Overlord: Advent of the New Gods

Chapter 23

Ulbert was rather heavily pushing for the trusted second-in-command role and Ainz found no reason to complain about having a trusted, competent confidant in his chain of command. The guild member meetings with everyone present were gradually becoming less frequent as everyone half preferred to avoid being involved in the important decision-making, increasingly leaving everything to him to agonize over.

He and the Demon Goat were soaking in a salt bath in the male area of the public spa, taking a break from their work. The only servant present was Melborious holding a plate with refreshing drinks in one hand and clean towels in the other.

"Did you read the report on Yvon's testimony?" Ulbert started the conversation with a large exhale of smoke, sighing. Since smoking couldn't possibly damage his body anymore he was regularly indulging in his once-deadly habit almost nonstop, regardless of what he was doing.

"I skimmed over it. There is one thing I don't get. If Regoz isn't the one messing with the leaders of Slane, why did he prevent us from leveling the whole area?" Ainz slowly slid deeper into the water, leaving only his eye sockets above water. Since he didn't need to breathe or use physical vocal cords to talk, he could do so freely under the water even if his jaws were underwater.

"We should invite the guy for a friendly chat, or at least get his number." Ulbert chuckled. "I do agree that it is strange. If I have to guess, us deleting an entire nation would somehow go against his plans in some way, even if we don't yet know what they are. On the plus side, everyone with half a brain is trying to flee the area and the local enthusiasts are cutting them down for us. If they continue it'll make Burma look like a center for freethought."

"What are you referring to?" Ainz asked.

"Seriously? Did you give that little shit about politics on Earth?" Ulbert stared down at his friend, disappointed.

"Why would I?"

"Right. So Burma got a dictator who had the bright idea to purge the Hinduist minority, and boy it was a bloodbath. In about four years the whole nation was made into a concentration camp to keep the population in check, heads flying like pollution. Slane is tiptoeing in that direction."

"I see." Ainz glanced up at the smug demon and decided it was better to just let him have his moment and leave it at that. If he had political knowledge, better too much than too little.

"Ok, back to the main point, I think we can use it in our favor."

"Go on."

"I want to use Yvon for a false flag operation in Re-Estize and blame it on Slane. Renner is getting a bit too giddy at running the whole operation, and I want to stir up the waters a bit to keep her on her toes." Ulbert cackled, reaching for a drink.

Ainz sat up and turned his head facing the madly cackling demon, waiting for him to continue, interested in what he meant.

"I will make him arrive in the capital, preach some insane shit like a complete zealot and then summon an army of demons. I have to test out the world item you gave me, if only for data gathering. Once Re-Estize is in deep shit, we show up as saviors and clean up the place in all of our glories, leaving no evidence behind of our involvement. Then we reveal ourselves publicly as the saviors against the mad cardinal." he paused. "Maybe not our true forms initially but let the public know we are Gods and can look however we want. Throw some shade on the previous ones and ride into the sunset like heroes."

"Write it in detail and I'll approve it." Ainz nodded, ideas already churning.

"Great. Have one on me?" Ulbert pulled a cigar out of his inventory and masterfully put it between Ainz's teeth before the undead managed to react.

"You know I don't smoke." Ainz protested, reaching for the tube.

"I'm sure your lungs can take one hit." Ulbert snickered, lighting another for himself.

"That is not the point," he grumbled as his friend didn't take no for an answer and lit the cigar with a flick of his fingers.

"Now we just need to get you some shades and you'll be the coolest guy in Nazarick, right after me."

Feeling that Ulbert was pulling his leg, Ainz decided to return the favor and after taking a large puff retorted, "It doesn't take much to be cooler than a walking pile of goat fur with horns."

"You take that back. Hey Mel, I'm the best in Nazarick right?" Ulbert went to his attendant for support.

The demon looked away and pretended to not hear the question, wisely avoiding getting involved in the dispute. There were no good answers here and the wisest option was to avoid answering the question altogether.

"Traitor." The offended Demon Goat grumbled, taking a sip of his cocktail.

"If you can't take a hit, don't throw punches." Ainz reminded him, chuckling.

"Yea yea. I know it's not a good idea to start a pissing match with a boss." He sighed.

"Truce?"

"Truce. I need to keep in mind you can shoot back." Ulbert chuckled, returning to a cheerful demeanor.

"Is there anything else we should discuss? I don't want to leave just yet and return to my work. The water is perfect." Ainz admitted, sliding deeper into the water again.

"We can call in the girls and kick back for a little bit, you know?" Ulbert suggested as he stretched and motioned for Melborios to give him another glass with something refreshing, which the demon happily obliged.

"You know how that will end." Ainz slid even deeper, his eye sockets rapidly sinking below the water line.

"Too late, Albedo and Flornohe are on the way. We're having a few hours off."

As the two women entered the bathing area clad in bikinis that covered almost nothing, already eyeing each other in open competition for who had the most striking appearance, he just surrendered to his inevitable fate. With his girlfriend here and falling for Ulbert's schemes, he had no choice but to accept a relaxing evening in the spa for a good portion of the rest of the afternoon.

<X>

Buku floated over her armies, watching them become increasingly frenzied with bloodlust as she was about to give the signal to march into the Naga's territories and slaughter everything in their path.

The Nagas were planning hit-and-run tactics galore on their enemies, counting on their superior stealth and high agility, staying well hidden near the border as they chipped away here and there. Buku's forces only outmatched them two to one in sheer numbers but the sneaky race was blissfully unaware of her army's immortality.

For the past week, she had used every bit of mana to convert as many soldiers into undying immortals as possible, even going so far as consuming magic potions to refill her stores. It was a delight to find out that the Valkyrie priestesses could also convert mortals into immortal units, enabling her forces to grow even further. Thus her force of unstoppable warriors had grown to twenty-three hundred strong.

The main contributor was Ainz who had graciously given her mana refills, sometimes up to ten times a day when he had the time, increasing the unit production speed drastically across the board.

The last-minute preparations were currently taking place. Valkyries and unit leaders were double-checking the routes, discussing how to avoid getting into each other's way in case things went wrong, and sending notes to the various pickup teams who could collect the Naga corpses during and after the battle. Hundreds of Ulbert's shadow demons were deep within enemy lines, relaying all relevant information in real-time that the leaders used.

As Buku watched the army, Cocytus took to her side, using the same flying spell as her. "THE ARMY IS READY TO MARCH, LADY BUKU."

"Great, you can give the order to start. Only accept unconditional surrender." She ordered, a predatory smile forming on her face. The idea of conflict itself warmed her heart, of seemingly unending war. When her still lingering human moralities weren't in the way, she was war itself.

"WE MARCH BY YOUR WILL, LADY BUKU." The mighty insectoid departed, leaving her surrounded by a couple of archangels lent to her by Ainz for protection. They held up the remote viewing mirrors and would serve as aerial reconnaissance and bodyguards if she so requested it. This was her battle and she didn't want to use other Nazarick forces if she could avoid it.

The start of the battle was rather predictable. The Nagas hidden within the woods started cutting down her forces left and right, suffering minimal losses in their ambushes. Their ferocity was admirable as they no doubt were a powerful race by local standards, picking off warriors here and there at increasingly high rates. Young, old, men, and women, all fought with equal determination to protect their lands.

Ultimately, it didn't matter. Time was on her side and Buku watched with glee as her warriors rose again and again on the battlefield and continued fighting as if they had never fallen in the first place. Soon enough it dawned on the enemy that they were fighting an unstoppable army and no matter how many attackers were cut down, they simply rose and fought again, rendering any losses null. However, their own still suffered losses, meaning they were doomed to lose if they kept their hit-and-runs up.

The Nagas quickly changed tactics, forming larger groups and charging as one to take down the Valkyries. Yet even there they were disappointed, as it caused even more casualties and the few times they did succeed in chopping one down resulted in it returning to stab its killer in the back. Fruitless, their tactics were before Buku's army's sheer might.

Perhaps Ainz could use the multitude of dead bodies for his own undead armies if he so wished. If not, Kyouhukou would be more than happy to take them in for his spawn.

Their last desperate attempt to change the devastating tide of battle was to kill a Valkyries Priestess. A unit of twenty nagas used trees as leverage to reach the floating woman, but for a high-level monster such a pitiful attempt wasn't a threat. Her summon eradicated the entire unit with a few slashes of her spear, letting the lifeless bodies fall back to the ground alongside the rest.

This was the turning point. The Nagas began to flee but, upon realizing that the army marched straight towards their well-hidden city, their leader emerged and demanded to parley with the leader of the immortals.

Buku let the battle rage on longer for a good minute and only then gave the order to stop. The Naga leader, an old man with a wrinkly face and sickly greying skin, was growing more distraught by the moment. His tail shivered, coiling and uncoiling in agitation.

'It is time. Let's see if this one has anything resembling a brain.' She mused as she flew towards the Naga leader.

Unable to resist showing off, Buku stopped about a hundred meters above the tree line and dispelled her fly spell, free-falling to the ground at wind-ripping speeds. The soft forest floor was unable to stop her descent and buckled under the impact.

Buku pulled out her legs from the soft soil, snapped her fingers, and pointed at them. The Naga leader looked confused for a moment. "Clean them."

"What?"

"Clean my boots!" Buku demanded, stepping forward and unleashing her aura.

The old naga shifted around in frustration.

"Resume the march. Kill everyone!" Buku shouted an order and the entire army started to move immediately, weapons unsheathing.

"Stop! Wait!" The Naga leader removed his vest and hastily began polishing her plate boots.

Buku raised her hand and the entire force froze on the spot, unmoving but still raring for violence.

"Now do you get it?" She questioned the Naga, who was diligently trying to remove every speck of dirt from her footwear.

"We will serve, great warlord," The Naga muttered, utterly defeated.

"Now then. Gather all who live in your territory in the city. I don't want to deal with any strugglers."

"As you command, Great One." The Naga bowed and hurried off with the rest of his forces, retreating just as hastily as her armies slowly followed.

<X>

The Naga City was an upgrade compared to the rest of the forest dwellers, but still a far cry from the human civilizations.

Most of the buildings were restored ancient dark elf structures, repurposed and redesigned for their new denizens. There were the occasional stone and wood buildings that had been constructed recently, but those were the exception, not the norm.

What Buku found interesting was that the Nagas had adopted a strict caste system with Nagas belonging to high priest, warrior, and ruler castes and other races like Goblins, Hobgoblins, Molemen, and Ratmen belonging to lesser merchant and worker castes. Dismantling this power structure wouldn't be her job so she didn't bother too much with it, leaving the administrative part to the horde of liches Albedo sent through a gate the moment she stepped into the city. Her army had also served its purpose, systematically and rapidly dismantling any last forms of resistance to her conquering with brutal efficiency.

Before she left, there was a strange inconsistency she needed to address, one that had almost gotten past her attention. There was a large area of the forest that wasn't formerly controlled by one of the three forest rulers and what's more, no settlements of other races were present there save for the dryads who hid in their trees the moment the shadow demons entered the area. She had already verified with Demiurge that the other forest rulers also stayed away from the area and had no information on it, so perhaps she could ask her newest subordinates.

In her mind, the best approach was to just directly question the leader of Nagas, Ryraryus. As she sat on the throne in the central fortress of the Naga City, which was hastily constructed just for her out of the previous throne and various other materials, the Naga leadership was brought before her by her Valkyries. There were Ryraryus, his nine wives, and forty or so grandchildren, most of whom were adults.

Buku lazily crossed her legs while observing the serpentine creatures shiver with nervousness. Due to their thick skin, clothing wasn't widespread among them. The snake-like creatures chose to decorate themselves with jewelry and piercings instead. This particularly stood out among women, many of whom had their nipples pierced and decorated with delicate golden chains as they proudly displayed their bare breasts, an oddity Buuku noted for a serpentine-like species. Interestingly, half of the women wore cloth that covered their faces, while the other half did not.

"Why has no one moved in the area to the north?" Buku went straight to the main point.

"This old one knows of legends. A beast sleeps there. If the beast is awakened it will devour all, even the soil and sun itself," Ryraryus explained.

"Anything more specific? I want to know what we are dealing with here." Buku continued as her attention drifted to a young Naga man with a slim build and delicate face. 'Perhaps I should tip off the pervbird about how hot the Naga girls are and then sneakily collect the pretty boy while everyone is distracted.'

"No, I don't know more, my Lady. We stay away from there. As strong as you are, you should avoid-"

"I didn't ask your opinion about my fighting capabilities! Me and the other Gods have killed many world-ending beasts before. This world is ours and nothing will stand in our way!" She harshly interrupted the old man.

"This old one apologizes. We will humbly serve you without question." Ryraryus bowed, trembling.

'So there might be a world boss sleeping there. Or perhaps something even worse. We'll have to deal with it sooner or later, so we might as well do it now.'

That didn't mean she would just rush in there and face, whatever the beast was, herself. Careful planning and the full effort by Nazarick were required to tackle the issue with caution, for who knew how powerful world-enders were here.

Editing by aidan_lo.

Proofreading by aidan_lo, Sluethen, IAMTHEPLOKOKIOPO, Mfkzrocker, clagan, x4x, and fvvck

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