Assassination Plan

To make sure he hadn't missed anything, Hades continued surveying the area around the village. So far, all he had seen were NPCs from the Ainz Ooal Gown guild. He hadn't spotted any members besides Momonga.

It was possible that Momonga was the only member of Ainz Ooal Gown who had come to this world, but Hades couldn't jump to conclusions. He wasn't particularly worried about those NPCs.

Before he'd spent heavily on the game, he might have found them troublesome. But Hades didn't consider the NPCs a threat now. The players were the real danger.

He didn't know everything about Momonga's character build, but by comparison, Momonga knew nothing about his. That meant he could deal with him while revealing as little information as possible.

But if Nazarick had other members, the outcome was harder to predict. Hades might not lose, but his information would certainly be exposed.

With more than a thousand classes to choose from, a player's build played a significant part in the outcome of a PK. Knowing an opponent's classes and stats in advance would give you a considerable advantage.

If there were other guild members, Hades might have to leave for a while and avoid a direct confrontation.

After searching carefully for some time, Hades found no sign of any other players. Within the area surrounding the village, there were only Momonga, Albedo, the Elf Twins, and fifteen Eight-Edge Assassin Bugs.

"Hmm. Maybe they're inside Nazarick. Perhaps they didn't come out with Momonga."

Hades lowered the monocular and fell into thought.

He had to make a decision quickly. A notorious guild like Ainz Ooal Gown gave Hades little confidence that its members would become decent people in a world without laws to restrain them.

They had inherited all the powers they'd possessed in YGGDRASIL. Even ordinary people who suddenly gained superpowers might turn bad. Hades himself had been a little excited the previous night, so the thought of what might happen to people who hadn't been particularly virtuous in the game was even more worrying.

There was no basis for trust. Online games revealed a person's character more clearly than offline games, and YGGDRASIL was no exception. Even if the game allowed players to do things they couldn't do in real life, nobody held that against them.

But scamming other players reflected a person's true character. Nazarick wasn't known for scams, but it had often PKed players and looted their equipment. That was even more despicable than scamming.

Players put a great deal of effort—and sometimes real money—into their equipment. Even if those actions were allowed by the game, doing them repeatedly was more than enough to show what kind of person someone was.

Human nature couldn't withstand a test. If Momonga discovered him, he would see Hades as a threat. He might even join forces with Nazarick's members to hunt him down, just as they often did in the game.

Hades didn't know what Momonga would do in the real world, but the New World clearly had few restraints. Judging by the Tier Magic used by that soldier, the New World was probably similar to YGGDRASIL.

In the game, there had been no effective way to restrain Ainz Ooal Gown. If things were the same here...

Hades began to worry about his safety. Morality and compassion would only become liabilities. There was no point in being a paragon of virtue where no one could see him. Taking responsibility for his own life was the right thing to do.

Even if people called him a villain one day, that was better than putting himself in danger because of a moment of misplaced mercy.

Momonga was probably gathering information about this world in the village, just as Hades was. But sooner or later, he would leave. And he had an entire guild as his base. Breaking in would be troublesome.

He could use the World Will to force his way inside, but just as it had been in the game, he would need help to take down Nazarick. Going in alone was too risky.

Besides...

Hades sighed. The World Will was unbelievably powerful, but it was one of the Twenty. Once he used it, it would disappear.

He knew nothing about this world yet. Using it now would be far too reckless. He needed to learn how things worked here before deciding what to do.

After thinking it through, Hades suddenly realized that sniping Momonga now might be a rare opportunity.

Momonga had a guild base as impregnable as a tortoise shell, and he was a Magic Caster who could use teleportation magic. If Hades hadn't happened to run into him now, he might have had no choice but to storm Nazarick to find him later.

"Damn it!"

Hades made up his mind. Sniping Momonga wasn't just a rare opportunity; it would also let him test whether Nazarick had any other players. If he beat Momonga half to death, Hades couldn't believe his guildmates would simply watch without coming to help.

That would tell him roughly how many members of Ainz Ooal Gown had come here. There would certainly be drawbacks, but after weighing things up, Hades decided this was a chance to learn more about the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

The Cat Lord Kingdom guild he belonged to had most likely not come here with him. Momonga, on the other hand, had the strength of an entire guild behind him. If Hades didn't get information now, things would surely be even harder later.

The fifteen Eight-Edge Assassin Bugs wouldn't be difficult to handle, but the three NPCs were level 100 and equipped with Divine-class items. He couldn't hope to kill them.

If he wanted to kill Momonga, he wouldn't be able to focus on those three NPCs. Since he couldn't kill them, he had to keep them from interfering with his fight against Momonga.

"Hmm, the Magic Item Book..."

Hades turned his attention to his Infinite Backpack and began searching through it. His opponent had too many people, so he needed to find some help to keep the NPCs occupied.

After digging around for a while, Hades produced a book. It was a type of Magic Item Book that could summon monster mercenaries in exchange for gold coins. The more coins he spent, the higher the summoned mercenaries' levels. They would remain forever unless they were killed.

Hades didn't have all that many coins—around twenty billion. The coins weren't stored as physical objects in his Infinite Backpack; they materialized when he needed to take them out.

After withdrawing enough coins to summon a monster mercenary, Hades began the summoning. A magic circle unfolded in the air, centered on the Magic Item Book, and a humanoid monster emerged from it.

But once the magic circle disappeared, the monster mercenary began falling uncontrollably. Hades quickly cast Fly on him.

The mercenary he'd summoned was a humanoid monster called a Hanzo, a ninja-type creature above level eighty, skilled in reconnaissance and concealment.

"My deepest apologies, Lord Hahaha Hades."

After Hades cast Fly on him, Hanzo hung in the air, knelt before him, and bowed his head in apology.

Hades had already seen how lifelike Ainz Ooal Gown's NPCs were, and he'd formed some suspicions. Still, when his own summoned monster mercenary greeted him, it felt unreal.

"Get up," Hades said.

"Yes, Lord Hahaha Hades." Hanzo lifted his head and straightened up. It was a little strange to make those movements in midair, though.

"Just call me Hades. Don't put 'Hahaha' in front of it," Hades corrected him. He regretted the stupid name he'd chosen back then. What he regretted even more was not buying an item to change it later.

"Yes, Lord Hades," Hanzo replied respectfully.

"Right. What's your name?" Hades asked. Hanzo was only the name of this type of humanoid monster mercenary.

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

Hades thought it over and decided that wouldn't be convenient. He would need to summon a few more Hanzos shortly, and having them all share the same name could get confusing.

"Then from now on, your codename is Number One," Hades said. Naming them was too much trouble. Numbers were simple and clear.

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

"Good. Then..." Hades took four more Magic Item Books out of his backpack.

These five Hanzos would help him deal with the three NPCs. If his plan worked, he could easily kill Momonga in one blow.