The most important thing for guards is freedom, and because of the abundance of missions, workaholics have no time for a personal life. This can lead to burnout, which has affected many employees in tech companies - factories that overload the gears with constant stress. In such places, people tend to completely lose enthusiasm when a lot of problems pile up on their shoulders. You don't have time to complete one task, and two are already approaching. If this is the case, then you need to try to somehow simplify the life of NPC commanders, without losing efficiency.
What is the main problem? The speed of movement in the huge tomb, which has ten unique floors. The Guardian of the Cherry Blossom Temple, from which all the teleportation gates of Nazarick are controlled, is one - Aureol Omega. And there are many who want to use the teleport.
The issue can be resolved by allowing free teleportation, but movement around Nazarick is limited without special guild rings. Regular teleportation magic does not work in the crypt, otherwise the invaders could easily move to the tenth underground floor, and from there attack the throne room and treasury. The rings bypass the established restrictions, and are represented by limited edition items consisting of one hundred units.
One for each of the forty-two guild members. Thirty-seven players left us for various reasons, and before leaving, they returned the ring to me or Momonga. Unfortunately, at least four rings were lost forever, and it is unknown how many our guild master kept in his inventory. The remaining rings are in the storage room and in my room.
"Wait for me here," after asking Aura to wait for me for a while, I moved to the ninth underground floor.
Royal Suite - This is where all the guild members' living quarters are located, including my own. You can't get into the room itself by teleporting, even with a ring - the personal space of the Japanese and all that. It's not that long to walk there. My room was distinguished by its exquisite design, especially the large bed, red banners and other exquisite attributes. It doesn't suit the image of a mad scientist very well, but where else would I dress Kurumi in different dresses? I hope the NPCs have fuzzy memories of the past, otherwise I'll be a little embarrassed by some of the magical girls' outfits.
After a short search through a wooden chest with a gold lock for the items I needed, I managed to find nine rings. The rest will still have to be taken from the treasury if need be. For now, let's think about distribution, and come up with a reason if they ask.
The first three will go to Cocytus, Mara, and Aura for their efforts in setting traps.
I'll reward Demiurge with the fourth one for the intelligence network, and I'll give the fifth one to Albedo after the census is completed. Given her ardor, I wouldn't be surprised if she manages to do it before my expedition begins.
The sixth one I will give to Sebas. This NPC's function is simple - to serve as Nazarick's last line of defense to prepare the guild members for the great battle against the invaders. But he is also Nazarick's butler and the leader of the Pleiades, so he would benefit from a ring to always follow his master and better control the maids' actions. Consider the ring given not as a reward, but as a necessity.
The seventh ring goes to Kurumi, she has intangibility, but it would be better if she didn't use it every five minutes. Her unauthorized passages between floors lead to the loss of a bit of faith in our strength in designing Nazarick's defense. I hope the other NPCs won't perceive that she got the ring, so to speak, through connections.
The Eighth Ring is best entrusted to the best researcher among all the Hands of Umbra - Gueira. Cooperation between the Anthill and the operating room will speed up the experiments.
And Shalltear can be given a gift as your escort and guardian of the first section of the laboratory. Consider it all so that she can warn me in time about the beginning of an outrage among my direct subordinates. Umbra's hands are not only mad scientists, but also minions from the series of the same name. They can get into things where they weren't asked.
You have to keep an eye on them.
Okay, I'll go distribute the rings of omnipotence around Nazarick. I hope Albedo won't be too upset that a devoted fan will be the last one to receive a ring.
The rest of the day flew by. There is a name for this phenomenon - time distortion. The more we are busy with something, the more time speeds up for us. I had to learn a couple of such terms while designing Kurumi's personality, and surprisingly, her birth was accompanied by me knocking a world-class item out of the hands of a strong top. Ah, fate itself decided for me - whether to choose her. After all, candidates capable of masterfully moving the hands of a clock are one, two and counting.
However, the day was memorable for a couple of bright moments.
But perhaps it's better to start from the beginning.
In a couple of minutes, I distributed all the rings to the necessary inhabitants of Nazarick, receiving from them a sea of emotions and an ocean of gratitude in addition for the honor bestowed upon them. They considered it a great happiness to wear the same rings as their creators. Probably, in my life, such joy could only be found in the mirror, immediately after checking the bank account for the receipt of the annual bonus.
He had distributed the rings, but he still had to wait for the last lady. Albedo had a truly amazing intellect, and quickly found out that only she was limited in issuing the "reward" and "it will be useful." After weighing all the probabilities and possibilities, she came to the conclusion that she needed to speed up the fulfillment of her mission as much as possible. Thus, the census and the identification of proposals were completed extremely quickly. It was as if a hurricane had passed through Nazarick, collecting all the information at a speed that a hundred Sherlocks could not identify a hundred petty crimes.
There were questions about some individuals in special conditions of detention, but I decided not to touch on them for now. For example, you can't just drop in on Nigredo for tea and cookies. Her situation requires a unique approach.
- Lord of Dawn! - Too loud and drawn-out girlish cry, addressed to my self-proclaimed title. Closer to lunch, a succubus burst into the operating room, together with the Pleiades, holding a mountain of waste paper. - I... ha... ha... - the girl with excited breathing attracted the attention of all the Hands of Umbra, only they looked at her as if she were an interesting animal. These guys did not plan anything strange against the second boss, did they? - I did everything, Mr. Bondrewd! - Her predatory eyes quickly moved from my helmet to my palms, waiting for the forged ring with an amethyst in the center to appear in one of them.
The Pleiades who had arrived at this time were looking at the untidy room with curiosity. A huge mess had accumulated after the recent operation of crossing a lizard with an ogre. I wanted to tell the girls: "there is nothing to look at here, and there are Halloween props lying around on the floor." But these are all jokes, they are talked about at leisure and in a more pleasant setting.
Albedo had done a good job and exceeded all my wildest expectations, so the atmosphere could only be solemn. Having made a simple speech, I handed her the ring, but her further reaction at the moment of personally putting the item on her ring finger... How can I put it, it eloquently hinted at the upcoming insomnia. Perhaps I will even test some metamorphoses, so to speak, exclusively for scientific purposes.
It's definitely a matter of science...
There was nothing interesting after that, I was busy conducting various experiments on chimeras in the lab to better understand the structure of creatures closest to humans. As it turned out, being a human in the past and starting to understand how people are structured down to the molecules is a mind-blowing event.
I fiddled around like that until the magic hourglass indicated the evening. Having abandoned the matter halfway and entrusted everything to my subordinates, I again moved to the sixth underground floor. Having warned Mare and Aura about possible unrest, I had some time left to test the skills from Yggdrasil. It is best to do this in a place of medium danger, so the Anthill was chosen as such.
— As a barrier, we have a red ribbon with a bow in the center, cute, — approaching the entrance to the second section and sighing sadly, I realized how well Kurumi tried to carry out my order. Maybe I should turn my body into a penguin and thank the girl with a wide bow?
Lifting the tape and climbing over it, I descended into a wide and high cave covered in gray ash. It seemed that many individuals were catching the feeling of life, but they all recognized me as their master and were afraid to come closer. It was not difficult to push them into action, it was enough to activate the protection protocol and indicate myself as the violator.
As soon as I did this, a huge, vile and large creature crawled out of the ashen ground, trying to swallow me alive. Fortunately, the artifact on my elbow "Sparagmos" released a golden beam of light, dividing the predator into two equal halves, right at the moment when its mouth was just beginning to slam shut with me.
By transforming my own body to create dense tentacles, I managed to throw the piles of meat aside. After examining the thrown back part of the monster more closely, I had to admit that the Earth Megalodons are a real mockery of evolution.
Of course, the fun doesn't stop with just your pet.
The Anthill's security system launches waves of automatically replenishing enemies, and the only way to progress through a dungeon within a dungeon is to run; backwards or forwards.
It's a matter of luck.
"Death Mark"
I used a class skill that casts a black mark on an enemy. If you kill him, you can restore forty percent of your health, and the mark also significantly affects the physical and magical resistance of the target. But the curse did not fall on the enemy. Why? It is best to cast it on yourself. A world-class item cancels the effect, filling an invisible scale to activate the attack part of the helmet.
- Gangway, - top ten phrases I've always wanted to say.
A purple beam shot out from the mask, instantly stunning ten level seventy-five monsters. Tentacles shot out from my left wrist, quickly clinging to the surface of the cave, helping me to instantly reach the very top. An ideal position for shooting insects, given by the artifact "Moon's Touch".
"Rain of Death"
A magic circle was formed, similar to those seen in isekai anime. Various patterns were engraved on it, smoothly flowing between each other and giving off ominous sparks. It was a beautiful sight, but the dark red blades that burst out were no longer admirable, but terrifying.
The attack hit a swarm of chimeras, a mix of locusts and cockroaches. Nasty creatures, and extremely tenacious. Cockroach-type monsters have a passive ability that works similar to the Death Knight. Any attack aimed at instant kill will be ineffective, but if it is applied twice in a row, it will work.
"The final chord is Shaker," the free hand extended towards the monster, similar in appearance to a rhinoceros beetle, but four meters in size, as well as strong needle-like protection on its back.
Porcupines and hedgehogs have it.
Of course, the chimera's weakness is still the same. One dart fired into the open area of the belly instantly cast a fast-acting curse, but here an interesting phenomenon began.
— Deactivate the protection system.
Pushing off the ceiling with force, I landed with a thud on the ground, strewn not only with ash, but also with the blood of recently deceased creatures. The surviving monsters hid underground or fled to the next levels of the Anthill, more dangerous and sinister.
The entire architecture of this place is built to increase pressure on intruders. The further you go, the less desire you have to continue moving your legs. The human brain is incredibly interesting, it often reminds the user that he is doing something that is very uncomfortable for the nervous system, and that it is better to return to the comfort zone.
"Amazing, simply amazing," I approached the little animal that had been struck by the curse of the dart and took a closer look.
The chimera's skin was covered with strange writing, an interesting effect instead of simply reducing health on the HP bar.
Previously, this was not the case in Yggdrasil, therefore, in this world, many effects and spells can work differently, giving new effects, expanding possibilities or, on the contrary, limiting them. Now you can't just expect the same result from old actions. It will take a lot of time to fully explore everything.
When the writings covered the entire body of the immobilized chimera, the ability "Life Search" no longer detected nearby targets. With various thoughts, I activated the guild ring and moved to the entrance of Nazarick.
Demiurge and Shalltear were already standing here, talking about something.
"Good evening," I happily greeted the two floor guards, spreading my arms to the side. Both of them, having barely seen my figure, knelt down and greeted me.
- Greetings, sir.
"Lord of Dawn, in one day we managed to compile a rough map of the area. Not a single chimera was destroyed, and an approximate danger level of a hundred-kilometer zone around Nazarick was established," the tall demon in an expensive British suit with a scarlet tie and a white shirt continued, smiling. "The creatures we found are unable to deal with even the simplest of your chimeras, so the approximate danger rating is light green. But even so, I would like to ask you not to explore the world without a huge army as an escort," Demiurge pressed his silver tail to the floor and asked me to be careful.
"Don't worry," I kindly raised my palm in a calming gesture. "There's no need to worry, my whole life has been spent on the battlefield with enemies equal to, if not superior to, many of the higher beings. In the worst case, I'll have to spend several artifacts for Shalltear and me to escape," adding the last words, I didn't even think that they would sound like endless care for my comrades. So, the vampire with beautiful hair the color of the rising moon squeaked and muttered something unintelligible. Probably, she thinks that "if he cares, it means he loves."
Oh, what an adventure I'm going to have with her.
I hope it doesn't go in the style of "a twenty-minute adventure."
Usually, closer to the middle, things don't go so well.
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