The experience kept flowing in waves, flooding every fiber of his being. Satoru could feel how his gauntlets, Avarice and Generosity, absorbed and stored the energy gained from his recent victory. The left gauntlet, with its demonic appearance, seemed to vibrate with insatiable greed, while the right one, angelic in form, emanated a serenity that contrasted with the maelstrom of power surrounding him.
Suddenly, a resounding "Ting!" echoed in his mind, followed by an internal notification that announced:
> New Racial Class Acquired: Overlord King
A dark energy erupted from his body, increasing his stature and presence. His field of vision expanded, and a sense of absolute power flooded over him. Before he could fully comprehend this change, another notification appeared:
> New Job Class Acquired: Superior Necromancer
With this new class, Satoru felt a deeper connection with the dark arts.
But the abilities he received from this class went far beyond that. Thanks to the massive amount of experience he gained, both of his new classes leveled up to their maximum, and although Satoru expected to acquire new spells and abilities, what he got exceeded his expectations.
The limitations of Super-Tier Magic had practically vanished.
YGGDRASIL, the fictional game on which the power system in the light novel series Overlord was based, was simple, yet complex. Everything depended on the level players had, which were divided into two types: Racial Classes and Job Classes.
Standard job classes were categorized as follows:
Base Classes: Max Level 15
Advanced Classes: Max Level 10
Unique Classes: Max Level 5
Each class was more powerful than the last, and there were over 2,000 job classes and 700 races. As expected, unique classes were the rarest to obtain, and often required meeting multiple conditions to unlock. This could range from reaching a certain level to defeating a specific monster.
The maximum level a player could reach was 100, but Satoru knew that, thanks to the abilities he had gained in the white void, he could break that limit.
Since every player level was tied to a class, it was natural for abilities to unlock as one progressed in the game. The right class combinations were usually more important when it came to becoming truly powerful.
This was especially crucial for magic users, who needed to accumulate a certain number of levels in a particular branch of magic to gain access to stronger spells.
Magic in general followed a power structure, beginning from the first tier and reaching up to the tenth. It could be accessed simply by leveling up in the game; more specifically, every seven levels obtained as a mage granted access to a new tier of magic.
The powers Satoru inherited from Momonga made him a level 100 necromancer with access to tenth-tier magic and a decent repertoire of spells.
But that wasn't exactly what one would call powerful. Momonga was, at best, among the upper-average players — better than most, but inferior to true professionals.
At least in terms of raw strength, because one of Momonga's defining traits was his incredible cleverness in analyzing and exploiting his opponents' weaknesses to win. And that was the point: this power Satoru had inherited was meant to be used strategically.
Strategic capability he doubted he possessed; after all, his experience in battle could be counted on one hand.
One.
But those new classes had changed everything.
What is Super-Tier Magic?
It was a type of spellcasting that surpassed the boundaries of the conventional magic tier system.
Originally, a magic-user could only access these spells starting from level 70, learning one per level gained, and initially only able to cast one per day — increasing by one every ten levels.
In the end, level 100 players had 30 Super-Tier spells and could cast four of them daily. However, each spell required a casting time before it could be used, and there was a penalty that prevented the immediate use of another one consecutively — whether by the same player or a party member.
There were items that could eliminate the casting time, but none that could bypass the penalty.
Why?
Because of how overwhelmingly powerful that magic was.
Without penalties or delays, an average level 100 player would die if hit by four Super-Tier spells in succession. In other words, just one such spell could take away about 25% of the health of a level 100 being.
And now, Satoru could use them freely. He not only felt that the casting time and penalty had vanished, but also sensed that his daily usage limit had skyrocketed far beyond the original four.
He still didn't know the full extent of his improvements. He needed time to fully understand not just his new job class, but also his new racial one.
But what he did understand was that his access to Super-Tier magic was now no different from regular tier magic. The casting speed, power, and versatility had received a massive upgrade.
Satoru had expected great gains after defeating a level 310 being like Satou — that such an act would be considered a "feat" and rewarded accordingly by his system — but he never anticipated anything of this magnitude.
After all, Satou didn't possess power comparable to a hypothetical level 310 entity from YGGDRASIL. If Satoru ever met someone at that level, he would run without looking back. With just a 10-level gap, victory was virtually impossible; with 20, it meant certain death; and beyond that... it wasn't even a joke.
"This class alone made the entire journey worth it," Satoru said, closing his hands as he felt the power surging through his body. "How should I test it?" he murmured, turning his gaze toward the Dragon Valley.
This place, once the home of the most powerful beings in the world — the dragons — was now completely desolate. Craters of various sizes stretched across the valley, and signs of destruction were evident no matter where he looked.
As he took in the state of the land, an idea struck him. Raising his hand toward the valley, it became surrounded by a series of magic circles. A brilliant white and blue light swirled around his palm as the circles orbited it.
And with a single command, the spell — akin to a miracle — was unleashed.
—Super-Tier Magic: [Creation]
The magic in his hand shattered like glass, but immediately afterward, an invisible force spread across the terrain, reconstructing everything around it. The magic extended for kilometers, until Satoru could no longer see its reach. But it didn't matter; he had proven his control over this new ability and could feel the rewards of his victory over Satou.
Speaking of rewards...
"This is a mess now," Satoru sighed as he sensed all the items that had fallen into Representation of Nature and Society. "I need to find time to catalog everything I have. Luckily, my current inventory should be enough for what I need in the short term."
Satoru moved through the items he had obtained, using his dominion over the landscape where they were stored to take a quick glance. And one sword, in particular, caught his attention. It was long and curved like a Japanese katana. Its blade looked as if it were forged from pure darkness, and a black aura fluttered constantly around it.
This was the most powerful weapon he had received from Satou: the divine sword [GodEater]. Using his analysis spells, Satoru discovered that the sword had been forged using the fangs of the Dragon God and had the ability to store a vast amount of mana, converting everything it cut into magical energy. This power could even be used to defend against conventional spells by intercepting them with the blade.
Each of its strikes seemed to carry an effect similar to the tenth-tier spell [Reality Slash], capable of cutting through magical and physical defenses to deal overwhelming damage. It appeared to be a refined version of the sacred swords from Death March, which typically fell around the Relic rank. The holy power within the blade made it incredibly effective against dark beings and protected its wielder from curses and other magical forces. Its enchantments also made it highly effective against gods and dragons alike. It was a weapon seemingly designed to turn its user into the strongest warrior imaginable.
But not just anyone could wield this sword. Despite its incredible capabilities, its constant desire to absorb everything around it could end up consuming its own wielder. The only way to mitigate its effects within the laws of Death March was to possess the title [God Slayer], and even then, one would still need to be cautious of its high mana consumption.
"It's a good sword. Unfortunately, I can't use it due to YGGDRASIL's class restrictions."
Perhaps using [Perfect Warrior] would allow him to wield it even without the [God Slayer] title, but there was no point in doing so now.
Satoru was a mage, not a warrior — and even so, he lacked the magical capacity to maintain its upkeep during battle. One upside was that the weapon had a sort of battery system that allowed it to be fueled outside of combat, but as a pure spellcaster, Satoru wasn't willing to be reckless with his mana.
"I could charge it little by little. My mana regenerates every hour… it was a fixed mechanic in YGGDRASIL." With those words, he stored the sword in his inventory.
Even if Satoru ever needed to fight like a warrior, he had plenty of Divine-ranked weapons to choose from. None of them came with the complications that [GodEater] carried.
"Besides, I doubt there's anything left in this world that could force me to use high-tier equipment."
Satoru spoke those words without fear.
Death March Kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku was the kind of story where the protagonist was far too powerful for his world and had to keep his strength hidden in order to live peacefully.
No human.
No demon.
No dragon.
No deity.
There was truly nothing left in this world that could compare to him. The Dragon God was the most powerful being… and even she had died under the rain of meteors.
"Without Satou or the Dragon Goddess, there's nothing in this world that poses a threat," Satoru said with a smile — or at least the closest thing to one his fleshless face could manage. It was confidence. It was certainty.
It was blind arrogance, born of ignorance.
Satoru possessed knowledge of Death March. In the faint memories he retained, the clearest moments involved him witnessing many stories from alternate worlds.
But when it came to Death March —and other stories— the truth was that his understanding was limited. This was because Satoru had stopped paying attention to the plot at some point during the early arcs.
In the case of Death March, it was likely that the story had stopped being interesting to him at some point. Satoru was aware that he had been more of a spectator, a reader, or a watcher, so it was only natural that such cases existed.
In truth, Satoru was not wrong to believe there was nothing in this world capable of dealing with Satou. With his high level, combined with his ability to learn and maximize any skill, it was simply impossible for anything in this world to fight and defeat him.
Furthermore, there were also several safety measures in place to keep him alive even if he were defeated —measures that, due to Satoru's world items, had been temporarily overcome.
But that wasn't the case for Satoru.
Under normal circumstances, the average level 100 player from YGGDRASIL would be equivalent to the divine beings in Death March.
This was because the system from the former was far more optimized for combat compared to the latter, whose inhabitants rarely developed a formidable set of combat skills, resistances, or special powers — in exchange for a system that was far less restrictive.
But just because YGGDRASIL had a level cap didn't mean Death March did.
It was true that no mortal could fight against Satoru. And his new authority over Super-Tier Magic placed him above most deities.
But this world… was far larger than he believed.
***
Time held no meaning in the realm where she resided. A plane beyond mortal perception, a space where gods observed, where their influence was limited and their emotions, to the world, irrelevant.
But at this moment, for Akon Kagura, the dragon goddess, none of that mattered.
She wept.
Satou had vanished. Not just his body, but his very essence had been erased from the world. The being she had assembled from countless timelines, the one in whom she had placed all her faith and love, had disappeared without a trace.
Her tears fell slowly, streaking across the vastness of her domain like shooting stars across an eternal night. No one, not even the other gods, could comprehend her grief. They, who watched with little interest what occurred outside their divine territories.
Unless something or someone severely endangered the world's balance, they would not intervene, for they cared little about mortal affairs.
But she was not like them. She had lived among the people, had shared joyful moments, had forged friendships.
She had loved.
And now… she had lost.
She had brought Satou into this world, shaped him to be its savior, merging the souls of all his versions across different timelines so they could be together, free from fear that time or fate would separate them; to turn him into the world's hope against the Demon God. And now, all that remained of him was emptiness.
What she had done to avoid losing him was what ended up tearing them apart forever. It no longer mattered which world she traveled to, which timeline she visited...
She would never see him again.
Akon Kagura trembled. Her divine body shook with an unfamiliar sensation: an abyss of despair consuming every fiber of her being. Her claws clenched the void, her power surged, but there was nothing upon which to unleash her pain.
She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him.
She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him.
She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him.
She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him.
She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him.
She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him.
She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him.
She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him.
She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him.
She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him.
She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him.
She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him.
She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him.
She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him.
She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him.
She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him.
She no longer cared about the Demon God. She didn't care about the fate of the world.
She just wanted to destroy the thing that had taken everything from her with her own hands!
And yet, even in the depths of her torment, a spark of rationality forced her to react.
She couldn't allow their story to end like this.
Not with a whisper.
Not in oblivion.
Not because of that creature.
But she couldn't do it herself. Not now.
She had sacrificed herself so that Satou could gain enough power to survive in this world, leaving behind only a small fragment — one she now regretted not having prepared better.
If she couldn't avenge him… someone else would.
She couldn't rely on the gods.
But perhaps she could receive help from someone else.
"Mito," she whispered between sobs — the name of her friend, the name of one of the strongest heroes, the name of a woman who, like her, had loved Satou. "I must find her."
***
Meanwhile, in the Dragon Valley, completely unaware of what had just happened…
Satoru was reviewing the new notification he had just received:
> Domain Claim: Primary Entity Eliminated. Initiating Transfer…
> Assigned Domain: Dragon Valley
The Dragon Valley had acknowledged him as its new administrator. Just like in YGGDRASIL, when a guild conquered a special territory, this place sought a new ruler after the disappearance of its former owner.
As the new administrator, he could now review many things: the size of the territory —which spanned several kilometers—, its inhabitants —or rather, their absence—, but most important of all was the information about the barrier surrounding the valley.
The Dragon Valley Barrier was an invisible magical field that marked the borders of dragon territory. Its primary function was to act as a separation between the outside world and the valley, restricting magical detection and altering the flow of air and energy within its bounds. Crossing it gave the sensation of passing through an ethereal veil, and detection abilities were drastically reduced, preventing long-range magical exploration.
Now, as the administrator, he had the ability to manipulate the barrier at will. He could adjust its density, make it harder or easier to cross, or even seal it completely to block intruders. Additionally, he could use it as an alert system, detecting any disturbance within his domain and responding accordingly.
He had finished looking over Satou's items —which still needed to be organized— but what couldn't be ignored was the large number of dragon corpses now in his possession. The solution was to store them in an icy domain, among the paintings of Representation of Nature and Society. That way, he could access them later if needed.
Now, standing atop one of the hills in the Dragon Valley —a place that had sunk into an unsettling silence— Satoru stood still, his gaze fixed on the horizon, as if waiting for something to reveal itself.
He had tested his powers. He had experienced the magnitude of his existence in this world and had slain the most powerful being on the planet: Satou. Now only Satoru remained, a name without a past, a newly constructed identity.
His memories of the white void returned. The moment he awoke. The sensation of being lost in nothingness —without identity, without purpose.
The voice that spoke to him.
The lights that marked him.
He had chosen this path without fully understanding it. He had become something that didn't even exist in the stories he remembered.
He brought one hand to his skull in an almost involuntary gesture.
Why was he here? Why him?
The victory over Satou hadn't given him answers. Only more questions.
He knew what he was seeking wouldn't come immediately. He knew he had to rise and keep moving. Yet the same question persisted in his mind:
What comes next?
He could stay in the Dragon Valley. Turn it into his domain, an impenetrable fortress where he could perfect himself in solitude. But… did he really want that? He brought a hand to his chin, lost in thought. The idea of spending countless years with nothing but the echo of his own voice felt... empty.
No. He needed more than power. He needed direction.
"I could investigate YGGDRASIL magic."
He already had control over the most powerful magic from YGGDRASIL, but he didn't want to stop there. He wanted to understand it, grasp its formula, how it worked —and most importantly— how to evolve it.
In his memories, Satoru possessed knowledge whose origin was unknown. And if he couldn't do anything about how he gained them, he could at least put them to use. When he recalled YGGDRASIL magic, subtle shades of understanding came to mind.
Numbers. Diagrams. Matrices. Instructions.
Understanding the magical theory from Tier 1 to Tier 3 had been relatively easy. Those were the basic foundations for any mage. But as he tried to go further, his mind ran into an invisible wall.
It was like restudying something he once knew perfectly, but had forgotten over time. Like a man who graduated from university but now has to study for an advanced math exam again.
In that line of thought, Satoru could add, subtract, multiply, and divide without issue. He could calculate powers and roots without hesitation. But when trying to recall derivatives, integrals, or advanced equations, the information wouldn't fully return.
He felt like he had learned it before.
He felt like he had understood it once.
He felt like he could do it again.
But his mind couldn't fill the gaps instantly.
The concepts were there. The names were familiar. But the process to reach the answers was still blurred.
And if he wanted to evolve his magic, he had to understand it first.
"I remember that in Sousen no Frieren, humans were known for constantly revolutionizing, optimizing, and improving their magical systems."
And if they could do it, so could he. But to do that...
"I need a plan," Satoru said, turning his gaze toward the edge of the barrier that protected the valley. Then he used one of his abilities:
[Create Low-Tier Undead: Bone Vulture]
With just a thought, eight creatures —each level 20— appeared. They had the form of half-rotted vultures, with aged feathers still clinging to their skeletal bodies.
"Within a 50-kilometer radius, search for any trace of human life or civilization."
And as his summons carried out their mission, Satoru began reviewing his knowledge about Satou's original story and the events he went through, to formulate a concise plan for his next steps.
His main goal was to investigate YGGDRASIL magic, which meant he needed a quiet and vast place to experiment without interruption.
The Dragon Valley served that purpose well.
But Satoru needed something more. After all, he was a necromancer, and as such, his most powerful spells relied on the use of corpses. Nearly all of his spells were dedicated to combat. That meant he needed a large number of experimental subjects.
"The Muno Barony would be the best place for me. There's a large number of bandits and monsters no one will miss. Plus, there's the curse from that lich named Zen, which brought a significant amount of undead to the area."
It was a paradise for necromancers like him. But that raised another question:
"How should I obtain them?"
With his powers, Satoru could easily capture them all in secret, or simply walk in and claim the entire Muno Barony for himself without caring how the world reacted.
"But that would only cause problems," Satoru dismissed that last idea immediately. "Just because I can fight the whole world and win doesn't mean I should. All I'd get is a bigger headache that would keep me from studying." —a justification worthy of an undead. "Instead of becoming the world's enemy, I could try to build a name and gain support from various sources."
If instead of a destroyer he presented himself as an ally, he'd still have reasons to go after bandits and monsters in the area. He wouldn't need to work in secret, and he could be rewarded for it — not just with money, but also with assistants or magical items from this world.
Because that was another important point: to investigate this world's magic and see how it could benefit him.
"Generally speaking, the magic of this world is inferior to mine, requiring long chants to activate and having offensive power below the level-based magic from YGGDRASIL. But it does have some excellent enhancement spells. And the fact that it's weaker makes it good warm-up material before diving into the secrets of my highest-tier magic."
Ting
"Hmm?" Satoru brought a hand to his temple as he felt one of his summons trying to contact him.
"They found a city — probably Seiryuu City, the place where the events of the first two volumes take place… That place is quite useful too."
There was a demon in Seiryuu City. And within a few days, the lich Zen —who cursed the Muno Barony in the past— would arrive.
With all this, a plan was already forming in his mind.