"So this is it, huh. The end of Yggdrasil…"
Momonga, guild master of Ainz Ooal Gown, sat atop the Throne of Kings, the very symbol of his guild's former glory.
There was a time when the nine realms knelt before them. Not even a force of 1500 players, NPCs, and mercenary monsters could breach the Great Tomb of Nazarick.
But those days were now nothing more than memories.
23:58:33
His glowing crimson eyes drifted across the throne room, taking in the banners of his departed comrades, their symbols adorning the throne room left and right.
"Maybe we'll meet again in another game..."
He stood up, holding in his hands the guild staff, a powerful weapon forged out of the best materials Yggdrasil had to offer. Yet, in all his years, he had never wielded it against another player.
Some claimed that in moments like this, time seemed to slow down.
For Momonga, it did the opposite.
Even as an Eclipse, a master of time, he could not halt the inevitable countdown.
23:59:55
"It was fun…"
He closed his eyes, prepared to wake in his chair, back in the real world.
What would he be without Yggdrasil?
It was a part of him; without it, something would be missing in his life—a void would remain, one that nothing else could ever fill.
00:00:00
…
'Huh?'
The familiar sensation of disconnection never came. No login screen. No return to his mundane reality.
Instead, he was faced with something completely different.
As Momonga opened his eyes, he found himself above a city.
It wasn't anywhere in Yggdrasil.
'This city doesn't look like any architecture from Yggdrasil. Seems like 21st-century-type buildings. Did the devs make a new kind of game? Is this the beta?' Momonga frowned.
"[GM Call]"
He tried but didn't see himself connecting to a Game Master.
'Wait, I don't even have a HUD anymore?'
Typically, any virtual dive game has a user interface. Not having one would be dangerous, as it could trick the brain into believing the virtual world to be real.
'Wait! I'm still in my Yggdrasil avatar!' He realized his hands were made of bones, his rings each shining bright like a star. 'And I got to keep all my items? Maybe this really is some early access to a new game they're releasing, which only the most loyal players of Yggdrasil can test!' He almost wanted to praise the devs for giving him such an opportunity.
Still, it was late. He needed to log out, sleep, and wake up for work in the morning. He didn't want to be tired, which would decrease his work performance.
'Now, let's see what I can do here.'
The city's skyline was unlike anything he had seen, even in the most advanced VR environments. The level of detail was unsettlingly realistic.
Then it hit him that he was exposed for far too long. A veteran player like him should've done this from the start.
'Shit! I forgot [Perfect Unknowable]!'
It was a spell that completely erased one's presence. It was the best concealment spell he possessed. He would generally have it active most of the time when traveling the realms of Yggdrasil.
'Let's get a closer look.'
He descended closer to the ground, passing the towering buildings. He could see people working inside, probably a pre-recorded video that would loop repeatedly.
'How many NPCs are there? They don't seem to stop!' He carefully watched what he thought to be cars travel the road, stop at red lights, and wait until it turned green to continue driving. Pedestrians drank coffee, talked to each other, walked into stores, and so on.
He even witnessed a man running away from the police, only to be run over by a car.
'I never thought they would make something as realistic as this. It's as if this here is real…' Yggdrasil was one of the best DMMORPG's he had ever played, but its NPC capacity and action was nothing compared to what he saw right now.
These NPCs were behaving oddly for programs—flawed.
'Still, I wonder why I'm wearing my Yggdrasil items. It's not like this is based in a medieval setting—'
BOOM!
Momonga's head darted behind him as he heard a massive explosion, smoke rising into the sky, screams echoing through the city.
'What? Are other players already fighting each other? Or maybe a special event?' Momonga's thoughts raced through the possibilities of what went on in the distance.
He wouldn't want to meddle with their fight if they were enemy players. If he heard it, other players did as well. Meaning he wouldn't be the only one seeking an easy kill. There would always be another player to third-party him. As much as he played Yggdrasil, he was not a top-tier player.
However, the lack of special skills and effects made him wonder if it could be an event. Even in that case, players would be drawn to it.
'It's not like I have anything to lose.'
He increased his speed, moving toward the commotion. Whole buildings were laid to ruin, streets torn up, and corpses were scattered everywhere. But he barely spared them a glance.
Soon, he found himself in front of a plaza, portals disappearing right as he arrived. He could see some defeated green-colored creatures lying around with rifles in their hands.
'Doesn't seem like the [Gate] spell to me.' Momonga narrowed his eyes.
These portals were different. They were dark red, its edges glowing yellow, not the purple portals he knew of. Perhaps an enhanced version of the spell or a similar version of it was developed for this new game.
But he had no time to focus on those as his attention was drawn elsewhere.
Five figures stood amidst the chaos—four humans, no older than twenty, and a mechanical being that looked like a rust-colored automaton.
'From the looks of it, they seemed to stop some sort of invasion.' Momonga went closet to scrutinize them further.
Their attire was bizarre.
They were kids no older than 20 in costumes he had never seen in Yggdrasil. While wild-looking items existed in Yggdrasil, their clothes seemed more like uniforms than armor a warrior or robes a mage would wear.
The first, a boy in a blue-yellow suit with shattered goggles, was covered in bruises. Blood trickled from his nose, yet he stood defiantly.
To his right, another boy in a yellow-orange suit with strange glasses. He strangely reminded him of the police uniforms back in his real world. However, those glasses were out of place, and he looked like a ski instructor from those ads he hated.
Behind them, two girls—one in a pink costume, her long red hair flowing, and another with black hair, clad in purple.
And finally, the robot. His first thought was whether it was to be an automaton or the only armored person in their party.
'They're a colorful bunch… Wait! Suits, an alien invasion, a diverse team; they're superheroes!'
Momonga was never one to play games that involved heroes with superpowers. He preferred fantasy worlds' rich, complex mechanics, where strategies revolved around item builds and class synergies.
He loved to equip his persona with enchanted items, each granting him a unique ability he didn't have before. The thought of leveling up your character and selecting your desired racial and job classes was thrilling for Momonga.
In superhero games, you start with one or two abilities and would not grow much further from there.
'[Mana Essence]' '[Life Essence]'
'Huh, no mana at all. And their HP doesn't seem that high.' Momonga used spells to identify a target's mana and hp, which is a good way of gauging one's opponent's strength and level.
'Probably because this isn't a fantasy setting.'
Then, an idea struck him.
A grin formed in his mind, even if his skeletal face couldn't express it.
'Maybe I was put here in this city for a reason. They're heroes… I'm from a guild of villains. I could fight them for fun. Maybe they drop some rare item I get to keep when the game fully releases.' Momonga still had his staff in his hand, wondering if he should use it. 'Meh, Why not? It's not like Nazarick exists anymore. Probably deleted right away.'
His crimson eyes blazed with dark amusement.
Ainz Ooal Gown was also a guild notorious for their roleplaying as villains, Momonga being one of them who optified his build for that purpose and not PVP. He could've improved his avatar with better classes, but chose not to.
For years, he had roleplayed as the ultimate villain, embracing his guild's infamous legacy.
Now, in this unfamiliar world, that legacy could begin anew.
Momonga straightened, power surging through his undead body.
'Time to spread the name of Ainz Ooal Gown in this new game.'
"Oh, woah, woah, woah! Omni-Man's your dad?"
"Yeah…"
There was nothing more to say. Mark's father had disappeared into a portal, not something he would do every day. He even asked himself if his father would find a way back. But he always did. So, he would return this time too... right?
"Alright, let's go back to headquarters—"
CRACK!
The sky darkened in an instant, swirling clouds forming above them like a storm summoned by an angry god. A blinding lightning bolt ripped through the heavens, aiming straight for the Teen Team.
"Watch out!"
Atom Eve quickly created a forcefield, and right after, lightning struck with the force of a bomb, destroying the barrier but leaving them unharmed. A shockwave sent dust and debris flying, and their ears rang from the impact.
"What was that!" Rex had already jumped to the ground with his hands over his head. "Is god mad at us?"
"It seems a paranormal cloud loaded with lightning has formed above us. It… just disappeared." Robot asserted. He didn't have time to analyze the phenomenon, for it vanished as fast as it appeared. "This was not a natural occurrence."
"Oh really?" Rex scoffed. "No way I would've figured that out."
Before they could say another word, a deep, commanding voice echoed from above.
"So… you survived my first attack. Impressive."
Their heads snapped upward.
The one to whom the voice belonged was not someone they had expected to see.
A figure descended from the sky, bathed in an ominous presence. He was death itself, clad in flowing black robes that billowed unnaturally. His form was that of a skeletal creature, a smile upon its skull no one could ever forget.
Rings adorned each of his fingers, glowing ominously.
And in its hand, it held a golden staff of immense beauty and dread.
Two huge shoulder plates of some creature's bone rested on the side of its head, each with a giant red orb inside.
If one looked closer, there was a pulsing red sphere in its stomach, at least where a stomach would be. There was nothing human about its appearance except for its two legs and arms. The amount of ribs did not match up to a regular human, nor did the extremely sharp edges on its chin.
A human skeleton would have round edges, as it would not damage the skin. Whatever creature this was, it never bore flesh to begin with.
It was being of pure dread. A presence that demanded reverence—or submission.
There was a pause. Then—
"Who's this supposed to be? Skeletor? The Grim Reaper?" Rex managed to blurt a sentence out. And, of course, it was a joke, which eased the tension a bit.
"Who are you! What do you want?" Invincible demanded, fist clenched. He was exhausted, still sore from the fight against the Flaxans, but this wasn't over. Not yet.
"I am…" The figure began, but then hesitated.
'What name should I use? Moonga sounds ridiculous, it's the name of a squirrel! Should I use the name of our guild? Maybe they'll remember me as some great villain forever engraved into this game's lore.'
"I am… Ainz Ooal Gown!" He continued, speaking the name as if it weighed a thousand and one suns. He spread his arms for dramatic effect, and the wind started to move his robe as if on command. And then, as the final touch, he activated his Disaster Aura.
They watched, mouths agape as he proclaimed his name, the light around him distorting as he excluded an intimidating presence.
'Got them!'
"Weird name." Rex muttered, already reaching for one of his explosives.
Ainz felt something snap inside him.
'It's a normal name!'
His nonexistent eyes locked onto Rex instantly.
'These NPCs are rather reactive for mere programs. But they will regret disrespecting the name Ainz Ooal Gown.' He recognized he could actually talk to them like real human beings, and they would talk back. It felt, weird.
"Enough talk! Perish!" Ainz raised his free hand.
While he wanted to make a good act, he didn't feel like using much mana to defeat them. An army of undead would do.
"[Undeath Army]"
The ground beneath them darkened, as if a shadow had encompassed them all. But it did not harm them. A sickening crack echoed as skeletal hands burst from the asphalt, clawing their way up.
"Uhm, guys? What's happening?"
From the ground, skeletons emerged, pulling themselves up, swords and shields in hand as they growled and snarled at the superheroes. They moved with unnatural precision, a grotesque parody of human soldiers.
"From an alien invasion to a zombie apocalypse. Oh, come on!" Rex let out an exasperated groan. and prepared his explosive projectiles. "What's next, vampire cowboys?"
He didn't wait for another second, throwing one of his projectiles at the next skeleton, pulverizing it instantly.
"Kate, Rex, and I deal with the skeletons. You two should fight him." Robot ordered Atom Eve and Invincible, who nodded despite being hurt a little.
"On it!"
'Interesting. They're really planning how to take me down! I loved to have NPC's like this in Yggdrasil! Huh—?'
Before Ainz could muse further, he was interrupted by a flying fist about to crash into his skull.
'[Teleportation]!'
He teleported some meters back, seeing the yellow-suited hero having his arm extended to form a punch.
He was surprised to be able to react to such an attack. He might have seen it coming if he hadn't been distracted by himself.
Maybe it wouldn't have hurt him, but Ainz wasn't ready to sacrifice his face to find that out.
"Insolent hero!" Ainz yelled, a lightning bolt emerging from his fingertip with the shape of a dragon aimed at Invincible. He barely had time to throw up his arms before the electric current surged through his body, sending him crashing into the side of a building.
"Invincible!" Eve screamed, but turned her attention back on Ainz as she was about to face her back to him. The first thing she learned was never to turn from your enemy. "You'll regret coming here." Without further warning, she shot a burst of energy at Ainz, planning on pushing him back until Mark could recover.
The pink-hued projectiles soared toward him—only to crash against an invisible barrier, shattering harmlessly like glass.
"I can't hit him! He's got some sort of barrier, like mine, but way stronger!" Eve shouted down to Robot, hoping he had any other plan to beat 'Skeletor.'
Perhaps Invincible could do something against him. Or they could find a weakness to exploit. But they had no way of knowing what worked and what didn't. Their enemy was unknown and powerful. Maybe even above their league. Where were the Guardians of the Globe when they needed them?
"Your attempts are futile. You are too weak to hurt me." His deep voice reverberated through the battlefield, commanding fear and respect. "I will ensure that heroes become a thing of the past."
"Shut up!"
Invincible came flying out of nowhere, sucker-punching the Overlord in his ribs and sending him flying away, following suit. Seeing this
Eve stood there frozen for a second before she turned to the group beneath.
"I'll help you out!" Eve focused on the undead horde, creating energy waves that pulverized rows of skeletons into ash.
"You were unable to harm him, but Invincible wasn't?" Robot inquired, curious to know what exactly transpired.
"I don't know, okay! Maybe he can only react to things he sees or knows are coming!" Eve said back.
"That means he either has reaction limits or doesn't register certain attacks as threats!" Robot theorized.
"Can we talk about how we went from fighting green aliens to literal skeletons? Isn't this crazy?" Rex jumped over one skeleton, exploding it from the back. "What does this guy even want with us?"
"Further information about him is required. We need to find a weakness or a way to beat—"
Before Robot could continue, they saw a flying Invincible heading their way, landing straight before them, forming a crater and crushing any skeletons in his way.
"Invincible!" Eve rushed to his side. "Are you okay?"
He didn't seem to be able to move at all.
"I... hate... skeletons..." He muttered weakly.
"What happened to him? I thought he was invincible?" Rex asked, but it wasn't really a question to begin with. But Eve had no time for his jokes.
"Robot, can you come over here?" Eve called him over as she fended off skeletons left and right.
With a thud, Robot went to one knee, measuring his pulse.
"He seems fine, but unable to move. No signs of toxins or poisons." Most of the time, that would be a good sign. However, now he had no methods of ascertaining what would be able to help Invincible get out of this state.
"Strong, but not strong enough."
"[Shockwave]"
A burst of wind pushed all of them off their feet. It was as if an invisible force pushed them back without a way to resist it.
The mysterious villain now hovered directly above them, looming over the team like a deadly shadow ready to consume them all.
"I could smite you with my foot. There are more ways I could kill you than known colors! But I will pick the worst one for you for slandering the name of Ainz Ooal Gown."
A kick came flying by, aimed at his head. However, instead of doing any damage, the attack did nothing to the Overlord.
"Ow!" One of Dupli-Kate's clones touched her shin in pain. "His bones must be made from met—"
A hand encompassing the clone's head interrupted her. She tried to resist, to get out of the skeletal grip, but to no avail. It's as if a statue had grabbed her head and wouldn't let go.
Ainz swung her onto the ground with one sweep, not expecting the force behind his move.
Her body collided with the road head-on, blood splashing from her in all directions.
"Shit!" Kate exclaimed, slowly getting up. While alive, she could feel her clone's pain in real time.
'This can't be…'
Ainz froze. No, he couldn't believe his eyes. Such a thing was impossible.
'Gore is prohibited in any kind of dive-virtual game.'
He continued to stare at the mess he just made. It was not a pretty sight. Her body was smushed completely.
While he had seen his fair share of corpses in the real world, he never imagined he would cause such a scene himself.
Teen Team had thought their time had come. Nothing was able to stop the monster Ainz Ooal Gown. The two strongest fought against him and could do nothing to halt the Overlord.
But then, something unexpected happened.
"Huh, where…where did he go?" Rex said, massaging his arm on which he landed.
The air was still. The battlefield eerily quiet.
"Did we win?" Kate asked, barely standing.
It seems they had survived another calamity out of sheer luck.
"He…vanished. No traces left of him." Robot had put himself back together. But not even he could find where their mysterious villain had gone.
"Maybe… Maybe it's for the best."
"Where exactly am I?"
Ainz had teleported himself ten kilometers away at random. Accidentally, he landed in an apartment home, materializing right into an elderly woman. Sadly, she did not survive having a seven-foot Overlord teleport into her.
Ainz stared at her corpse with much contemplation.
'I do not feel a thing. I killed her, but I have no regret. Nothing.' She had likely lived a full life, had family members who loved her, children or grandchildren who would miss her. But now she was gone, and the one responsible for that a monster in every word.
"...I need information."
Ainz began searching the apartment, looking for any means to access the internet. He didn't know what kind of technology people possessed in this kind of age, making it somewhat difficult.
The most he could find were books and radios.
His gaze, however, landed on something promising—a calendar hanging in the kitchen.
'2022…That's over a century before my time.'
Ainz furrowed his nonexistent brows. 2138 looked nothing like the world he was in right now. it was a dystopia ruled by greedy corporations and governments that did not have the well-being of their citizens in mind. Yet, from what he had seen so far, this world looked… normal. Almost too normal.
'Could this really be a game? No, that doesn't make sense…'
The thought had been gnawing at him since his encounter with those so-called "heroes." Their reactions, their emotions, the way they strategized—everything felt too real.
If this wasn't a game…
'Am I in another world?'
He had read manga's where people would be reincarnated into fantasy worlds, but he had never expected to be the one experiencing it firsthand.
'If this is true, I must think some things through.'
He was no longer an office worker, an ordinary human scraping by in a dying world. He was now an Overlord—a supreme undead being wielding unimaginable power.
'But what am I gonna do now? My life just changed from office worker to an undead with incredible powers.' He glanced at the staff, realizing his vision had become truth. Finally, the name of Ainz Ooal Gown would be known by everyone in infamy.
A sudden noise plucked him from his thoughts as a rectangular box lit up in the living room, portraying a live video.
'So this is where they get their information. This must be a screen.'
What he saw on the TV appeared to be a news broadcast.
"I'm-I'm at a loss for how to report this, but the Guardians of the Globe are dead."
Ainz's eyes gleamed with interest.
'Guardians of the Globes? Sounds like a guild name.'
Soon, pictures of the fallen heroes appeared on the screen, all wearing superhero costumes, erasing the suspicion that they were fellow players.
'Someone killed them. If this is a real world, as real as the one I came from, I can't be careful enough.' He quickly put his staff away, storing it in his inventory.
'Magic still works, and I know every spell I have in my possession to the very last. I also feel extremely…calm.' In any situation like this, a normal human would not be able to think straight. Being taken from your original world and put into another was not something the regular Joe would expect.
'I need to make a base first. A place where I will be safe. Then, I need to make some cash. Or maybe that first.' His looter instincts kicked in. While he wouldn't rob the home of an old woman usually, she wouldn't need her money anymore to begin with.
'Now, where did she keep her money? They still use paper money here, right?'
He quickly found a leather bag with a wallet inside. There, he found 200 dollars, which wasn't much.
'I don't know the exact worth of dollars in yen, but 200 dollars are nothing to fund me some sort of apartment.' He continued his search, which made for an odd picture: A skeletal undead rummaging around the home of an elderly woman.
Inside a closet, he finally found a simple safe. He ripped the front part open with his fingers, revealing a stash of money and a golden watch.
'I'll let them keep the watch.'
All in all, he had looted 2400 dollars from the woman's apartment—a success in his eyes.
Suddenly, he heard a knock on the apartment door.
"Grandma?"
Ainz froze. Without hesitation, he activated [Perfect Unknownable].
There, a young woman entered, no, a girl, probably not even 18 years old, her voice filled with concern.
'She's gonna see the mess I made of her grandmother. I should fix this.'
'[Restore Corpse]'
Before the girl entered the room, the elderly woman's mangled remains slowly reconstructed, her body resetting to an undisturbed, lifeless state with her face pointed to the ground.
"Grandma!"
The girl gasped, rushing to her side as tears welled in her eyes.
Ainz observed from the shadows, unmoved.
If he were still human, perhaps he would have felt sympathy for her.
But now, there was only calculation.
'They'll notice the cash missing and believe a robber saw the opportunity to rob the old woman. My job is done here.'
Still, he hesitated.
He could've revived her, but his inventory didn't have infinite wands for resurrection. And with her low level, there was no guarantee she would survive the process.
It wasn't worth the risk.
Ainz turned away.
'Time to go.'
The air inside the Global Defense Agency was suffocatingly tense. The Guardians of the Globe, the best superhero team to exist, were wiped out, slaughtered in the dark, only discovered when they failed to return to their civilian lives.
"Get an extraction team out there now." Cecil ordered, the rapid clicking of keyboards following. "Tell the French President we have it covered. And pull up the picture of the new villain the Teen Team fought."
"Sir, we weren't able to make any pictures." Cecil's gaze snapped to Donald, his ever-reliable right-hand man. "Our drones simply…exploded."
A beat of silence.
"You're telling me our state-of-the-art, high-speed reconnaissance drones just malfunctioned?" Cecil narrowed his eyes.
"No, sir. There must have been something—some force—interfering. It's possible the entity noticed them and destroyed them."
"All thirty-two of them, invisible, able to make pictures in less than a nanosecond and send them to us per satellite?" Cecil's tone shaprened.
"Yes…" Donald confessed, and Cecil let out a heavy sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"What about Robot. If electronics don't work around our new enemy, why didn't he get fried?"
"I was about to mention that. Robot was able to manually sketch an extremely detailed image of the target. The quality is about twenty-five percent lower than what our drones would have captured, but it's enough." Donald injected a USB stick into a computer, and an image appeared on the huge screen before them.
Cecil's expression darkened.
"You could've just started with this, Donald, really."
The figure on screen was draped in flowing midnight robes, a skeletal visage leering back at him. It was like staring at the embodiment of Death itself.
"We know its name is Ainz Ooal Gown. Abilities shown are: Teleportation; can freely teleport to a different location, range is unknown. Weather Manipulation; was able to create a dark cloud over Teen Team. Electricity Manipulation; was able to hit Invincible with lightning that sent him back. Presence Concealment; did appear out of thin air, and we were unable to trace it anywhere. It can also create copies of itself, "zombies" or "skeletons," that can attack independently. What Robot also described was that it possessed a forcefield and regular attacks did not hurt it at all and he could paralyze Invincible for a certain time." Donald surmised, keeping it as short as he could but not overlooking any details.
Cecil remained silent, absorbing the information. His fingers drummed against his arm in contemplation.
"As if dealing with regular villains wasn't enough, now we have this thing walking around." He exhaled slowly, trying to suppress the mounting stress. "No… everything has a weakness. I don't care if we have to dig through ancient tomes or long-forgotten scrolls—find me something on this guy."
Before he continued, he noticed his breath growing visible.
"I need the room, now! Let the screen on."
Except for Cecil and Donald, all the personnel left the room, leaving the two alone.
"Well? Enlighten me."
He spoke, knowing that a third person had joined them a while ago, undetected.
"Know one thing for sure." A deep, gravelly voice rumbled. "No one else at scene of murders. Only Guardians. Omni-Man. Which means killer is one of them." The figure was a red-colored demon, clothed in detective robes and a hat.
"One of them? There's a hundred supervillains who don't leave a trace. Who turn into smoke, living electricity, or only exist in dreams." Cecil paused. "Or seem untraceable…Can you tell me what you know about this guy?" Cecil pointed to the picture of the skeletal figure. "One of your guys?"
For the first time, Cecil saw Damien Darkblood be mildly curious as he focused on the mysterious figure.
"Can't say. There are many demons. I have sensed a presence before. Could be him." Damien analyzed the figure deeper.
"Maybe…Maybe he could've killed the Guardians. We aren't able to trace him at all as if he's a ghost. No, even ghosts we can find. He's just gone." Cecil informed the demon.
"From his own words: I will ensure that heroes will become a thing of the past. This could be a confession." Donald supplied, repeating what had been recorded from Ainz's encounter with the Teen Team.
"Could be. Cannot investigate him. Something blocking me. If I pushed further, he would find out." Damien answered.
That got Cecil's full attention.
"…Blocking you?"
"If I push further… he will know."
A tense silence settled over the room.
"So he can't be surveilled… Can you tell me anything more about him?" Cecil tried getting even the last drop out of the demonic detective.
"Not human. Uses magic. Extremely powerful. But suspicion still on Omni-Man." He persisted in his investigations that the surviving hero was the cause of their murder, which Cecil didn't want to believe.
"Alright. Don't mention what you said here to anybody else. If you do, I'll send you to hell myself. Got it!"
The demon only grunted before he vanished from sight.
"Put an A-6 surveillance team on the Graysons."
"Sir?"
"The killer's still out there, Donald. If this 'Ainz Ooal Gown' wants to finish the job, he will want to kill Omni-Man next. Even if we can't see him on our cameras, we will know if he's there when they malfunction."