Maruyama Kugane - The Invaders of the Large Tomb

They don’t suspect anything even though our tents are further away, they don’t pay attention to this place and they don’t get close.”

There were downsides too, but the benefits outweighed the cons.

Ainz removed his helmet and revealed his skeletal face.

“Well then, Nabe… No, Narberal. I will return to Nazarick and send Pandora’s Actor to replace me as planned. If something happens in the meantime, resolve it by yourself.”

“By your command, Ainz-sama.”

“Erm. Contact me if there is anything.”

Ainz dispelled the magic that created his armor and sword, and the weight of the helmet disappeared in his hands. The sense of liberty from taking off the armour made Ainz utter “ah” in relief, although it wasn’t that hard on him. It was the same reason why he was rotating his shoulders that weren’t stiff at all. These actions were remnants of his time as a human.

“...Yare yare.”

The remnants of human emotions were troublesome sometimes.

If he could handle every situation calmly, the circumstances might be different now. However, if he lost all remnants of his human emotions, he wouldn’t love the Great Tomb of Nazarick as much as he did right now. The longing the human Suzuki Satoru had for his friends will probably disappear as well.

While Ainz was smiling wryly, he cast his magic. Thoughts about his remnants of humanity was gone from the back of his mind. Ainz wasn’t a talented person who could focus on two or three things at a time. He needed to drop everything aside from what he was considering.

His spell was ‘Greater Teleportation’.

Since he was wearing a ring, Ainz made it through the barrier of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, all the way to the entrance of the Throne Room.

“Welcome back, Ainz-sama.”

Moments later, a beautiful female voice welcomed his return.

“I am back, Albedo.”

The lady who bowed deeply raised her head, a blossoming smile appeared on her beautiful face. She looked straight at Ainz—as if she couldn’t see anything else.

Ughh...

Seeing the golden pupils filled with beams of love, he couldn’t help feeling goosebumps all over.

But he couldn’t adopt an attitude unbefitting that of Ainz Ooal Gown, the ruler of the Grand Tomb of Nazarick.

Ainz suppressed the feeling that weakened during the short moment of silence, and coughed fakely.

“Just as planned, the invaders are here. No, maybe they are already inside. How are the preparations to welcome them?”

“The preparations are done. The guests will definitely be delighted.”

“I see… Albedo. I look forward to seeing their elation.”

He walked to the heart of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, the Throne Room. Albedo followed him one step behind.

Albedo had only one order regarding the invaders this time. That was to conduct a practical test for the performance of her defense system.

Where to place the POPs in Nazarick and the combination of monsters were all done by his past guild mates, and must be done really well. But given the current situation, it was hard to say that a better setup didn’t exist.

Thus it was necessary to inspect the defense system. And they could do that now.

“...The invaders are fragile, so of course we can’t test everything. But let us pray we can learn something from this.”

“I understand. I promise that I will not let you down, Ainz-sama.”

“Good. As you already know, avoid using traps that cost money like spraying poisonous gas or sudden floods of undead, try to use POPs and traps with serfs. Any problems?”

In response to Albedo’s smile, Ainz nodded.

“Very well, in the mean time, let us enjoy ourselves. What are the other Floor Guardians doing?”

“Yes. The moment Ainz-sama returned, I have instructed them to gather. Will it be fine to grant them entry according to the order they arrive?”

“Granted. The more people there are, the merrier.”

Before the throne on which Ainz was sitting down were numerous things that looked like TV

screens floating in the air. Each one of them displayed a different part of Nazarick. Albedo who was controlling it to show Ainz what he wanted to see.

Next would be Albedo displaying her control over the defense net. Ainz wasn’t sure what the changes between now and before were though.

… To make full use of this training, I have to learn something from the displayed images. If there is a sharing session after this, it will be bad.

Ainz was the absolute ruler of the Grand Tomb of Nazarick. How could such a man not understand anything about the defense system compared to his subordinate?

“Just in case, I have to ask. There are no chances of triggering ‘Ariadne’, correct?”

Ainz opened his console and controlled the cursor, checking for problems as he asked.

“I don’t think there is a chance of that happening. However, I want to confirm whether Ariadne will be triggered if the invaders are locked up?”

Ainz remembered the Yggdrasil Q&A he read in the past, no, the update-log explanations by the developers.

“There shouldn’t be… that should be so… I think that’s how it was.”

Even though that was the case in Yggdrasil,there was no guarantee that this rule still applied in this world. Even the existence of Ariadne itself was not confirmed.

“What would happen if we were to manipulate the humans into doing so themselves?”

“There might be a chance it won’t activate, but considering the losses if it does I was too scared and never tested it.”

Ariadne system.

A system that checks the validity of a created base.

There was a simple way of creating an invincible fortress: By sealing the entrance, no one would be able to get in. Just burying the entire Grand Tomb of Nazarick underground would be enough. But as a game, this was not allowed.

In order to stop one from making such a base, the Ariadne surveillance system existed.

There must be a path that lead from the entrance to the heart of the base. Other things Ariadne inspected were the distance one could travel inside, how many doors there were and various other rules on base construction that were set in detail.

Dungeons that violated the rules would be flagged by the Yggdrasil system and fined. The Guild funds would be deducted gradually at a visible rate.

For Nazarick, such problems were solved by the 5th and 6th levels— They had to pay a lot to widen the dungeon to maintain it.

Ainz controlled one of the monitor which displayed the figures of the workers.

“Tch! Well then, it is finally time for them to show up. They made me wait really long.”

Feelings of unhappiness hit Ainz when he saw the images of the stronghold he made with his comrade being sullied by the dirty feet of the invaders. Although his emotions would be suppressed if it exceed a certain threshold, but it couldn’t completely keep his burning anxiety down.

“Albedo. Don’t allow any of them to escape.”

“Of course. Please enjoy watching the fate of the thieves intruding into the residence of the Supreme Beings. Also… which guinea pig should we choose for the experiment?”

“Ah, right. I sparred with this old man. I sparred with this man on the way too. This team is not suitable for training. Let’s dispose of these fellows first.”

Ainz pointed with his finger at a monitor Albedo could see.

Overlord Volume 7 Chapter 3

The Large Tomb

Translator: Rocky-mon

Editors/Proofreaders: TaintedDreams, Namo-Namo, Skythewood, JcqC, Nigel, SifaV6