Forest Overnight

Momonga extended a bony white hand and touched his jaw. He showed no emotion as he watched the slaughter in the mirror.

Although he had no intention of helping, Momonga continued watching the massacre, not missing a single detail. It wasn't that he enjoyed such bloody scenes; he was trying to learn what kind of strength the people in this world possessed.

He was level one hundred, but as he had told Mare, it was possible that ordinary people in this world were level one hundred too. If so, things would be very bad.

So it was right not to save them. He had to take responsibility for the NPCs he had created for his companions.

Momonga had found another reason to console himself. The soldiers in the mirror didn't look anything like level one hundred, but perhaps that was because the villagers' levels were too low to give him a proper measure of the soldiers' strength.

Momonga switched the view and continued watching the villagers being slaughtered. Two soldiers dragged a villager by the arms, then another soldier ran a longsword through his chest.

When the sword was pulled free, blood gushed out like a fountain, staining the soldier's armor red. Momonga nodded to himself. These soldiers don't look very strong.

What's more, the Mirror of Remote Viewing, which could easily be blocked by low-tier anti-divination magic, had encountered no interference so far.

It seemed the enemy couldn't use magic, which meant there was no need to worry. No—that was a poor conclusion. Perhaps these were merely low-ranking soldiers. Their stronger fighters might be hiding, or they might not have been deployed yet.

"What do you intend to do?" Seeing that Momonga had been watching for some time, Sebas asked at an opportune moment.

"Leave them to die. There's no reason to save them, and nothing to be gained from it," Momonga replied without hesitation.

"As you command." Sebas nodded. He felt a little disappointed, but he had to obey the Supreme Being's orders without question.

After he spoke, Momonga suddenly felt uneasy. He looked casually at Sebas, and in his silent, solemn face, he seemed to see Sebas's creator—and his former companion—Touch Me.

"If you see someone in trouble, of course you lend a hand."

Momonga remembered what Touch Me had told him when they first met.

In YGGDRASIL, his heteromorphic race had made him a target of relentless hunts by human players. Just as he was about to give up on YGGDRASIL, Touch Me had come to his aid, and that was what made him decide to stay.

"Sigh." Momonga let out a quiet breath. "I'll have to test my combat abilities in this world sooner or later anyway... Sebas!"

"At your service, Lord Momonga." Sebas bowed.

"Raise Nazarick's alert level to the maximum. I'll go ahead. Notify Albedo, who's waiting next door, and have her come after me fully armed. But she must not bring the Abyss of Hell. Also prepare a support squad. In case something unexpected happens and I can't retreat, send a few subordinates who are good at hiding or can turn invisible to the village."

Momonga stood and gave Sebas his instructions one by one.

"As you command, Lord Momonga..."

Hades rubbed his eyes and woke from his sleep. He stared blankly at the ceiling, and only after a long while did he look away. He sat up in bed and glanced around.

The room was surrounded by walls of packed earth, though "built" wasn't quite the right word. Hades had carved out this underground space with magic.

After leaving the village and reaching the forest, Hades had let loose and begun testing his skills and magic one by one. The results had left him thrilled.

He could use every one of his warrior skills and Magic Caster spells without exception. He had only stopped once dawn had broken.

Then sleepiness came over him. Being undead could dispel it, but when he switched to his human or elf form, the drowsiness returned and took hold of him again.

Hades guessed that the Seed of the World Tree didn't carry the passive effects of his undead body over to his other two character races. So when he used either of those forms and exhausted himself, he still needed sleep to recover.

YGGDRASIL had a fatigue system, and a character's attack stats were affected when they became fatigued. Hades didn't know whether fatigue would affect attack power in the real world, but he really did feel sleepy.

YGGDRASIL had accessories and rings that could eliminate fatigue and hunger, but Hades thought those rings were useless and took up one of the few available ring slots. He had never worn one, leaving it in his personal guild storage instead. Now, if he had such a ring, it would save him some trouble.

But no matter how he used the guild ring, he couldn't return to the guild's base. Hades thought there was only one explanation: his guild hadn't come with him when he crossed over into reality.

That would explain why he couldn't contact the six companions who had been online before the crossing. They hadn't crossed over with him.

Hades didn't know whether to call that good luck or bad. Having all his abilities from YGGDRASIL was a pretty good experience, but he'd also had a decent life in his original world.

Thinking about it only brought him more frustration. He wouldn't be able to return to his old world anytime soon.

Although his undead body was convenient, his human form became fatigued if it didn't get enough rest. It was an unpleasant feeling, and he could only recover by resting.

But Hades didn't want to return to that village. He couldn't stand that livestock shed.

Fortunately, his elf character had a crafting profession, so making furniture was well within his abilities. His Infinite Backpack still held plenty of materials.

But as he was about to use the materials in his backpack to make himself a bed, he realized that this was no longer a game world. He had no idea whether he could replenish those materials here.

To be safe, Hades tried using trees from the forest as substitute materials. The Item Smith profession didn't seem to lose its effectiveness when the materials changed, and he managed to make a single bed with magical properties.

One of his crafting professions was Sage. The Sage profession let him give the items or equipment he made buffs. He had originally thought that making items with materials from this world would render the profession's effect useless.

Now he was very satisfied with the result. At least he knew that materials from this world were no different from those in YGGDRASIL. He just didn't know whether there were any high-grade materials, so he'd have to go looking for some later.

If he could replenish his materials, he'd be able to make all kinds of useful things.