World Enemies in Teyvat

"So wait, let Paimon get this straight…" The small fairy placed her petite hand on top of her head as she tried to analyze what she had heard from the heteromorphic duo.

"The two of you come from a world, a whole other universe even, called Yggdrasil. Which is also called the World Tree because each of its leaves is practically a world on its own…" Ainz nodded to confirm her understanding of the lore, while Nidhoggr was leaning on a nearby boulder, yawning at the entire ongoing process.

"But most of those worlds were eaten by… her…" Paimon slowly pointed towards the woman, who only responded by showing a very sharp toothy smile, sending shivers down the girl's spine once again.

"And only nine were left remaining after that… but why did she stop at nine?" Paimon looked towards Ainz in hopes of answering her question.

But before he could, Nidhoggr replied in his stead.

"It's because of him and his Kin…" The dragon replied, nary a negative emotion, but with simple indifference as if recounting how the weather was like at the time.

"When the Creators of Yggdrasil realized they could never stop me, they made a Contract with the likes of Lord Ainz and the rest of his brethren. And so, for as long as people like him continued to remain in Yggdrasil, I wouldn't be able to finally finish my goal and devour the rest of the leaves." Nidhoggr shrugged her shoulders as she recounted the tale to the fairy, who looked at her in shock and awe while Ainz was looking at her strangely… or as strange as someone with no facial expressions could begin with. Unaware that Ainz was simply noting how she recounted the lore of the game.

"And in the end, he defeated me on his lonesome, used my power to strengthen himself, and I'm now in this weakened body as a result, now bound as his subordinate. And time skip to a few hours after that, and here we are." Nidhoggr then cracked the bones of her upper limbs in satisfaction before making her way towards the duo.

"Wait, that all happened just a few hours ago before you guys came here?! Did you guys fight in some type of game like chess or something? Because neither of you look worse for wear!" Paimon exclaimed in utter shock.

"Eh. It's quite normal in Yggdrasil, back there, people either have ridiculous regenerative capabilities, strong healing magic, or just carry around healing potions powerful enough to nearly resurrect the dead. Your first mistake, little one, is to use your common sense on those who don't even hail from the same world as you." Nidhoggr shrugged her shoulders as she gave her answer to the fairy, looking as bored as ever explaining such normal events (to her and Ainz) to the petite creature.

"I mean, I guess when you put it that way…" Paimon clutched her head once again as she tried to process all the incoming information and prepare for the ensuing headache.

Thankfully however, Ainz decided to step in, and began to converse with the floating girl.

"Before anything else, Paimon…" The fairy looked at the skeleton, who quite frankly still terrified her - but not as much as the woman anymore after her little stunt -, as he called her name. "As you know, the two of us aren't from Teyvat, so could you provide us with any information about this world? What you know of at least." 

Paimon slowly nodded as she processed his request. She then coughed into her tiny fist before a smile overtook her features as she began her short lecture.

"Well, there are seven nations in Teyvat, each ruled by an Archon, who are gods. Each of these archons also reside over each of the seven elements." Paimon then looked towards Ainz, who nodded towards her, before she continued.

"There's the Anemo Archon in Mondstat, Geo in Liyue, Electro in Inazuma, Dendro in Sumeru, Hydro in Fontaine, Pyro in Natlan and finally, the Cryo Archon in Snezhnaya." Paimon took a deep breath before continuing.

"Then, other than the Archons who reside over the elements, some people can also utilize them using Visions. While Paimon doesn't exactly know how they earn them, it is most commonly believed that the gods grant them to those they think are worthy of them." Ainz looked attentive as he listened to every word she said, which Paimon took as a signal to continue.

"Paimon can't exactly remember everything else right now about the topic right now, but I can say that we currently are in Mondstat, the region that the Anemo Archon, Barbatos, who's the god of freedom, presides over!"

"What about that floating island up above? Does it belong to anyone perhaps?" The Undead asked the fairy before he could forget.

"Oh, well… Paimon does know it's called Celestia, and it's supposedly the home of the gods, gods other than the archons of course, and rumours are that many of them are way more powerful than the Seven. But Paimon doesn't know much else, or rather not many know anything about it other than the rumours or common knowledge, maybe if you asked some scholars they could help. Or the Archons themselves, since they may be able to provide more information if you ask them about it."

Ainz nodded over the last tidbit of information Paimon gave before he began scratching his chiseled jaw while contemplating what he had recently learned.

'So to put it in layman's terms, the people in this world, or at least some them, can utilise elements like how magic casters can but through the use of catalysts called visions, allowing them to control, if the names are any indication, the elements of: wind, stone, fire, water, lightning, nature, and ice. And each of the elements has an elemental god residing over it and they rule over their respective nations… Though it is a bit interesting that both the elements of dendro and geo are considered separate when they're usually under the same category, different world, different rules, I suppose… ' Ainz's thoughts stilled for a while as he recounted what Paimon told him about Celestia.

'It sounds more and more like one of those floating guild bases that were present in Yggdrasil, even if I never heard of this Celestia before, especially considering that floating guild bases are usually easy targets and the information about them is common since the only ones that use them are either noobs who thought it was cool, or are experienced guilds who's lifeblood is trading with other guilds and players, making anyone who attempts to attack them the enemy of numerous other guilds.' If he had his eyebrows at that moment, they would've scrunched to inhuman proportions.

'I don't know if there are really Players here or not, or if this so-called Celestia is related to them, but it's best to be safe and consider the Archons, at worst, to be on the level of World Enemies like us at the very least if it's them that actually grant elemental powers to the people, or at best, they could be considered on the same level as Raid Bosses, but that's nothing but wishful thinking for the moment. And Celestia should be treated as either the same as a guild base filled with powerful Players or World Enemies if they, and is on the same level as a high-ranking end-game raid dungeon. It's best to go forward thinking that even the vision wielders could be considered a threat too, until I gather more information on the situation…'

Before forgetting, he thought, Ainz looked at the fairy once more to ask another vital question, "What about the undead, like me? Do they exist? And if they do, how are they generally seen?"

Paimon closed her eyes and hummed in thought before replying to the skeleton, "Well, undead do exist, but as far as Paimon is aware, she only knows about undead like ghosts and evil spirits and stuff. I never saw a zombie or a skeleton before, but maybe they do and Paimon never saw them before? In any case, for your second question, they're generally seen as nuisances or enemies, but some co-exist with humans and even help them at times! But… I don't think anyone would ask questions first before attacking you or running away… You look way too scary, uh, no offense…" Paimon waved her arms in an apologetic manner as the last sentence came out of her mouth, to which Ainz replied with a simple "none taken" before evaluating his choices.

"Guess that means I have to cover myself up so no one would realize I'm undead, it's a pain to do so, but it's better than the alternative."

As Ainz sighed, he opened his inventory, amazing Paimon in the process, before pulling out a red-and-green mask adorned with a permanent mocking grin plastered on it, with large blue sapphires on the mask where the eyes would've been. It was a giveaway event item given by the shitty devs to the Players who logged into Yggdrasil during Christmas Eve for more than two hours. Or to put it more bluntly, to the single Players who don't even have partners to spend the night with. Suffice to say, where Paimon was interested with the design of the creepy mask as the Undead placed it on his skull, Ainz was bitter about having to use that "cursed" item, a symbol of his single marital status.

Ainz then pulled out a pair of iron gauntlets modeled after Thor's own gauntlets, Járngreipr, which unlike the mask, have the additional effect of increasing the wearer's physical strength and add a bit of resistance to lightning damage, of course, to a mage and an undead like Ainz, it is considered pointless unless there's a point for him to use such brute force, and it's even more negligible after his ascension to a World Enemy. The reason why he even owns them was because he and a couple of his guildmates had the bright idea to create tens of hundreds of these gauntlets and accessories to hide their heteromorphic nature when going undercover to homomorph-centric cities in worlds like Midgard or Asgard.

'Nonetheless, they should be able to perfectly serve their original purpose' Ainz mused as he closed his robes, hiding his large ribcage and his World Item in the process.

The Overlord looked himself over before nodding in satisfaction, then turning towards Paimon, who was busy looking over the Undead's change in apparel "Well, thank you for this information. With this, we aren't indebted to one another. But it's best for us to depart for now. I wish you the best of luck in the future." Ainz gave a small bow of his head towards the shocked fairy before making his way slowly out of the beach, Nidhoggr in tow as she followed behind the Other Being, her arms laying behind her head in an x-shape.

"W-wait a moment, please!" Before they could take another step, Paimon went floating quickly towards the two, Ainz looking at the fairy curiously, while the female dragon was looking at her with a scrutinizing gaze.

"Y-you two don't know much about this world, r-right? S-so… Um, Paimon thinks that she can accompany you two as a Travel Guide! Y-you know! To help you get around a-and s-stuff…? And Paimon could also read the common language a-and…" It wasn't that difficult to realize that Paimon was quite desperate as she tried to plead her case towards the large-sized heteromorphs, trying to rack her head over other purposes to convince the two to take her with them, steam almost exiting her ears from the attempt.

Ainz tilted his head in confusion at the fairy's feeble attempts at persuasion, before understanding overtook his mind. 'Ah, of course, considering her current desperation, she must have been alone before I rescued her from drowning. And she nearly drowned before I rescued her… Hmm, not to be rude to her, but her survival skills don't seem to be up to snuff to help her thrive alone...'

The Overlord sighed sadly as he began to see the similarities between the two of them, 'In a sense, she's like me, she doesn't have anyone to return to, like I was, both on Earth and in Yggdrasil after the game was abandoned. It's possible that she was living on her own for quite a while now as well, or her entire life if her appearance is an indication of her true age.'

Ainz nodded to himself as he looked towards the fairy, who was still trying to come up with reasons to convince the two to let her tag along, some valid, while some were just plain pitiful. 'Well, it's not as if it would cost me anything to let her come with, besides, as Touch Me once said, "the more the merrier". And I do have a feeling that Nidhoggr wouldn't be the best conversationalist and partner in the world for this little adventure.'

Ainz then extended his hand towards the undersized fairy, "You can accompany us if you want, provided that you try to become a good Travel Guide as you have claimed."

Paimon, hearing Ainz's offer, had happiness covering her entire features before she placed her petite hand on top of his, shaking it. "Of course! After all, Paimon is the bestest travel companion ever! You two won't regret it, Ainz and… err, Nidho… Nidhoga…"

With the fairy's momentum being halted by her inability to say the Devourer's name properly, the Undead and even the dragon in question chuckled at the fairy's attempts, before the larger female responded to the smaller one.

"You can call me Kuyo. It's another name of mine that I used before." The draconian woman said to the fairy, which made Paimon nod in acceptance, while Ainz was more surprised.

'Kuyo, huh… Oi, doesn't this mean that the quest about defeating that fragment of a supposedly "ancient" evil dragon was because of her!?' Ainz was almost tempted to attack the dragon before him in utter anger, after all, that quest was one that caused him numerous headaches purely because of how long it took to accomplish and with how cheap the rewards were. Fortunately for the larger white-haired female, Ainz's desire to do so crumbled as the {Emotional Suppression} did its due duty of dousing the fires of his anger, his shoulders slumped in defeat in the process as rationality took hold of him once more.

'Why bother, it's all in the past now… And it's not as if it will change what happened, might as well accept it.' Ainz nodded to himself, finally accepting the situation, while the other two were unaware of the Overlord's inner turmoil.

"Well let's head out, daylight's burning and I would prefer for the three of us to go to the city of Mondstat before night arrives." As Ainz said this with a tone of finality, he began making his onto the grassland path leading out of the beach, with Nidhoggr (nicknamed Kuyo for the sake of fairy's poor linguistic capabilities) beside him and Paimon floating between the two.

But before they could continue further, Paimon stopped them as she began making her forwards to a small structure planted on the ground covered in red coloured crystals adorning it.

"Oh! This is a teleportation waypoint! While Paimon doesn't know about anyone personally who could use them nowadays, but it's said that it was previously used by ancient civilizations to help them move quickly all around the world. Maybe the two of you have a higher chance to make use of them since you're not part of Teyvat?" The petite being explained as she moved to the side as the pair of World Enemies came close to the structure.

"Hmm… It may be useful, but taking into account we both can use flight and transportation magic, I don't see the need for me to use it aside from it sparing us the use of my wings and our mana." Kuyo scrunched her nose as she looked at the dull crystal structure before backing away. In time, however, for the fairy's exclamation of shock.

"Hold on! You two can teleport?! And I know that you can fly since you have wings, Kuyo, but even Ainz?! This is so unfair!" Paimon pouted as she stomped her feet in the air at the apparent injustice.

Ainz only chuckled at her response as he continued observing the structure, touching it, causing the waypoint to slowly begin hovering in the air as its crystals began to shine blue, causing the Overlord to emit a pleased 'umu' as he explained further to Paimon.

"Most if not everyone in Yggdrasil was capable of either or both, and those who couldn't personally had items on hand that let them be able to do so."

The dragon of the group accentuated Ainz's point by unfurling her wings and began however in the air, before teleporting in multiple locations in front of Paimon, amazing the fairy in the process, before finally teleporting high up in the sky and diving straight down towards the duo, a feral grin on her face that caused fear into the small sprite's heart, eliciting a scream from the girl as she shielded herself using Ainz as a barrier between her and the incoming draconic missile. But fortunately for her it was proving to be unnecessary as the dragon stopped short of crashing onto the ground and gracefully landing on her feet, causing small sand clouds to appear where she landed. Her wings closed and were being hidden from view by her cape once more while her hands were raised in the air, a smug expression of confidence and wicked pleasure donning her face at the near heart attack she gave the fairy.

While Ainz gave a polite series of claps in appreciation of the small show done by the senior World Enemy, while Paimon's only response was simple and expected, if her placing her hand on her chest to calm her pounding heart was any indication.

"Never do that again!"

---------------

As the trio continued walking along the path, they made their way towards a small lake with a tiny islet in the middle of it, with a statue of a robed figure with wings on their back placed on top of a pedestal in the center of that piece of land.

"Oh, right! That is a Statue of the Seven! This one represents the Anemo Archon of Mondstat. If you guys wanted to know more about the gods of this world and other stuff, then like Paimon said before, maybe communicating with the Archons is your best bet!" The petite fairy exclaimed as she stood in front of the duo.

Ainz scratches his chin in thought while Kuyo only looked at the statue for a bare second before she lost interest in it.

"Oi, fairy, how easily do the mortals here interact with their gods?" The Devourer looked at the floating being before her, boredom coloring her features.

"Why, you…! Paimon's name is Paimon! Is that so hard to say?" Paimon stomped her legs while looking angrily at the woman, which proved to be a mistake, as her mouth began to split open to inhuman proportions once more as a silent warning of what would happen if the undersized girl continued.

Fear colored her features once more before she floated towards Ainz while keeping her sight towards the dragoness.

This proved to be enough to pull Ainz from his thoughts as he saw the fairy, clutching at his robes, staring in alarm and slight anger at the Devourer, who had the same expression she used once before to frighten the fairy before.

The undead sighed as his {Despair Aura} flared up subconsciously, causing the sprite clutching his robes to immediately let go and distance herself a bit, while the World Enemy felt shivers creep up her spine as she gazed at Ainz.

'Right… regardless of how he acts at the moment, this is still Momonga, or rather, Ainz now…' Nidhoggr is powerful, extremely so, that she herself never believed she would ever be in a subordinate position to another (the situation with the Creators is a different matter altogether as they technically raised her since she was a hatchling when she was given away by the Mother), but faced with Ainz's aura, she was reminded that while he isn't extremely rigid as some other beings she knew of who wanted others to always sing their praises. This is still the leader of the guild of forty-one that terrorized the Nine Worlds so easily and frequently that many of the Other Beings tended to forget that she was their ultimate target, and not the small heteromorphic group.

Ainz sighed as he saw the two grow silent quickly, while he wouldn't really care if he happened to frighten Kuyo for a bit, due to their shared history in Yggdrasil, it irked his consciousness to do the same to the fairy for some reason, it was a bit similar to when he accidentally broke a promise with an old friend from his in the past and the look of hurt was still engraved onto his mind, a lesson he learned for the future.

He slowly retracted his aura as he sighed softly before speaking.

"While I apologize for the scare, the two of you should really try to get along considering we're going to be together for a long time." Ainz looked at the two with reproach. Kuyo looked as if she swallowed a bitter pill while Paimon seemed a bit ashamed, with her hands tucked behind her back as she slowly crept away from the Overlord, looking at the ground instead of his skull.

Ainz sighed once more, both in annoyance at the current situation, and in warm fondness, as he recalled the times he had to break up childish fights that would often occur between his friends for one reason or the other.

He shook his head to dispel his recollections of the past so that he could try and mediate this issue between the two.

"Kuyo, you should apologize for the way you treated Paimon with disrespect." Ainz looked towards the dragon while speaking with a scolding tone. Which elicited an expression of shock from the woman. But as she felt the glare coming from Ainz's black-hole-like red eyes, any rebuttal she would have wanted to say was stuck in her throat, in fear of any retaliation the Overlord would exercise.

She then looked towards the fairy, with equal measures of embarrassment and shame at the indignity of it all that would force a person of her strength to apologize to someone infinitely weaker than her.

"I a-a-apologize… Paimon… for the way I t-treated you… a-and I hope that you f-f-forgive me…" Nidhoggr forced the words out of her mouth, her entire face a deep shade of red at the utterly humiliating situation she was in, with veins visible on her cranium.

As Paimon heard the woman's forced apology, a retort was about to instinctively erupt from her, but after considering the identity of the target, she instead erased the thought before the World Eater does something worse than just scaring her next time.

"It's ok! Paimon forgives you, no harm, no foul. Just don't do it next time." Paimon, acting unlike her appearance could suggest, forgave the woman with a small smile. All the while ensuring proper distance is between her and the dragon just in case the larger female decides to do something irrational, if the visible manifestation of wrath on her face is any sign.

Ainz nodded in satisfaction as he saw how the two made up(?), before he looked back towards the statue as he used a [Fly] spell and began to close in on it, his hand extended towards its direction.

"A Statue of the Seven', huh… what if there's a chance that by touching it I may give out my position to this archon? I don't have any assurances that whoever they are, they are amicable to reason or are willing to converse with an undead like me, if they are anything like the majority of NPC gods in Yggdrasil. And I can sense that this isn't a simple statue and there are hidden mechanisms to it, but what exactly? …Another thing I have to collect information about, it's for the best that I leave it alone for now.'

Ainz halted his motions before retreating away from the object. Dispelling his spell once he returned to the two. Paimon in the meanwhile was still amazed by how Ainz was seemingly able to fly quite easily.

"Let's go, I'll return to this statue at a later time." Ainz only uttered this statement before continuing on the dirt path, the dragoness and the fairy following behind the Undead.

---------------

The party of three were continuing on the path to Mondstat, which has now taken them through a forested area in the process.

Nidhoggr and Paimon seemingly have grown accustomed to each other's presence as they began to bicker about simple stuff, such as food, food… & food.

"How primitive are you?! Fried chicken stuffed with cheese and herbs are much superior to simple dips, you uncultured swine!" Kuyo, the Devourer of Worlds, and one of the oldest ancient beings to have existed, having lived for millions of years (according to lore), was speaking with much passion in her debate with the fairy, who responded with the same kind of zeal.

"You're the primitive one! Dipping fried chicken in different kinds of dips is a way better experience than just settling on stuffing them with cheese and being done with it! It lacks variety, you lazy dragon!"

Ainz was both surprised and pleased how the two found common ground so easily on the topic of gastronomy, but was just as confused by their arguments. He was almost on the verge of saying something along the lines of "why not both?", before he stopped himself short of doing so.

After all, hell hath no fury than a connoisseur's (foodie) scorn. And he doesn't want to be the target of their combined anger at that moment.

'It's a shame though that I can't eat at all…'

The skeletal World Enemy sighed inwardly at his predicament, silently promising to himself to find a way in the nearest future to be able to eat and most importantly, taste food.

However, before he could take another step, he and Kuyo sensed the two strange presences in front of them, and showcasing his expertise as a veteran PVP and PKK player, immediately cast two spells on both his person, and on the other two who were deep into their discussion until a few seconds ago, until Nidhoggr sensed what he did, and not resisting the effects of the spells he cast upon her.

"[Silent Magic: Mass Perfect Unknowable!], [Silent Magic: Mass Silence!]"

Paimon panicked at first as she saw a translucent sheen surrounding both herself and the other two, but before she could voice her thoughts, Kuyo clamped her mouth shut while glaring at her, stopping the girl from speaking.

As the fairy settled down while within the arms of the Devourer, the two World Enemies came close to the site where they sensed the strange unfamiliar presences, but to Kuyo however, she felt a link to one of the two.

'So it's a dragon of this world, it looks a bit unorthodox, and seems as if it's elemental in nature, I suppose it belongs to the so-called "Anemo" element… Heh, how fun~' A feral and terrible grin spread on her face, to which Paimon, who was the unfortunate spectator of the change in expressions, turned pale as she was overcome with worry. Not for herself this time, but to whoever caused the mad dragoness to have such a diabolical expression on her face.

Nidhoggr, was many things, and it was expressed in her racial and job classes quite easily. To the rest of the world(s), she was a World Enemy, the first to have that title in fact, and the World Devourer, making her the unmistakable true enemy of all the beings, foes and friends alike, that would unfortunately call her next meal their home.

But to dragons, this goes even beyond.

As the one who holds the title of both Dragon King and Dragon God, her authority over the species is absolute, regardless if they acknowledge her superiority over them or not. It's quite similar to the capabilities of the Overlords of the Undead, who could force any undead below them to submit to their will and authority.

However, unlike many others however, she doesn't see any form of bonds or kinship between her and the majority of dragons, seeing them, with the exception of a few - which include her closest relatives - , as inferior, or even as mere playthings to be discarded once she's bored of them. This may be due to their relationship to the Mother of All Dragons as that of extremely distant descendants, and because none of them were worthy of her recognition due the disparity in overall strength.

"Might makes Right" after all, and dragons are the ultimate example of this statement.

So whereas Ainz exercised caution when witnessing the dragon and the young man, as he wasn't sure of how truly strong they are, fearing the potentiality of them having placed false data spells on themselves (or whatever the equivalent is of this world). Kuyo saw only a potential new toy and a tiny green snack, one that looks absolutely fit for her palette right now.

"It's all right, I'm here now…" The mysterious entity placed his palm on top of the dragon's snout, all the while the larger creature was softly growling.

Ainz was fascinated by this display, yet curious of who the young child could be.

'Is he perhaps taming that dragon? That could be the only explanation I could think of at the moment, but his words seem to indicate a shared past between the two… Hmm, why is that child familiar for some reason? I don't recall ever meeting whoever that is in Yggdrasil, and the only denizen of Teyvat that I met here is Paimon…'

But before Ainz could try and mentally theorize further about the situation. The dragon flinched before looking in the direction of the trio and roared, but rather than a roar of rage or anger, it was filled with fear, akin to one attempting to sway a predator by futilely screaming 'stay back!'.

The beast then took off to the air, while the one who just communicated with it was grimacing in pain and then looked in the same direction the dragon roared at.

"Who's there?!" The being shouted, unaware however that if it weren't for Ainz's spells he would've been staring right at the inhuman group. Yet, even so, Ainz held his breath, despite how useless it was. Both due to him being an undead and because the person in front is incapable of piercing through the veil of magic cast upon them, strengthened both by his original and new racial and job levels as a pure magic caster type of Player.

After a few moments, the mysterious person disappeared out of sight in a small torrent of winds, the only thing left to prove that the dragon and that person were ever here was the strange large red tear-drop-like gemstone.

Ainz released his breath and dispelled the magic spells, looking in the direction of the now unveiled dragonoid and fairy, hoping to find whatever it was that caused the dragon to roar at them in terror before escaping. And his reward for his curiosity was a most bizarre sight.

"Kuyo, are you… drooling?" Indeed, before him was the World Devourer, who was previously clutching the fairy close while her mouth was watering, the same way one would when in front of a delicious dish.

The dragoness was startled as she wiped her drool before coughing slightly to hide her embarrassment. "Apologies my Lord, I suppose my unchecked hunger was what terrified that liz… I mean… young dragon."

'Oi, were you about to call someone of the same race as you a lizard?' While Ainz isn't unfamiliar to the common insult usually thrown at the winged race, but to hear someone of said race use it to insult her own brethren was new.

Ainz sighed, while he assumed that the so-called hunger she was unable to contain was aimed at the other entity, he still couldn't believe that the dragon was able to sense her gluttonous desires so easily.

'Either that one had extremely powerful senses to be able to sense her despite the spells cast, or her raving appetite was able to pierce through the natural protection of [Perfect Unknowable] and reach the dragon… Man, both of these scenarios aren't favorable to me at all!'

Ainz wanted to groan at the precarious situation he was in. But as much as he wanted to scold Nidhoggr, he supposed it was his own fault since if she really was hungry, then as she was his NPC (if that term can even apply anymore), he should've been responsible and given her food.

With this thought in mind, Ainz swore that once they find their bearings in this new world and reach Mondstat, he would let the two living members of the group have a chance to rewind and eat at peace. Though he won't admit that he could've given the two food at the moment because he didn't know if he had any way to replenish the multitude of buff dishes he has in his inventory, regardless of how numerous they are in number.

'I'll have to experiment with my summons later to see if they can cook either the normal or the buff dishes… Hmm, maybe even try to cook some ordinary dishes for myself, it's not restricted by Yggdrasil after all. Besides, with the amount of visible vegetation and wild animals we met, it's not as if it would be costly to keep the two fed by food made here, it will give me ample time and money (once I secure the currency of this world at least) to do my own experiments'

Ainz hummed happily at this new plan of his, after all, what could go wrong with only keeping two people fed…

The Overlord looked towards the spot where the dragon and the young man were, seeing nothing to prove their previous presence here with the exception of the glowing giant red teardrop gem.

He treaded carefully towards the gemstone, secretly casting defensive and anti-divination spells onto himself in case the gem was a bait laid out by those two.

Fortunately however, nothing of the sort occurred, and after safely coming over towards the gemstone, he carefully attempted to pick it up.

"Hmm… how curious, it radiates a familiar sort of energy…" Ainz brought it close to him as he looked it over thoroughly.

'It feels a bit similar to the abyssal energy emitted by the Eldritch NPCs and Players who play similar races like Tabula or those abyss-based items, but it's extremely tame in comparison… I guess it's a good thing though, because if it wasn't, this entire spot would've turned into a mass of living writhing fleshy tentacles if it was even remotely similar to any of those.'

Ainz wasn't unfamiliar with the Abyss, or rather, the Abyss in Yggdrasil. It was considered an "outer world" aside from the Nine Worlds of the game. The Abyss was introduced to the game halfway into its lifetime during the "Horrors from the Beyond" Expansion, which, along with the new "world" to explore, also included many new jobs, spells, new races and even new subspecies to existing races.

Ainz remembers back then when he accompanied Tabula and Ulbert there the moment it was released because the former wanted to upgrade both his build with the new additions and discover the new lore brought by the expansion, while Ulbert just wanted to find the most destructive and/or the most traumatizing new spell schools to harass the Human Players with.

He at one point regretted it, because they kept dragging him to every nearby dungeon, quest and boss they could possibly find. Taking around a couple of weeks before the two let go of their undead guildmaster (chaperone).

But it's not as if he didn't have fun at all, besides, he did upgrade his already extremely long repertoire of spells back then with even more new additions, including new exclusive summons and Abyss-related spells.

It's a shame though that by then he was already maxed out as an Overlord, he would've wanted to lose a couple of levels to try and branch out to one of those uber-cool new Abyss-based Undead races, but unfortunately (for him), when the brain-eater and World Disaster found out about his plan, they shut it down before he even began to try explain his reasons. Hell, they even somehow had the rest of the guild to try and dissuade him from doing so, reasoning with him that they can't afford to have the Guildmaster be that weakened when the rumors of a possible siege on Nazarick started floating around (which did happen, a few weeks after that discussion in fact). 

And because the new undead races introduced by the expansion were deemed to ugly to be used by anyone in the guild, which to be quite honest, was more than likely what the female members of the guild decided on their own since some members agreed with him that they looked badass, even Touch and Ulbert agreed on that, which was a surprise for many with how the two would go out of their way to make their opinions differ from one another. Unfortunately, Bukubukuchagama, Yamaiko and Ankoro Mochi Mochi ripped the poor boys a new one when they agreed with him that having the "boss" of the "evil dungeon" of Nazarick be a combination of a mass of black tentacles and bones looked cool.

In the end, a compromise was reached and they helped Momonga instead earn them as summonable minions and assisted him in earning the new spells offered by the expansion along with assisting him in using {Dark Wisdom} to earn the exclusive spells of those races without actually being one of them, which meant killing a lot of Players who were able to do what Momonga couldn't and played as them.

Though he did hold a bit of a grudge in the end, despite the massive boons he earned in the process. Being in this new world, Ainz was happy he was convinced (forced) not to go through with his initial decisions, after all, if he already looks terrifying as an Overlord, what would have happened if he did branch out into a new race?

At the very least, he wouldn't have been able to simply hide his appearance with a pair of gauntlets and a mask, and Paimon wouldn't have run away from him but would have instead died from deep shock and fear.

Ainz shook his head to shake off his bout of nostalgia, as much as he wanted to simply stay and recall his fond memories with his friends in Ainz Ooal Gown, he didn't know if that dragon or the young man would return soon. And so, he immediately cast an [Appraisal Magic Item] spell on the gemstone, giving him quite an amount of interesting facts about its origin.

[Dragon's Teardrop (Corrupted) {High-Class Item}: An Anemo (Wind) Dragon's tear filled with impurities consisting of unstable Abyssal poison and energy. Can cause DoT Damage to those originating from Teyvat if within one's keep for too long.]

'Hooh… So it's a dragon's tear, I would've expected it to be at least Relic-Class since it originated from a dragon, but maybe because it's corrupted its value as an item degenerated? …And this really means that the Abyss, or rather Yggdrasil's equivalent of it, exists here. If it's anything like what it was in the game, I should be extra careful since it's a region where you can find both the weakest Mobs in the game yet simultaneously the most cracked of them all in there…'

Ainz nodded to himself as he looked over the last part of the information dug up through the spell. 'It's for the best then that I don't let Paimon or anyone else from this place stay too close to it for too long, at least, until I can find a way to remove the DoT effect from it.'

Carefully, Ainz placed the gemstone within his {Inventory} before going back towards Kuyo and Paimon, who finally escaped the clutches of the Devourer, and was looking at him in amazement.

"Ainz, Paimon saw what you just did! What was that red stone thing? And what happened to it!? You were holding it one moment before you put it in some sort of black hole in the air! How did you do that?!" As the fairy kept getting close to his masked skull, Ainz placed his gauntlet on her cheek before gently pushing the excited girl away, sighing before answering her.

"For your first question, it seemed to be a tear from that dragon we saw earlier, albeit corrupted by what seems to be the Abyss. And as for your second question, that was my {Inventory}, which is where I store all my items that I don't carry on my person.

Paimon nodded excitedly as she listened to his answers, giggling in the meanwhile.

"Does that mean you can store lots of food there?! Is there a limit?? Can Paimon store her yummy goods in!? Can you teach me!?!"

Despite the attempts to keep her away, she float closer and closer to mask, her eyes reflecting her endless gluttony and curiosity as they started in to the depths of Ainz's own flaming red eyes, making the great undead falter under the pressure as he tried to regain control of the situation, pushing the fairy away once more.

"For one, yes, I can store food inside. And no, there's no limit ('at least, not anymore since I bought that expensive bloody purchase'). And while I can let you store your items in my {Inventory}, I don't think you would be capable of having one of your own considering it is a skill of those who originate from Yggdrasil"

As Ainz continued forward, Paimon's shoulders slumped as he shattered her dream of having one of her own. Which led to the overlord attempting to lift her mood for a bit as her sorrowful face dug its claws onto his remnant human heart.

"H-however, this isn't set in stone. In the future, I'll experiment with this and see if it's truly impossible or not, so chin up, there may be hope for you yet. And as I stated before, you can use mine to store your things whenever you want."

Paimon looked pensive for a moment before giggling, her previous sad expression nowhere to be seen as she spoke with Ainz.

"Hehe, thanks Ainz! I knew Paimon could count on you! In any case, should we continue onward?" The fairy twirled in the air before she started flying in the same direction they were going in to go to the city.

However, before Ainz could reply, Kuyo, who was silent throughout the entire conversation, spoke up.

"Not yet, there's a bunch of odd colorful blobs coming in our direction, albeit slowly." She stated in a bored tone as she lazily pointed to a specific direction as Ainz, and Paimon - which after a while - finally saw what she was talking about.

In front of them, were several slimes approaching them, with one larger than the others by a margin. Most of these odd slimes were bright red, with the grass below them burning as they hoped on towards the trio. While the larger one was dark brown in colour and had what seemed to be a layer consisting of rocks of the same hue covering its upper part, akin to a helmet of sorts.

"Oh no! These are elemental slimes! Quick, Ainz, do something!" Paimon panicked as she hid behind the Undead. Kuyo scoffed as she was exasperated by the diminutive fairy's cowardly demeanor. While Ainz's mind began reeling back as he began to think about this situation.

'Hm, this is a good idea to get a feel for combat in this world, and to experiment while I'm at it. But let's not use much in case the dragon and that young man return.' Ainz nodded to himself before looking towards the incoming slimes as he began.

"Let's see here. [Life Essence!]" As the Overlord cast his spell, his eyes brightened behind the mask with acknowledgment.

'Hoh, by their HP alone, it seems that the small ones are only up to level 5, with the large one being merely level 8… Is there a chance they are hiding their true strength? Best to use a summon for the moment and gauge the strength of some of the native species while in the backseat, it can't hurt to be cautious after all…'

Ainz then raised his hand as he chose a summon to bring forth, one who coincidentally, was also an elemental being but from Yggdrasil.

"[Summon Mid-Tier Elemental: Undine!]" At his words, a large blob of water formed mid-air before it began to condense and began to take a slightly humanoid form, surprising Ainz in the process before realising that this new "summoning effect" may have been caused by his isekai situation. 

The elemental, while harboring humanoid attributes with long flowing hair and a female body, her heteromorphic nature was plain in sight. Her entire form consisted of flowing water, with her eyes seemingly made of gems the colour of lapis-lazuli, while where her ears would've been, where fin-like appendages, and where her legs should've been, a torrent of water was pooling downwards before flowing back up. Her upper body was covered with an armor seemingly made of azure metal with multiple engravings consisting of flowing blue lines reminiscent of that of the ocean waves covering its edges. And in one of her hands was a shiny decorated silver spear with an aquamarine gem embedded into the base of the weapon where the blade meets the shaft. 

The Undine were among the upper ranks of the middle tier elemental summons. Though mostly specialising in close range combat, they are capable of using their racial skills to assist them in combat greatly. They are the go-to summons for day-to-day use among the mid-tier elementals, making them a popular pick for summoners and elementalists alike.

"How may I serve you, my Lord?" The Undine bowed in Ainz's direction, her calm and gentle voice carrying an echo-like effect as she spoke to the Overlord. Surprising both the undead in question and the fairy behind him, though only one showed visible surprise.

Ainz felt his trusty {Emotional Suppression} do it's due duty once more, allowing him to think with a clear head as he recovered from his stupor.

'I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that even my summons can speak now, I mean, Nidhoggr could, and she was an NPC. Though I do wonder if anything else changed in the process? It's a shame though that I never tried the new spells I earned when I got the status of a World Enemy, since I can't draw any parallels between their original capabilities and if there are any changes now to them as well. At the very least, it seems I can confirm two things as of the moment however. First, is that my usage of spells is instinctive, as I can even feel all the details belonging to the spells and my stats as well. Two, the new found sentience isn't only in Nidhoggr only, but in my summons as well. Thankfully however, that I at least am a hundred percent assured of their loyalty…'

However, before Ainz could delve deeper into his musings, Paimon tugged on his robes with worry written across her entire face as she pointed towards the encroaching group of slimes.

Ainz, shook his head, thanking Paimon in his heart for her timely intervention, before issuing his order to the water elemental. "Undine, deal with the smaller slimes before dealing with the larger one, but make sure to only use your elemental attacks!"

The elemental, having received knowledge upon her summoning by her master, nodded before looking at the slimes. She raised her spear-holding arm in the air as multiple projectiles consisting of water formed above her. And as she lowered her arm once more, the projectiles flew towards the small slimes as they split into even smaller projectiles, striking the unintelligent creatures. And while many of the slimes died from the attack (which Ainz surmised by how they seemingly popped like balloons before disappearing), some of the small slimes survived, though they have lost their previous bright sheen and were now a dull red, with steam encasing their forms.

As Ainz recast his spell, he was able to make several conclusions based on the current results of combat.

'The remaining fire slimes (or should I call them pyro slimes now?) lost their previous coloration, and if their bodies having stopped burning the grass is any indication, they aren't capable of producing flames anymore. And that attack itself… Though of course Undine is much stronger than the slimes, that attack seems to have done a lot more damage than expected, it seems like it became a 'steam explosion' of sorts. Is this what happens when the elements react together in this world? Fascinating…'

As Ainz finished ruminating, he noticed that the Undine already finished dealing with the pyro slimes, and is now facing off against the large slime, perhaps it's geo, if the earthen colours are any indication.

The Undine repeated the same motion as before, causing the small projectiles to once again strike the target. However, unlike the previous case, the slime doesn't seem to have suffered any damage whatsoever, Ainz would have thought that perhaps it was strong enough to withstand the power of the Undine's attacks, but after a visible observation of the slime's status, he noticed that it's helmet-shaped outer rock layer seems to have suffered a bit of damage instead.

'So its body armor protected it from the incoming damage? No… it's not as if all of her attacks landed only on the rocky layer, it's more accurate to say it redirected and absorbed the damage dealt to it. Hmm, how about trying to overpower and break the armor in go?'

As the World Enemy finished conjuring up his latest plan, he began ordering the summon. "Undine, use singular water spears to overpower and destroy the slime's shields."

The elemental bowed reverentially before acting accordingly, and just as Ainz has surmised, the shield immediately broke, revealing the large rounded body of the slime as the shockwave from its shield being broken sent it up in the air slightly before it fell down again. It then attempted to hop towards the Undine and attack her. However, the Undine had other plans, as she already had released a spear at the slime, sending it into oblivion.

'So I was right, well this also confirms one thing. Just because some elements can react together harmoniously in combat, some can't, since it seems that attacking the element of "geo" with "hydro" doesn't provide any meaningful reactions.' Ainz couldn't hide his glee as he began laughing softly under his breath, with childish happiness projecting an aura over him, confusing the dragon and the fairy nearby over the Overlord's sudden joy.

'This is honestly fun, this means that I can get to understand what exactly causes elemental reactions and how to use them to my advantage! This really takes me back to my heyday in Yggdrasil with the rest of the guild, we used to have so much fun exploring new things, regardless of the amount of times we failed or even died and lost levels…'  Nostalgia covered the Overlord once more, before the {Emotional Suppression} did it's job once more, but instead of earning praise from the Undead this time, the inanimate skill only received the click of his non-existent tongue and a sigh as the player turned towards the remnant of the battlefield, seeing small shiny objects on the ground where the slime once were.

After carefully going towards them, with the curious pair of dragon and fairy in tow, Ainz picked two up, one larger than the other. They were slimy yet solid pieces of slime, the smaller one a transparent colour to it while larger was greener in colour.

"Wonder what these are? Are they item drops?..."

Yet before Ainz could think over it, Paimon spoke up from his shoulder, startling him in the process before his skill once more did its duty and stopped him from making a fool out of himself.

"Oh! Paimon knows! The smaller one is called Slime Condensate while the big green-y counterpart is called Slime Secretion, slimes usually drop them after death. And they are used for many things, such as crafting items, upgrading weapons, and so on. Paimon also knows that sometimes the nations or the adventurer's guild sometimes put up bounties (former) and commissions (latter) to request people to dispose of them for rewards. Of course, this doesn't only extend to slimes, but to many other enemies in Teyvat too!"

Ainz hummed in appreciation for the new information, before something caught his attention.

"An Adventurer's Guild?" 

Though the undead was interested about the applications of "mob drops" in Teyvat, hearing the name of the usually famous trope in isekai being actually present here, caught his attention even more.

"Yep! As the name says, they are a guild made for adventurers, you can do lots of stuff if you're adventurer with them, such as going on explorations, receiving personal or accepting public commissions, among many other things! Paimon would've wanted to join, but I know that I'm not strong enough to even survive a day in a serious commission…" The diminutive fairy sighed, though it wasn't one of sadness really, but of resignation and acceptance of the situation, seemingly recognizing it as nothing but a dream.

Ainz winced at the fairy's sad tone, before patting her head in a comforting way, which if the way Paimon relaxed in the process was any indication, was a success. Ainz removed his hand from the fairy's head as he opened his {Inventory} once more, chucking all the slime condensates and secretions into his personal pocket dimension.

The undead then dusted himself as he stood up straight once more, a fruitless endeavor as his robes are always clean. He thanked and released the Undine from the summoning, earning a harmonious giggle and a bow from the elemental before she disappeared in a torrent of water.

"Let's find other uses for these later, it's best to head out now and go to Mondstat City."

The duo in front of him nodded, one out of anticipation for the new adventure, while the other out of the sheer boredom caused by the current situation and her ongoing deep hunger. 

And so, the trio continued their trip towards the City of Freedom.

---------------

"Momonga":

There are many titles attributed to the Other Being. Leader, King, Strategist, Manipulator, Mage, Monster, Death…

But rarely any of these titles seem to encapsulate the true character of the Guildmaster of Ainz Ooal Gown, who has committed deeds, both valorous and wicked, to become the villain and the hero of a thousand stories. So it is no surprise that no one, till the time of the Ash Tree's rebirth, ever knew the true underlying personality of the Undead Overlord.

And so the mysteries behind the machinations of one of the greatest Other Beings to have been in Yggdrasil has been considered as an unsolvable mystery of the World Tree.

Meanwhile, somewhere far away:

Ainz could only look into the distance as he continued his walk Nidhoggr and Paimon towards the Mondstat, though the fairy was instead sitting on his shoulders. Yet, as time continued on, he only had one thing in mind, a thought regarding an ancient topic on Earth.

'Why are cookies called cookies if they're baked, but bacon is bacon if they're cooked?'