Assassination Plan

To ensure there were no oversights, Hahaha Hades continued to survey the area around the village. Everything he had seen so far consisted only of NPCs from the Ainz Ooal Gown guild; as for members other than Momonga, he had yet to spot any.

Although it was possible that Momonga was the only member of Ainz Ooal Gown to have arrived in this reality, he could not jump to conclusions. As for those NPCs, he was not particularly worried.

Had he been the version of himself before he had spent heavily on microtransactions, he might have found this troublesome, but the current Hahaha Hades did not view these NPCs as a threat. Players, however, were a different story.

He did not know everything about Momonga's personal profile, but relatively speaking, Momonga knew absolutely nothing about him. This allowed him to eliminate his target while exposing the bare minimum of his own intelligence.

However, if there were other members of Nazarick present, the outcome would be unpredictable. He might not lose, but his intelligence would certainly be leaked.

Because of the thousands of available classes, a player's personal data accounted for a portion of the PK results. If one knew the opponent's class and attribute composition beforehand, one would hold a significant advantage.

If there were other guild members, Hahaha Hades might have to temporarily withdraw and choose to avoid their edge.

After a meticulous search, Hahaha Hades found no traces of other players. Within the radius of the village, there was only Momonga, Albedo, the Elf Twins, and fifteen Eight-Edge Assassin Bugs.

"Hmm, perhaps they are inside Nazarick. It's possible they didn't come out with Momonga."

Hahaha Hades lowered his monocular and fell into deep thought.

He needed to make a decision quickly. He had no faith that a notorious guild like "Ainz Ooal Gown" could act as good people now that they had arrived in a world without legal constraints.

They had inherited all the power of YGGDRASIL. Even ordinary people could become villains upon suddenly gaining superpowers—he himself had felt a surge of excitement last night—let alone those who had already lacked moral character within the game.

There was simply no foundation for trust! Compared to offline games, online games better reflected a person's character. YGGDRASIL was exactly that kind of game; even if it was within the game's rules, doing things that were impossible in reality would not be condemned.

However, if one engaged in fraud against other players, such behavior reflected one's true character. While he had never heard of Nazarick engaging in fraud, malicious PKs and looting player equipment happened from time to time. Such behavior was even more detestable than fraud.

Because a player's equipment was crafted with painstaking effort or even real currency, while it remained within the game's permitted scope, if it became a long-term habit, it was enough to reflect what kind of person the other party was.

Human nature was the thing least able to withstand testing. If Momonga discovered him, he would also view his existence as a threat and might initiate a siege with the members of Nazarick; this was something they frequently did in the game.

He was unsure how Momonga would act in reality, but this otherworld clearly lacked any constraints. Observing the tier magic of those soldiers, it seemed this world was much like the world of YGGDRASIL.

If there were no effective behaviors to constrain Ainz Ooal Gown in the game world, and it was the same here...

Hahaha Hades grew concerned for his own safety. Benevolence, righteousness, and womanish mercy would only become hidden dangers. Being a moral paragon that no one could see was useless; taking responsibility for his own life was the only correct path.

Even if he were to be labeled a villain one day, it was better than falling into danger due to a moment of soft-heartedness.

Momonga was likely in this village to gather intelligence on this world, just like him, but he would leave sooner or later. Since Momonga possessed an entire guild as his base, Hahaha Hades feared that breaking in would be quite troublesome.

Although he could use the "World Will" to force his way in, just as in the game era, he would need some help to overturn Nazarick; going in solo was not entirely safe.

What's more...

Hahaha Hades sighed. Although the "World Will" had heaven-defying power, it was ultimately one of "The Twenty," and it would disappear after a single use.

He still knew nothing about this world, and using it now would be too reckless. At the very least, he had to figure out the situation in this world before making plans.

After this analysis, Hahaha Hades suddenly felt that sniping Momonga at this moment might be a rare opportunity.

Momonga had a guild base as sturdy as a turtle shell, and he was a magic caster who could use teleportation magic. If he didn't happen to encounter him now, he might truly only be able to force his way into Nazarick if he wanted to find him later.

"Do it!"

Hahaha Hades made up his mind. Sniping Momonga was not only because the opportunity was rare, but it could also test whether Nazarick had other players. When he beat Momonga to the brink of death, he did not believe his guild companions would watch idly without appearing to help.

This way, he could determine roughly how many members of Ainz Ooal Gown had arrived here. Although there were certainly downsides to this, after weighing the options, Hahaha Hades believed this was an opportunity to gain intelligence on the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

His own guild, "Cat Lord~Great Kingdom," had likely not followed him here, but Momonga had the power of an entire guild. If he didn't obtain intelligence now, it would surely be even more difficult later.

The fifteen Eight-Edge Assassin Bugs were not difficult to deal with, but those three NPCs were level 100 NPCs equipped with divine-class items; killing them was out of the question—it was simply impossible.

This was because if he were to kill Momonga, he would be unable to attend to those three NPCs. Since he couldn't kill them, he could not let them interfere with his battle against Momonga.

"Hmm, magic item books..."

Hahaha Hades sank his consciousness into his infinite inventory and began to rummage through it. There were too many opponents, and he needed to find some help to stall those NPCs.

After a moment of searching, Hahaha Hades held several books in his hands. These were a type of magic item book that could summon monster mercenaries using gold coins. The more gold coins consumed, the higher the level of the summoned monster mercenary, and these mercenaries would exist forever unless killed.

Hahaha Hades did not have much gold, only about twenty billion or so. These gold coins did not exist in physical form within the infinite inventory; they would only transform into physical form when he needed to withdraw them.

After withdrawing enough gold to summon the mercenaries, Hahaha Hades began the summoning. A magic circle centered on the magic item book expanded in the air, and immediately after, a humanoid monster emerged from the circle.

But once the magic circle vanished, the monster mercenary began to fall uncontrollably. Seeing this, Hahaha Hades hurriedly cast "Fly" on him.

The summoned mercenary was a humanoid monster called "Hanzo," a ninja-type monster over level 80, skilled in reconnaissance and stealth.

"My deepest apologies, Lord Hahaha Hades."

After being affected by the "Fly" spell, Hanzo hovered in the air. He knelt in the void before Hahaha Hades, bowing his head in apology.

Although Hahaha Hades had already seen the NPCs of Ainz Ooal Gown move with the fluidity of real people and had already guessed as much, he still felt a sense of unreality when he saw the monster mercenary he had summoned greeting him.

"Rise," Hahaha Hades said.

"Yes, Lord Hahaha Hades." Hanzo raised his head, shifting from a kneeling posture to a standing one, though it looked a bit strange to do so in mid-air.

"Just call me Hades; don't add 'Hahaha' in front," Hahaha Hades corrected Hanzo. He regretted his past actions; the name he had randomly chosen was idiotic enough, and he regretted even more that he hadn't purchased a name-change item later.

"Yes, Lord Hades," Hanzo said respectfully.

"Hmm, what is your name?" Hahaha Hades asked. "Hanzo" was merely the racial name of this humanoid monster mercenary.

"Hanzo is my name, Lord Hades," Hanzo replied.

Hahaha Hades thought about it and felt it would be inconvenient, as he needed to summon a few more Hanzos later; having them all act under the same name would likely be confusing.

"How about this: from now on, your codename is Number One," Hahaha Hades said. Naming things was too much trouble; using numbers was simple and clear.

"Yes, Lord Hades," Hanzo Number One accepted readily.

"Very well, then..." Hahaha Hades took out four more magic item books from his inventory.

These five Hanzos needed to help him deal with those three NPCs. If the plan succeeded, he could easily manage to kill Momonga in an instant.