After saying what he wanted to say, the ‘Message’ ended.
“All right! Then, everyone, we’ll set out for our objective in 30 minutes’ time. Please get yourselves ready!”
Part 3
The members of the guild Ainz Ooal Gown — once known as the clan Nine’s Own Goal — gathered on the outskirts of Helheim, roughly one hundred meters away from the toxic fog-covered Poison Swamp, in a place called the Piercing Crystal Plains.
Much like the Poison Swamp, the Piercing Crystal Plains were a hazardous environment, covered in frozen vegetation that resembled crystal razors. These razors dealt damage with every step taken within the Plains, and they could damage players wearing Relic-class armor. In addition, mineralized monsters wandered through the plains, and anyone who did not use bludgeoning-type weapons would have a hard time dealing with them.
In any world — especially on the heteromorphic species’ home turf of Niflheim, Helheim and Muspelheim — things became more dangerous the further one went from the center of the world. In addition to the wandering monsters, the very terrain itself became a hazard.
Still, this was nothing for the members of Ainz Ooal Gown. Although certain countermeasures had to be taken, and though these countermeasures were not permanent, with them it was still possible to move at full speed through the Piercing Crystal Plains. In fact, they were making preparations on the plains.
Of course, this was not to say that they were not tense, or that they were careless.
After casting several layers of defensive magic, they used magically-created eyes to scout their surroundings. In addition, they used illusion magic of the highest tier, the 「Mirror World」 spell, to create a hemispherical screen which enclosed the members of the guild.
One could observe the outside world from inside the bubble without any problems, but from the outside, the inhabitants of the barrier were invisible, and people outside would only see the background. Aside from making the user harder to detect, the spell could also deflect a certain proportion of attacks directed at the occupants within.
Such extensive preparations were made not because they feared monsters, but because they were on guard against players of similar power to themselves. Not only was there no penalty for PKing heteromorphic species, there were even benefits for doing so. In fact, some powerful classes were unlocked by PKing heteromorphs, and although heteromorph hunting was not as common now as it was in the past, it was still a very real thing. Only a fool would lower their guard, even in a heteromorphic home world.
Momonga fiddled with the console by his hand. There he saw a list of guild members, along with their HP and MP gauges. At the top was Touch Me, followed by Nishiki Enrai, Wish III, Warrior Takemikazuchi, Momonga, Ancient One, Flatfoot, and Amanomahitotsu, the eight remaining founding members. After that were the nineteen who joined later: Peroroncino, Bukubukuchagama, Herohero, Blue Planet, Ulbert Alain Odle, Garnet, Bellriver, Variable Talisman, Nearata, Nuubou, Genjiro, Yamaiko, Whitebrim, Punitto Moe, Tabula Smaragdina, Beast King Mekongawa, Tigris Euphrates, Temperance and Slathan.
In total, there were 27 people — the full strength of Ainz Ooal Gown.
As he looked at the names, an indescribable feeling welled up within him and heat surged through his chest.
Amanomahitotsu the blacksmith was the leader of the guild’s crafters, who typically preferred to adventure by themselves. They were here now to take part in the guild’s first group event.
He had to thank them. It would be wrong not to do so.
However, on the other side of his elation was a hefty burden.
His stomach ached as he thought of what would happen if their maiden venture ended in failure. There would be no guarantee that they would ever adventure together again if that came to pass. As he thought of how Touch Me had struggled under this stress for so long, Momonga could not help but bow his head in respect.
Failure was not an option.
Momonga quietly took several deep breaths, cleared the screen away, forced himself to get it together and then approached one of the guild members.
“Nuubou-san, how are things going?”
“Hm? Ah, it’s fine. For now, I can say nobody’s spying on us through magical means.”
This conclusion came from Nuubou, who built his character as a divination specialist. He was also known as the “Eyes of Nine’s Own Goal”. His words guaranteed that there was no magical surveillance observing them. It would have taken an infiltrator of unprecedented ability to hide from his eyes.
“Also, there’s nobody spying on us via physical means, Momonga-san.”
That report came from Flatfoot and Nishiki Enrai, who had gone to reconnoiter the surroundings.
Though the assassin and ninja duo were not as good as pure scouting-type characters, no stealth- specialized character had evaded their eyes so far.
After taking their feedback into consideration, he could be certain that nobody was paying attention to this place.
Momonga looked around.
A lot of the people here had frightening appearances. The way they sat around the place looked like some sort of dark cabal conducting an evil ritual. However, all Momonga saw were the figures of veteran players.
“Then, everyone! Are you ready?”
As one, thumbs-up icons blossomed around them.
This was the signal that their preparations were complete. After all, there were nearly thirty of them, so individually asking if they were ready would waste a lot of time. In order to avoid that, this was how they had responded, ever since they had started out as a clan.
“Then let’s go. Advance party, we’ll leave the details to you.”
“OK~” replied Nishiki Enrai, leader of the scouting team.
After that everyone changed their equipment, stepping into the Poison Swamp once they were immune to poison.
The toxic areas in normal wetlands were scattered throughout the terrain, so one could simply go around the poisoned areas to reach the dungeon which was their objective. However, the detours involved would take a long time, so instead they chose to take the shortest path and cut straight through the toxic regions. The reason for that was because they were all working people, and thus wanted to avoid wasting time. There was also a father who laughed and said that despite the day off tomorrow, his family would kill him if he did not take care of them.
A system message appeared.
「Grenbera Swamp」
That was the only thing Momonga saw, but some of his comrades knew more about the region, and they raised their voices to inform the others.
“This is a huge patch of wetlands littered with poisonous marshes, controlled by the Tuvegs, who are immune to poison.”
Players received different pieces of additional information upon entering a new area, depending on the skills and abilities they possessed. For example, alchemists and herbalists, with their herbological skills, would learn about the various herbs they could harvest in the area.
“And then… huh, it’s nothing special. Monsters in residence — they’re about the same as what Nishiki-san discovered. There’s no information on rarities either… could it be hidden? Or maybe there’s no rare info? Which could it be?”
“There’s no way there’s no rare info, it must be hidden. You probably need to wade in until you’re covered in mud to find it. I feel it’s most likely in one of the Tuveg hamlets. Let’s try to swing by there and take it down as soon as possible. If there’re some undiscovered herbs there, we might be able to make a rare potion. Man, the game developers are insane. They make you scrounge for the ingredients for your potions… I’ve already made over 200 types of potions, but there’re still a lot which haven’t been discovered yet.”