Nazarick.
Tenth Floor: [The Library of Ashurbanipal]
The room outside the library was decorated in a bronze tone, giving it a calm and dignified atmosphere. Warm lights softly illuminated the space.
The ceiling formed a gentle dome, and at the entrance stood a magnificent door comparable to the one leading to the throne.
Two rare-metal Golems, each about three meters tall, stood guard at the doorway. They were responsible both for security and for opening and closing the door.
Ventilation openings lined the upper section, while a balcony extended to the second floor. Countless bookshelves surrounded the balcony, encircling the room as if quietly observing everything below.
The semicircular ceiling was densely covered with exquisite murals and elaborate craftsmanship.
Both the floor and the bookshelves were richly decorated. Even the books arranged on the shelves looked less like reading material and more like carefully placed ornaments.
The spotless polished floor displayed beautiful parquet patterns formed from wooden inlays.
Calling it a library almost felt inaccurate. It resembled an art gallery far more.
Inside, the space was mainly divided into the "Room of Wisdom," the "Room of Magic," and the "Room of Logic," along with several smaller rooms for different purposes, such as workshops and private quarters for staff.
...
Room of Magic.
Soft light fell gently across the wooden table.
Three figures leaned back in their chairs, flipping through scrolls in their hands.
"…Erosion?"
A quiet murmur broke the silence.
Naohara set down the report submitted by the Brightness Dragon Lord, a faint smile forming at the corner of his lips.
This harvest had been somewhat unexpected.
The value contained within the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord was even greater than he had imagined.
"Hmph. Trying to invade Nazarick and steal a Guild Weapon? They really do underestimate us."
Herohero let out a cold snort.
A chilling aura spread from him as the slime forming his body glimmered faintly.
The many eyes scattered across his body spun wildly.
His mouth opened and closed, producing a low, eerie chuckle that made one's spine run cold.
"Indeed. A disaster waiting to happen. We should deal with it as soon as possible."
Momonga, sitting beside him, nodded in agreement, a crimson gleam flashing in his eyes.
His pale hands clenched tightly, releasing a terrifying aura.
"Control your aura, Momonga. Your body still hasn't fully adapted."
Naohara frowned and quickly warned him.
As Momonga's aura surged, black veins began spreading across his pale body.
Without question, it was a sign that his body was starting to break down.
As the highest-tier [Overlord], Momonga's undead aura was simply too dense. It could easily corrode living flesh and transform it into bone.
Even the Super-Tier Magic [Wish Upon a Star] was powerless against it.
They had already tried before.
They wished for Momonga to obtain a body that would not be corroded, but the attempt had failed.
"My apologies. I let my emotions get the better of me."
Momonga quickly calmed himself.
Just to be safe, he activated [Forced Calm] to prevent it from happening again.
Yes, activated.
Ever since the sacrifice ritual ended, Momonga had noticed some strange changes within himself.
For example, even though he now possessed a physical body, the undead passive ability [Forced Calm] had quietly turned into an active skill.
His level had also broken past its original cap of 100, becoming 100lv+1.
Both his race and classes had changed as well.
The racial class [Skeleton Mage] now had the prefix "Dragonbone."
He had also gained a new class called [Wild Magic Caster].
However, he did not obtain the class [World Connector].
According to the Vampiric Dragon Lord, this was because the Elder Coffin Dragon Lord was fundamentally different from him.
Although both had undergone undead transformation, the Elder Coffin Dragon Lord's transformation was far more extreme.
The Vampiric Dragon Lord had only transformed his dragon body, while his Dragon Soul remained pure.
As long as he was willing to pay a certain price, he could abandon his undead status, effectively leaving himself a path of retreat.
The Elder Coffin Dragon Lord, however, had completely transformed both his body and his Dragon Soul.
This led to a rather troublesome problem.
Normally, a Dragon Lord who dies and becomes undead cannot use Wild Magic.
The use of Wild Magic fundamentally requires two classes.
The first is [Wild Magic Caster].
The second is [World Connector].
This class connects to the world itself and is essential for supplying the souls required to activate Wild Magic.
Its purpose is to allow a Dragon Lord to draw souls from the world's great river of souls.
However, becoming undead causes the class [World Connector] to become an empty, useless class.
The class still exists, but it can no longer function. It becomes nothing more than a hollow shell.
If this had happened six hundred years ago, it might not have been a serious issue.
But in the current era, where Wild Magic is restricted and can only be activated by consuming souls, this becomes a severe problem.
Wild Magic is composed of five main elements.
Souls form the foundation.
Mental strength acts as the catalyst.
Magic power serves as the framework.
Vast life force acts as support.
And through this, the power of the world is drawn and wielded.
However, because the world's laws have changed, the framework can now only be constructed using souls.
This is precisely why the class [World Connector] is so crucial.
Its most important function lies in connecting with the great river of souls and restoring the Dragon Soul.
Momonga, however, did not need to worry about this at all.
Having inherited everything from the Elder Coffin Dragon Lord, he naturally also inherited all of the Wild Magic the latter had mastered, including the Wild Magic that absorbs large quantities of nearby souls.
By gathering those souls, he could make up for the deficiency caused by becoming undead and thereby achieve the effect of using Wild Magic.
In other words, it was like spending a kind of MP that could never be recovered in order to cast spells, with each use completely destroying a certain amount of souls.
And what did Nazarick have the least shortage of?
Souls, of course.
The endless stream of demons within the World-Class Item [ Demon Gate] was undoubtedly the perfect fuel.
Using demon souls as firewood to activate Wild Magic was the best possible choice in both power and cost.
For Momonga, losing [World Connector] was not a bad thing. In some ways, it was even beneficial.
Because it meant he could keep the class [Eclipse].
Eclipse.
One of the highest-tier special classes.
It was a special class that could only be acquired with [Overlord] 5LV plus specialization in necromancy-type magic classes, for a total level of 95.
Only with such an extreme level build could one take this special class.
Even before the sacrifice ritual, Momonga had already prepared himself to lose the class [Eclipse].
It was a pity, of course, but to gain something, one had to give something up.
And thanks to the Talent Herohero had given him, which allowed him to activate the unique skills of a weapon's owner by reading the weapon's own memories, even without [Eclipse], he could still use "The Goal of All Life Is Death" through the equipment on his body.
So Momonga had not been too upset about it.
What truly surprised him, however, was that [World Connector] had not been inherited.
On top of that, [Wild Magic Caster] itself was a universal class and could substitute for the requirements of any class.
So by a strange twist of fate, Momonga ended up successfully keeping [Eclipse].
One could only say he was really lucky.
"So, Naohara, Herohero, what do you think?"
"Should we deal with the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord now, or do you have some other plan?"
Momonga looked at his two friends and asked.
At the same time, he did his best to suppress the undead aura within his body, letting it slowly merge with his flesh.
Once this body had fully adapted, his transformation would be complete.
The reason he was here in the first place was simply to pass the time by reading.
As for Naohara and Herohero, they had come under the pretense of studying because they were worried he would get bored by himself, and wanted to keep him company.
That moved Momonga deeply.
"As for the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord, Blackie and I have already discussed it. We intend to give him the deepest despair possible."
"So I plan to play along with his scheme."
"By the way, Momonga, Blackie, now that we've been in this other world for so long, it feels like we still haven't celebrated anything. How about we hold a festival?"
"We can treat it as a celebration for the founding of the Sorcerer Kingdom. And when the time comes, the ingredients will deliver themselves right to our door."
Naohara said with a smile.
He was getting a little tired of eating Platinum Dragon Lord meat anyway. It was about time to change flavors.
"A festival? That does sound interesting."
"Then on the Sorcerer Kingdom's side, let's make Blue Sky Dragon Lord and Obsidian Dragon Lord the main course."
"We'll announce to the outside world that it's the flesh of Platinum Dragon Lord. That way we can lull the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord into lowering his guard, while also drawing out some of the Sorcerer Kingdom's hidden dangers."
Momonga stroked his chin as he considered it.
Platinum Dragon Lord had ruled the Council State for more than a hundred years. The majesty of a Dragon Lord had already seeped into the blood of its residents, and that was undoubtedly a bad thing.
Even though Wyrm, Diamond, and the disguised Blue Sky Dragon Lord and Obsidian Dragon Lord, four former lifelong councilors of the Council State, had already submitted and served as examples, demi-humans had still launched riots in the early days of the Sorcerer Kingdom's founding, only to be forcefully killed by the Quagoa security forces that rushed to the scene.
Although such unrest had gradually decreased recently, Momonga knew very well that those people had not disappeared. They were merely hiding.
Even if they could now live better lives, a change in thinking could never be completed overnight.
Their existence was unfavorable to the stability of the nation.
Secondly, it would also have a certain impact on the spread of faith in the three of them.
If it had been before, perhaps Momonga would not have cared too much and would have let time slowly smooth things over.
But after learning of the existence of the Power of Faith, this had undoubtedly touched a nerve.
The Power of Faith was of utmost importance.
Herohero had even proposed carrying out large-scale brainwashing across the entire country, or even the whole world.
However, according to the faith-related information provided by the Six Great Gods, brainwashing would affect the quality of the Power of Faith, so that proposal was ultimately rejected.
"The Power of Faith and World-Class Items. Two paths to godhood, yet both are inseparable from Wild Magic."
"The Six Great Gods… what a truly despairing truth."
Herohero took out a plate of "snacks."
He tossed one each to Naohara and Momonga.
Then he picked up a throbbing "snack," brought it to the mouth on his face, and bit down hard. Thick "jam" slowly dripped down.
The sound of chewing, mixed with a teasing tone, echoed through the room.
"For a bunch of old antiques who lived six hundred years ago, the Six Great Gods were pretty smart. You could only say their luck was a bit bad."
Naohara accepted the snack and bit into it expressionlessly.
Were the Six Great Gods stupid?
No, not at all. If anything, they were very clever.
To piece together a path to godhood through the Power of Faith from only a few fragments in novels from a previous life, the Six Great Gods were undoubtedly intelligent.
Unfortunately, fate did not seem to favor them.
Naohara took out a scroll and tossed it onto the table.
It contained information about the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord. It had been sent to the Sorcerer Kingdom by a follower of the God of Death, received by Renner, and then passed into the hands of the three of them.
"Quite clever. At the very least, they're not fence-sitters. Otherwise…"
Herohero did not continue, but his meaning was obvious enough.
Considering that they had provided a World-Class Item and techniques for the use of faith, he could tolerate them for the time being.
But the moment he sensed even the slightest sign of dishonesty from the Six Great Gods, then regardless of whatever trump cards they might have, he would not hesitate to kill those fellow countrymen.
Momonga and Naohara agreed on that point as well.
They had no need for a two-faced hidden danger.
At worst, they could activate [Fusion Heart], merge all three into one, and completely erase the Theocracy from the map of the continent.
Could the Six Great Gods' trump cards really be stronger than three fused World Bosses?
Well, more accurately, it should be two World Bosses plus Momonga, whose magical attack power rivaled that of a World Boss.
Although the Elder Coffin Dragon Lord's sacrifice had greatly increased Momonga's stats, it had not raised him to a level fully comparable to a World Boss.
Momonga's current state was similar to the Heavenly Dragon Lord's. Certain aspects of his stats had reached the level of a World Boss.
For example, both his MP and magic attack had reached that level, though he was still lacking in other areas.
Still, that problem would likely be solved very soon.
According to the report provided by the Vampiric Dragon Lord, the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord claimed he could briefly reach a level comparable to the Dragon Emperor of old, which likely meant he was borrowing the power of a World-Class Item.
And the Dragon Emperor's strength back then had been enough to hold off the Eight Greed Kings and many NPCs by himself.
Following that logic, the Dragon Emperor, whose power had approached the realm of gods, was probably around the level of a World Boss.
So if their guess was correct, then the Twenty in the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord's possession should be that item.
Once they seized it and handed it over to Momonga, he would undergo a complete transformation into a true World Boss.
"Then let's set it for half a month from now. Let's also send word to Enri. Come to think of it, it's been a long time since we last saw her. Back then, I think we even said we'd go visit her when we had time."
Naohara nodded, thought for a moment, and then spoke.
It really had been a long time since they had seen that girl, Enri.
Part of the reason was Nfirea.
The three gods who had saved her had also killed her childhood sweetheart. No matter how one looked at it, that was pretty twisted.
The other reason was simply that they had forgotten.
Still, the fact that Sephis had become her master was good news.
The human blood Naohara had given Sephis back then had been meant for him to pass on to Enri, which could be considered an indirect form of compensation.
Though whether they cared about such a small issue or not did not really matter.
After all, Enri would probably never learn the truth for her entire life.
But still, as the first human they had saved after coming to this other world, the three of them did retain at least a bit of conscience.
As Renner would put it:
After all, who could refuse a well-behaved and obedient little dog? Especially when that dog was now being raised by your own child.
Maybe that was a bit too much, but that was roughly the idea.
Helping Enri, helping Carne Village, and having her become Sephis's disciple.
Wasn't that just another form of rule? It was simply a gentler one.
The strong had always ruled the weak. Even if they offered help, it was only temporary. Sooner or later, desire would drive the strong to rule the weak.
Naohara could not refute that.
All he could do was restrain himself as much as possible during the process.
"Enri…"
Herohero recalled the blonde girl he rather liked and nodded slightly.
Then he continued.
"Should we inform the people in E-Rantel?"
Back when the three of them had first become adventurers, they had met quite a few interesting people in E-Rantel.
They would not call them close friends, but they were at least acquaintances.
At the very least, in those people's eyes, Herohero the adventurer was their friend.
"Hm… No need to invite them specifically. Let them decide for themselves."
"Yago's child should be born soon, probably within the next two months, so it's not a good time to make a big fuss."
"He's been sending letters to the Dragon Kingdom quite often lately, reminding us not to forget to go over when the time comes."
"If they want to come, we can send a few people to ensure their safety. If they don't want to come, there's no need to force it."
"When you have time, you two should go take a look around E-Rantel. The last time I went, they kept mentioning both of you."
As he spoke, Naohara pulled out a large stack of letters from his backpack.
All of them had originally been sent from E-Rantel to the Dragon Kingdom, then later teleported to Nazarick by the Dragon Princess.
Naohara had never forgotten the promise he made back then and had been quietly keeping an eye on the matter.
But just as Herohero had thought, those people considered their friend to be the adventurer version of them, not the Supreme Beings they were now.
Those two identities could not be confused.
"Alright, let's go with that."
Momonga and Herohero had no objections to the suggestion.
Momonga thought for a moment and considered inviting Caspond over for a chat. He had a fairly good impression of that human from the Holy Kingdom.
The last time they spoke, the conversation had been quite pleasant.
Setting Nazarick aside, Momonga personally liked humans who were not afraid of him and could talk with him normally.
After chatting a bit longer, the three of them returned to reading.
Naohara lightly supported his chin with his hand as he pondered the questions written in the book.
Although he was mainly there to keep Momonga company so he would not get bored, he did not dislike this feeling either.
Immersing himself in the sea of knowledge, freely exploring unknown fields, had its own charm.
Books contained golden houses, and books contained beauties like jade.
While searching for comfort for the mind and easing restless emotions, he could also deepen his knowledge. There was no reason not to enjoy it.
Before he realized it, quite some time had passed.
Naohara closed the book and stretched slightly before handing it to Khajiit, who had hurried over.
Trial librarian. That was Khajiit's current position.
Considering Khajiit's obsession with resurrecting his mother, Momonga had deliberately arranged this job for him.
Here, he could freely read all kinds of magic books and study the mysteries of magic, greatly improving his research into resurrection magic.
Although reviving Khajiit's mother would be easy for them, neither Momonga nor Naohara had done so.
Khajiit himself had not asked either.
Rather than relying on someone else, Khajiit clearly preferred to revive his mother through his own efforts. It was a kind of obsession.
Naohara was not worried about him causing any trouble.
Most of the books were protected by magic anyway.
Even if something did happen, the rare-metal Golems stationed here would immediately step in.
Made from rare metals and reaching level 80, those Golems could easily kill Khajiit.
Not to mention the five [Overlords] stationed here, including the Chief Librarian.
After nodding to Momonga and Herohero, Naohara raised the ring on his hand. With a flash of light, he disappeared.
His next destination was the Eighth Floor.
...
Meanwhile.
Momonga and Herohero did not pay much attention to Naohara leaving.
Herohero's slime-like body was now completely covered in eyes, making him look like a monster made entirely of eyeballs.
Books surrounded him from every direction.
The countless eyes across his body rotated rapidly as they read the contents at incredible speed.
The efficiency was impressive, though the appearance was rather disturbing.
As for Momonga, he calmly turned the pages of his book, clearly in a good mood.
Thankfully, Naohara had given Albedo a break and transferred her to the Sorcerer Kingdom's orphanage. Otherwise, in his current condition… just imagining it made his bones feel cold.
Momonga felt sincerely relieved.