, was the last when it came to accomplishments and needed to step up her game as fast as possible to catch up.
Editing by aidan_lo.
Proofreading by aidan_lo, fvvck, LionLover, Sluethen, Mfkzrocker, IAMTHEPLOKOKIOPO, x4x, clagan, and Stac.
Link my discord server (https://discord.gg/WmGKVU3XG2)