My family runs an adventurer's guild.

"...Indeed, in this cruel world where the strong prey on the weak, we humans cannot survive and expand without the courage to fight and the awareness to sacrifice. But that is no excuse for us to arbitrarily throw our warriors into death traps!"

High Priestess Benesh of Fire interjected, "...Even with our nation's strength, an elite force like the [Six-Colored Holy Scripture] isn't something we can easily assemble! By the way, [the text abruptly ends here, likely due to an incomplete sentence or a missing section.]"

She turned her face to the highest priest on the main seat and asked.

"...Unfortunately, [Astrology Across the Miles] did not obtain any clear divination results, only the previous vague ominous sign. At the time, we speculated that this might foreshadow the resurrection of the Destruction Dragon King. But now it seems that this ominous sign might fall upon the ruins of the Kaz Plains."

The High Priest replied, "...That's all the information we have, and we must make a decision as soon as possible, whether to fight or retreat—if we continue to delay, other forces may discover the ruins!"

"...Alas, whether that ruin contains a demon god or a treasure remains a mystery. We'll only know once the battle begins."

High Priest Maximilian of Darkness sighed, "...but if a war really breaks out, there's at least a 50% chance we'll suffer heavy losses..."

"...But even with this dilemma, we probably still have no choice but to try and conquer that ruin!"

The High Priest finally voiced his opinion, "...Have you considered this question: even if that ruin truly harbors a demon god or one of the Eight Greed Kings, and we've relayed this information to various factions around the world, will they believe our intelligence or suspect it's a hoax? And even if they do believe us, will they really do as we wish, deploying their most valuable resources to explore that mysterious ruin permeated with an evil aura?"

Chapter 137, A Desperate Battle (Part 1)

The people in the conference room were speechless in the face of the questions raised by the Supreme High Priest.

Clearly, this world is not the chessboard of the Slane Theocracy, and the various forces are not its pawns. They are unlikely to obediently follow the script devised by the Slane Theocracy and fight to the death with the demon that may exist in the ruins, thus buying time for the Slane Theocracy.

In fact, as experienced politicians, they are fully capable of predicting the likely actions of various countries next.

The Blood Emperor of the Bahars Theocracy will thank the Theocracy for the reminder, and then instruct his confidants to hire adventurers and "black market workers" to explore the ruins.

As for the Kingdom of Riyestege, where internal strife and infighting among the royal family and nobility have intensified, it's unlikely they'll be able to mount a normal response. Instead, a new round of conflict will erupt over this issue. The powerful nobles will pressure the royal family to send their last remaining elite troops to their deaths at the ruins of the Kaz Plains, perhaps even ambushing them along the way. Meanwhile, the not-too-foolish king will try to shift the blame.

In the end, they'll mostly just offer bounties to recruit adventurers to risk their lives in the ruins, much like the situation in the Empire.

Those evil organizations that disdain human life might actually be quick to act upon hearing the news, using coercion and deception to gather a large number of cannon fodder to serve as scouts at the ruins, while they themselves, along with their trusted cronies, wait behind to reap the rewards of victory and eliminate other competitors in the process.

In other words, it is very likely that before they even engaged in combat with the monsters in the ruins, the humans sent from various places had already slaughtered their way to the point of leaving corpses strewn everywhere.

What decisions the dragon kings who have survived since ancient times, as well as the powerful alien races with whom humans have a hostile relationship, will make after receiving news of the mysterious ruins in the Kaz Plains, remains to be seen.

Even in the most pessimistic scenario, if the demon god that descends this time is not the destructive maniac that cannot communicate with the last one, but can communicate with the "Eight Greed Kings" from five hundred years ago, then perhaps some people will want to use the other's power to form an alliance to deal with the Slane Theocracy!

After all, to be fair, while the Eight Desire Kings of five hundred years ago brought profound disasters to the entire continent, they also greatly benefited humanity. Now, the tables have turned, and it's only natural that other races would want to follow suit and use this advantage against them.

"...If we want the entire continent to unite and jointly deal with the possible outbreak of another demon god chaos, then we must first prove that the mysterious ruins of the Kaz Plains do indeed harbor demon gods or similar beings. To this end, our country must first contribute its own strength as a stepping stone..."

The High Priest concluded, "...Only by proving that a demon god does indeed exist in the ruins can we unite the power of the entire world to fight against it. Otherwise, we will only waste time scheming against each other and betraying one another, allowing the terrifying beings that may be hiding in the ruins to become even stronger!"

Moreover, based on my speculation, when Negan led the Sunlight Codex to conquer the ruins in the Kaz Plains, he did not encounter any terrifying beings more powerful than vampires. This may be because those vampires were already the strongest force guarding the ruins, or it may be because the demon god or something similar to a demon god in the ruins is currently in a slumber and has not yet had time to awaken.

If we can seize this brief opportunity and storm the ruins before the demon god revives, killing the sleeping demon god, then we can stop this catastrophe at the lowest cost and seize a large number of precious artifacts, items, and treasures.

Conversely, if we, out of fear of sacrifice, try to use others to fill the gaps, resulting in wasted time in endless wrangling and allowing the terrifying beings within the ruins to safely pass their weakened period… then we will be facing another catastrophe that will sweep across the continent.”

"...But all of this is just your speculation, and there is no reliable evidence to support it."

High Priestess Sinedin of the Water retorted, "...and to confirm your suspicions, our warriors will make unnecessary sacrifices."

"...Sacrifices are inevitable, but isn't it the duty of our warriors to sacrifice themselves on the battlefield against the aliens? As for whether it's necessary..."

"Haven't you ever sent small units on the battlefield to launch probing attacks, risking your soldiers' lives to find weaknesses in the enemy's defensive lines?"

The High Priest sighed and said, "...In short, we have no time to waste. Let's vote now! Raise your hands if you agree to mobilize all the forces at the front and immediately launch a second attack on the ruins of the Kaz Plains to investigate whether there are any demons hiding inside!"

Moments later, the highest ruling class of the Slane Theocracy passed a resolution by a narrow margin to launch a second raid on the ruins.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Thus, driven by orders issued domestically using communication magic, the entire Slane Theocracy, which had gathered on the Kaz Plains, including half of the elite special forces of the "Six-Colored Holy Scriptures" and some ordinary border cavalry, launched an attack on the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

Immediately, they crashed headfirst into the titanium alloy armor plate, or rather, stepped into a super fire pit flowing with lava.

—As a gamer who likes to show off but is also a coward at heart, Ainz Ooal Gown, when he left the Great Tomb of Nazarick to hunt and relax in the Great Forest of Toubu, although he did not think that any terrible enemies would take the opportunity to attack, just in case, he still ordered Albedo and Demiurge, who were left behind, to raise the alert level of the Great Tomb of Nazarick to the highest level, and also granted them the right to use World Items.

The problem is, when the Great Tomb of Nazarick was still a game, these NPCs, apart from automatically repelling invasions from various enemies according to the program settings, had no concept of alert levels.

So, after Ainz left, Albedo and Demiurge discussed how to establish this highest level of vigilance. They reached a preliminary conclusion: the military force should be deployed according to the most severe crisis the Great Tomb of Nazarick had ever faced.

What was the most severe military crisis that the Great Tomb of Nazarick encountered during the game era like?

—That's because Ainz Ooal Gown's (then called Momonga) guild somehow angered many people, and a 1500-person expeditionary force composed of eight guilds, mercenary players, and NPCs officially declared war on the Great Tomb of Nazarick and launched an attack!

Chapter 138, A Desperate Battle (Part 2)

In that battle where 1,500 people attacked the Great Tomb of Nazarick, there were at least 500 max-level (level 100) players in the enemy army, and the NPCs who participated in the battle were no less than the guardians of the various levels of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. They were simply incomparable to any force in the world of Overlord.

On the defensive side, the monsters automatically generated by the Great Tomb of Nazarick are usually no higher than level 30; for example, Shalltear's familiar, the "Vampire Bride," is around level 20. Against so many max-level players, these low-level monsters are utterly vulnerable, like paper.

Even the guardians on each floor couldn't withstand the relentless attacks of so many powerful individuals, and soon most of them were killed and their forces were broken through one after another.

Therefore, the players of the Ainz Ooal Gown guild who were in charge of this defensive battle did not dare to confront such an unprecedentedly powerful enemy head-on. They could only abandon the delusion of a decisive battle outside the Great Tomb and instead focus on a defensive battle with layers of blocking, desperately setting traps on each level of the Great Tomb.

For example, there are terrain effects that span several levels and continuously inflict 1 point of negative damage on outsiders; there are terrain effects that hinder magical effects that restore healing and positive energy; in addition, there are various teleportation traps set up to divide enemy teams. Add to that visually nullifying spaces, rooms filled with poison gas, and so on, all designed to hinder the progress of enemy players and NPCs.

Then, between the floors and traps of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, countless ordinary undead monsters, represented by zombies and skeletons, were crammed in, along with a large number of more terrifying original monsters. This at least somewhat slowed down the enemy's advance and caused some damage to them.

Even so, the combat power of hundreds of max-level players is simply incomparable to that of mere NPCs.

After a war of attrition, and having lost one-fifth of their forces, the player army that invaded the Great Tomb of Nazarick finally reached the eighth level of the Great Tomb of Nazarick... and then, they were instantly wiped out by Ainz Ooal Gown and his friends with a hidden weapon.

The specific cause and effect will not be described for the time being, but in any case, the complaints from those players afterwards almost overwhelmed the customer service of the "World Tree" game.

However, the Ainz Ooal Gown guild in the Great Tomb of Nazarick, through looting corpses and the aforementioned achievements, became one of the top ten guilds in the entire game.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

In short, after mentally rehearsing Ainz's instructions, Albedo and Demiurge formulated the highest level of alert for the Great Tomb of Nazarick, based on the situation of the 1500-strong expeditionary force's invasion of the Great Tomb. Simply put, this meant abandoning the extermination of the enemy in the wild and surface defense, instead luring the enemy deep into the tomb, using the complex terrain inside to continuously divide and block the enemy, and ultimately annihilate them completely.

Then, the second wave of Slane Theocracy sent to the Great Tomb of Nazarick just walked right in, enjoying the "warm hospitality" of this deadly killing system designed to counter the 1500-strong scavenger squad.

Compared to the 1500-strong expedition team that conquered the Great Tomb of Nazarick back in the game era, the expedition force hastily assembled by the Slane Theocracy not only has a total strength of less than two hundred people (the [Dark Scripture] dispatched this time is a small team of about ten people, similar to an adventurer team, and the [Grace Scripture] is also less than three digits in size; the remaining two teams have already been decimated), their combat strength is vastly different.

According to the power levels in the game [YGGDRASIL], the monsters automatically generated in the Great Tomb of Nazarick can reach a maximum level of 30. For example, Death Knights are level 30 to 35, Vampire Brides are level 20, and Goblin Patrols are level 8 to 12.

—In the eyes of gamers, these low-level monsters, which require virtually no cost, are simply the cheapest cannon fodder.

Further up, the combat maids of the "Pleiades Maid Corps" are between level 40 and 60, and are considered nothing more than decorative objects by players.

The high-end combat force of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, such as the female steward Albedo, the dragonman butler Sebastian, the demon strategist Demiurge, the dark elf siblings Aura and Mare, and Ainz Ooal Gown himself, are all at the maximum level of 100.

So, on the other hand, what is the average combat strength level of the indigenous forces in the world of "Overlord"?

Sadly, in Ainz Ooal Gown's eyes, most of the native powerhouses in the Overlord world are only at the level of monsters in the starting village.

For example, Clementine, one of the world's top warriors and a traitor to the Dark Codex, is around level 20 to 30 and could barely handle a vampire bride or a death knight—and such cannon fodder units are plentiful in the Great Tomb of Nazarick. Gazef, the Kingdom Warrior Captain, who is slightly stronger than "The Comical Sister" Clementine, is roughly at a similar combat level.

But in this world, these creatures, who are even inferior to the low-level monsters automatically generated by the Great Tomb of Nazarick, represent almost the pinnacle of individual human combat power. Apart from a handful of "divine beings" (descendants of those players left behind in this world) who wield "artifacts" (items left behind by other players) and possess "divine blood," no one else can defeat a Death Knight in a one-on-one fight.

However, in Ainz Ooal Gown's eyes, Death Knights were nothing more than the cheapest existence, like stray dogs, which could be found in countless quantities.

As for Negan, the captain of the [Sunlight Scripture], he was only around level 15, and his subordinates were generally no more than level 12. The strength of the [Wind Scripture] was similar to that of the [Sunlight Scripture], while the [Dark Scripture] was slightly stronger, but still not strong enough for all its members to be above level 40.

In other words, the Slane Theocracy's seemingly impressive "Six-Colored Holy Scripture" elite forces, apart from the strongest [Black Scripture], are roughly equivalent in combat strength to the goblin army that can be summoned indefinitely from the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

As for the regular army and militia, they couldn't even defeat the organized and equipped goblins of the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

Even going back a notch, the Platinum Dragon King, whom the Slane Theocracy considered a formidable enemy and dared not provoke, was only at the level of the combat maids of the "Pleiades Maid Corps," that is, level 50 to 60. He couldn't even defeat Shalltear, the relatively weak vampire progenitor among the guardians.

So, when Ainz Ooal Gown descended upon this world with the Great Tomb of Nazarick, it was truly like a max-level character wreaking havoc in the newbie village!

However, the second wave of conquest forces sent by the Slane Theocracy to the Great Tomb of Nazarick were completely unaware of this.

On the contrary, although they had some worries and doubts, after receiving clear orders from their homeland, they all rushed towards the evil-filled Great Tomb of Nazarick with a fearless spirit of protecting the world and averting catastrophe, as well as the expectation of finding precious treasures.

Then, of all 150-plus troops involved in the battle, not a single one managed to escape...

Chapter 139, A Desperate Battle (Part 2)

The specific course of the siege of the Great Tomb of Nazarick can be roughly summarized as follows:

First, following the strategy of the demon strategist Demiurge, when a "powerful enemy" was discovered to be attacking, a tactic of feigning weakness and luring the enemy deeper was adopted. The only resistance would be symbolic, consisting of skeletons and zombies automatically generated by the Great Tomb, gargoyles permanently stationed in the cemetery, and two death knights.

As for the vampire brides who made a name for themselves in the last battle... they were Shalltear's familiars, and the other guardians couldn't really command them. Moreover, when Shalltear went hunting with Ainz Ooal Gown, she had already taken most of the vampire brides with her, so the rest did not participate in the battle.

—In the eyes of Yalbed and Demiurge, this level of resistance was really just for show, a mere formality to make their presence known.

After all, apart from two level 30 mid-level undead [Death Knights], they didn't even send out any monsters above level 20 to fight.

For a max-level player in the game 【YGGDRASIL】, such weak defense would be easily broken.

However, in the eyes of the Slane Theocracy forces attacking the Great Tomb, it was already an all-out bloody battle.

Because the vast majority of them don't even have the strength of level 15!

As a result, the Slane Theocracy suffered over twenty casualties just to eliminate the two level 30 Death Knights and clear the gargoyles from the surface cemetery. And Negan, the commander of the [Sunlight Codex] eager to atone for his crimes, was forced to use his most precious artifact: the crystal that sealed the [Radiant Archangel]...

Next, after suppressing the "fierce" resistance of the surface monsters, and following a brief discussion, the most elite [Black Codex] entered the Great Tomb of Nazarick through the surface entrance that resembled a temple to conduct reconnaissance. The remaining troops stayed on the surface to secure the retreat route.

As a result, the Dark Scripture had barely entered the Great Tomb of Nazarick when Demiurge activated the World Item Map of Mountains and Rivers, sucking it into an alternate dimension—in short, a prison of certain death.

Because in this alternate dimension, there are not only raging magma infernos, freezing icy plains, lightning-prone lands, and all sorts of deadly traps, but also a large number of undead monsters, waiting to slaughter the living.

For example, the bloated and swollen-looking "self-destructing zombie" will cause a massive explosion that destroys itself when it is knocked down;

And the [Plague Vomiter], which inflicts negative damage on enemies while also providing healing to undead monsters in the surrounding area;

The [Ghost] is capable of flying and passing through walls, is immune to physical attacks, and can weaken people through contact;

The Banshee, capable of inflicting instant death on enemies with her scream;

The [Dead Bone Totem] is a giant skeleton monster that resembles dozens of skeletons fused together and can attack multiple times.

Behind these distinctive undead monsters of the Great Tomb of Nazarick are max-level guardians such as the demon strategist Demiurge, the insect warrior Cocytus, and the dragon butler Sebas, as well as the "Duke of Terror's" army of cockroaches, all waiting in full force.

It must be admitted that, as the most elite special forces unit of the Slane Theocracy, the Dark Codex truly has its pride and glory. Even in such dire circumstances, they fought to the very last moment, eliminating countless terrifying monsters that would drive anyone mad.

Even when Demiurge appeared and made his move, they attempted to activate their personal "artifact" [Alluring Beauty] – the cheongsam worn by old lady Kerry – to control her with "god-level" mental magic, thereby achieving their goal of capturing the leader of the thief.

Unfortunately, the demon strategist Demiurge was not fighting alone. Before the "Alluring Beauty" could be successfully activated, the Terror Lord's cockroach army had already devoured all the remaining members of the "Dark Scripture." The cheongsam named "Alluring Beauty" became Demiurge's spoils of war.

Meanwhile, Albedo, the female steward in charge of another battlefield, led six combat maids from the "Pleiades Maid Corps," along with the Eight-Limbed Assassin Insect Squad, Golem troops, and a large number of Death Knights, pouring out of the Great Tomb of Nazarick from the underground tunnels. They unleashed a barrage of explosive magic and high-explosive ammunition at the [Wind Flower Codex], [Sunlight Codex], and a small number of grunts remaining on the surface, carrying out a brutal massacre.

To ensure the complete annihilation of the enemy, Yarbeid unleashed all firepower from the outset, resulting in a severe over-exploitation of firepower and causing considerable damage to the surface structures of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. The Gatling guns mounted on the golems, in particular, were veritable fire-breathing shredders, shattering everything in their path. Round after round of fire swept through, leaving the Slane Theocracy soldiers utterly mutilated, but the skeletons, zombies, and gargoyles destroyed by friendly fire were equally reduced to dust, a truly gruesome sight…

Given this relentless fighting style, it was fortunate that they were able to capture a few prisoners alive for interrogation and intelligence gathering.

—And so, before Ainz could even return from his spring outing in the Great Forest of Toubu, the Slane Theocracy forces that were attacking the Great Tomb of Nazarick had already been wiped out.

However, the fierce Second Battle of Nazarick was not yet completely over.

Just as Demiurge finally dealt with the Dark Codex and emerged from the Great Tomb to see how the battle was going on in Albedo, a giant dragon disguised as an old man suddenly descended from the sky at incredible speed and launched a sneak attack on Demiurge!

Caught off guard, the demon strategist Demiurge was accidentally struck and suffered some injury.

But Yarbed, standing nearby, immediately retaliated, unleashing an eighth-tier spell that severely injured the dragon. The dragon then continued to fly unsteadily through the sky for a while before crashing onto the distant grasslands at the edge of the horizon.

Just as Ainz Ooal Gown returned to the Great Tomb of Nazarick and spoke with Demiurge and Albedo, Butler Sebastian, along with several maids, rushed from the surface to hunt down the remaining enemies. About half an hour later, they returned triumphantly, dragging a mountain of mangled dragon corpses.

After examining the dragon's corpse for a few moments, the cat-like Firi could roughly determine that this dragon, which Albedo had described as having "weak combat power," was most likely the Platinum Dragon King of the Argrand Council...

Well, the Great Tomb of Nazarick has only been in the world of OVERLORD for three days, and it has already attracted so many enemies.

It's clearly an impossible task to keep a low profile and develop stealthily anymore!

How to do it?

The only option is to go all out and charge in!

If the max-level players are already rampaging through the newbie village, and they still can't crush anyone who dares to challenge them, wouldn't they become a laughing stock?

"...I didn't expect to attract an attack so quickly! It seems we don't have much time left to prepare calmly."

He said to his silver dragon mistress, "...We must launch the open beta of the OVERLORD adventure game as soon as possible!"

Chapter 140, The Bitch Version of the Seductive Manager

"...Hmm, in order to counter the repeated armed attacks by the Slane Theocracy, is the company preparing to raise the 'restoration' flag of Nazarick ahead of schedule? To launch the OVERLORD adventure game now for open beta? To attract a large number of players to participate in a '10,000-player nation war'?"

"Wow, I think I've only been in this other world for a few days, right? Isn't it a bit too fast to establish a kingdom and become king so soon?"

In the luxurious Throne Room of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Ainz Ooal Gown listened to Firi and Lulutia's suggestions with a hint of suspicion.

In fact, Ainz was quite angry about the repeated, inexplicable invasions by the Slane Theocracy, even though they did not cause serious damage.

—No matter what, he was slapped in the face for no reason in this other world! And he was slapped twice by the same culprit!

Despite being a lowly office worker, Ainz, the Overlord, is generally a bit timid, but even a clay figure has some temper!

However, he had only been in this other world for less than a week, and hadn't even fully grasped the basic situation of his new location, yet he was suddenly about to raise his banner, declare himself king, and wage war against the nations of this other world. This sudden and drastic move made Ainz somewhat uneasy.