Before Babylonia (229) (Patreon)

Ainz had a good enough time hanging out with Ozymandias… Actually, to be honest, it was not-so-great. He had spent a good deal of time with the young, insecure king, dragging him around Chaldea with him. Well, describing Ozymandias as an insecure king was perhaps the wrong word to use.

No, he was rather even the opposite. He was overconfident, to the point of almost reality-defining arrogance. Which of course clashed terribly to a reality in which his self-confidence wasn't enough to get results. Or at least, that was the picture Ainz saw before him, as he picked up on Ozymandias' reactions as he followed Ainz around.

And because of this, Ainz was absolutely certain that he was right in his judgment.

At least Ozymandias, who was mostly until then staying silent, and withdrawn, to the point that Ainz could clearly see how lost he was in how to interact with the world around him. After a dozen minutes or so as Ainz showed him around, began to gradually become open to the idea of simple human interaction with the rest of the Servants.

He had even followed Ainz's lead, taking initiative after Ainz himself, like the way he had asked for more of Archer's cooking once he had tasted it. Well, to be more precise, it was hard to call what Ozymandias did a ‘request’, it was more like a command.

It seems that Ozymandias still clearly needed more work in how to communicate with the other Servants. But he had at least made contact with the other Servant first and was the first to ask for something, rather than just waiting in his room demanding that his every demand be catered to. Wasn't that great progress?

Admittedly, the look on Archer’s face when Ainz and Ozymandias had asked for seconds was quite funny.

Still, it was quite the event, wasn't it? A rich and privileged person deciding to ‘slum it out’ is a thing that only happens in fiction, and yet here is Ozymandias, dining in the ordinary Chaldea cafeteria like everyone else.

The fact that, faced with the real world, where his past inheritance or good looks no longer played as important a role as before, Ozymandias, the young boss, or maybe the heir, started to look at the world in a completely different way. He decided to change his character for the better.

That is, Ainz certainly thought that Ozymandias did, and it was not just his naivety speaking. Ainz, as someone that had worked as an office worker for a long time, had repeatedly met people from the higher strata of society. Or rather, as close as someone of his level could get to such celestials.

And Ainz couldn't imagine most of them in an environment where, when faced with something that defies their expectations, they would choose to reform themselves and fix their character flaws by becoming better people. But even Cainabel ended up being a tsundere, so should he have completely given up on the idea that Ozymandias could fix his character?

The fact that Ozymandias could talk with Archer normally was a surprising event, but not at all unbelievable, isn’t it!?

So Ainz couldn't understand why Archer, faced with Ozymandias eating his cooking and Ainz encouraging the awkward king, became completely speechless and catatonic until Ozymandias' order snapped him to return to his cooking.

However, barring that last action, Ozymandias himself ended up not being as hopeless a person as Ainz might have originally thought. All he needed was a nudge, which Ainz had given him, and then he gradually began to act like a normal, if somewhat entitled, person.

So, when Ainz said goodbye to the king, he sat quietly enough in a corner of the dining room, watching the Servants scurrying about, probably thinking about how he should interact with them.

To be honest, Ainz himself wasn't sure if Ozymandias was ready for such a move, but he couldn't continue to spend time and mentor the young lad. For, by the time Ainz was just considering whether he should just try to introduce Ozymandias, a voice speaking over the speakers in Chaldea, familiar to Ainz himself, informed him that he was needed in the Director's office.

A place that he was quite familiar with, and not just because of his relationship with Olga, but also because it also doubled as a kind of general headquarters for the mission to save humanity.

And Ainz, who in turn knew exactly what the call meant, left Ozymandias to go to prepare to go to Singularity for the… Seventh or eighth time?

As far as Ainz knows, however, probably for the last time. But then again, he had thought the same four Singularities ago, so who knows really.

***

The Director's office greeted Ainz with a familiar sight, the gathering of the three leaders of Chaldea, in the form of Roman, Da Vinci and Olga Marie herself, and a familiar silent atmosphere. However, one could not call such an atmosphere sad or wary, a stark contrast to their first meeting. Over the past months, Ainz had proven repeatedly that there were hardly any things in the world that could stop his mission, or, to put it strictly, even seriously hinder him in his plans.

He would still not relax however, Salmon is still around, and he was a tough opponent after all, who knows how many Salmons there are!?

Still, the atmosphere of the current briefing could not be called relaxed either. Even if Ainz had completed all the past Singularities with ease, and often enough without noticing at all that he was facing any adversaries at all. Ainz had trained himself to never underestimate the opponent or the potential situation Ainz might find himself in.

Overconfidence has killed and ruined more YGGDRASIL players than all other causes combined. And yes, that included the Developer's fuckery, which is an achievement in and of itself.

Seeing Ainz's cautious attitude, the others adopted a similar stance. Completing their job as best as possible, not becoming overly reliant on him while neglecting their own work and intelligence, especially as the Singularities gradually became more complex and dangerous. To see if Ainz could withstand any increase in complexity, or if eventually one of the Singularities would prove too dangerous for him, was not something anyone wanted to do.

That would mean the end of the world after all.

So, a moment after Ainz stepped inside and nodded a greeting to those gathered in the office, taking a seat he had come to regard as his own in the past, Da Vinci spoke first. "Ainz, what do you know about Mesopotamia?”

The sudden question made Ainz blink in surprise, even as he tried to jog his memory. But, despite his familiarity with his friends, especially their eclectic knowledge, and all that he knows of YGGDRASIL… All that came to his mind was nothing more than a vague recollection that he might have heard the word once in the past, but nothing more.

He has no idea what that word even meant… A place, presumably, but that didn’t really mean anything.

But, a quick glance around showed Ainz to see that whatever the word meant, it was probably very important, and quite famous. So it means that Ainz was supposed to know about it, he couldn’t just say that he didn’t, or he would lose a lot of face.

“A bit.” Because of this, Ainz instantly adopted a tactic that had helped him many times in the past, to pretend that he definitely knows something when he has no idea what the subject was about at all.

“But my knowledge is probably incomplete, and I can't know what I don't know, so it's best for you to start from the beginning. It's better to repeat the information I already know than to not mention something I might not know. Yes, actually, even if you think it's basic, or obvious information that everyone knows, sometimes it's better to repeat that information… To carefully form the big picture, yes.”

Ainz barely refrained from jumping up with his clenched fist in joy and in congratulating himself on how cleverly he had directed the conversation to where he would be supplied by the information he needed.

However, having taken into account the two main difficulties of his current state, that is his lack of knowledge and the excessive trust placed in him by others convinced that he knew everything there was to know, Ainz had not taken into account another, equally important concern.

He was talking to Da Vinci.

And so when he looked at Ainz, he didn’t like the smile on her face, "Everything? Even the most basic information needed to form a general picture?”

After a moment, Ainz felt his stomach start to churn as his danger sense warned him that he was about to be assaulted by great pain. "Well, in that case, perhaps we should start with how Mesopotamia was formed as a result of a confluence of good geographical landscape and climate. The process of the formation of rock layers is quite often considered an extremely boring event, although scientifically it is truly unique… ”

A great pain called boredom, as he was forced to sit through an impromptu historical lesson, one that, by his own demand, would be extremely thorough and in depth.

In other words, boring, and long.

***

Ainz tried to endure Da Vinci and her historical lecture, though the subjects were as eclectic as they’re boring, a mix of science lessons, geography and dry history. Honestly, he tried to do so!

But even if one were to seriously push the limits of what could be considered ‘understanding’ a lecture, Da Vinci kept jumping from subject to subject with no rhyme or reason! When Da Vinci had just started talking about the processes of lithospheric plate movement, which he had no idea how it relates to what Mesopotamia is supposed to be, he forced himself to still listen.

He lost the battle after a scant ten minutes.

Luckily for Ainz, however, it was not him, but Olga-Marie, who was the first to lose her patience. She called Da Vinci to stop with her lecture, when she decided that the joke of the staff genius of Chaldea had gone on too long and was no longer funny.

"All right, Da Vinci, that's enough. I don't think that's what Ainz had in mind when he asked for information about Mesopotamia.”

“Yes? But there’s still so many things to talk about! Well, okay then…” Da Vinci looked at Olga-Maria and then at Ainz with a simultaneous look of pleading, but knowing full well that she was just using Ainz's technical phrasing to have a little fun at the expense of the audience. And so, with a slight, almost childish show of resentment, as if she really wanted to talk about the mysteries of earth mineral formation and was sad that she had been deprived of that opportunity at the last second.

For a second, Ainz even sympathized with Da Vinci. He, too, would feel sad if someone denied him the chance of sharing his passions, thinking that he could tolerate such stories from Da Vinci for a few minutes…  Before he remembered what he was talking about Da Vinci here. Someone who could talk about the most random topics, in which Ainz understood absolutely nothing, for hours, and suppress such an impulse, at least for the sake of his own psyche.

“Yes, perhaps there’s no need to talk about Mesopotamia in such detail… Maybe we could do with only information related to the current mission…”

Seeing the instantaneous joy in Da Vinci's eyes, Ainz hastened to add something else. “Directly! Only that which is directly related to the current mission.”

Instantly, Da Vinci pouted a little resentfully, before exhaling and shrugging her shoulders as if to tell the world ‘what can you do if no one can appreciate a true genius?’. Well, she began to speak not long after, and this time it was something that was immediately relevant.

“Okay, fine, if that's what you want… I suppose the best place to start would be to say that we've encountered the most powerful Singularity we've ever seen!”

Da Vinci smiled as if this fact was a personal achievement of which she was proud of, and for which she expected praise, and then, remembering some important information, clarified.

“Well, again.”

Ainz could only sigh at Da Vinci’s words. Each Singularity he had encountered in the past was more dangerous than the previous one. It felt as if he was still in YGGDRASIL, and right now he was traveling from one floor of a Dungeon to another, with the enemies gradually getting stronger as he kept going deeper.

It had led him into thinking that the Singularity were created artificially, well, he had kept such thoughts to himself, before it was basically confirmed by that Shalom guy. Of course, there was still the question of why he had created them in this particular sequence, with increasing complexity after each one.

But Ainz wasn't going to ponder his opponent's reason for why he’s arranging things the way he did for too long. That’s what Da Vinci’s here for after all, along with Olga, and if to a much lesser extent, even Romani.

“True, even given the fact that each successive Singularity is more complex than the previous one, I'm talking about a rather significant leap,” Da Vinci eventually continued her thought.

“Occurring in the year, two thousand six hundred years B.C., Mesopotamia, during the Age of the Gods.”

Mesopotamia or the specific historical framework didn't bother Ainz much, but when he heard about something called the Age of Gods, Ainz's gaze instantly became much more focused and sharp.

The Age of Gods… Ainz still did not know what exactly had summoned him to this world, from all he’d learned, it was not the Throne of Heroes and definitely not the Holy Grail, the other ways Servants were summoned. But whatever it was, it still provided Ainz with some information about this world. As his further observation of this world had shown him, the information was rather incomplete, not to mention that Ainz could not always take that information at face value without making adjustments to his situation.

However, the Age of Gods… Ainz absolutely had knowledge of that one.

The Age of Gods, a time when humans and gods existed and walked on earth side by side, interacting with each other. When magi used wonders beyond the imagination of modern magi that are now lost due to the loss of Mystery. A time when monsters walked on earth without any limit, and the gods themselves demanded worship and adoration from the masses, bestowing blessings and curses equally upon them. It was a legendary era of humanity's greatest myths.

“Two and a half thousand years B.C… Isn't that during the end of the age of the Gods?”.

Olga-Marie looked at Da Vinci carefully. "Or rather, the beginning of the end.”

“That's right.” Da Vinci nodded.

"It was indeed the beginning of the end of the Age of the Gods, when the King of Heroes, Gilgamesh, had rejected the gods and rebelled against them. For the first time, the gods were unable to impose their full will on the world, and so, the decline of their power began. But it doesn’t mean that they became powerless overnight.”

“Different gods in different places lasted for many more years, and many believe that the Age of the Gods only truly ended a century after the first Millennium AD. A period when the complete separation of the divine from the human happens. Well, some do still exclaim that, given the fact that the gods can influence our world through the artifacts, legends, and miracles they left behind, the Age of the Gods has not truly ended even now.”

After a moment Da Vinci looked at everyone present, paying attention first to Ainz, then to Roman, and then to Olga-Marie, and smiled, "But it's just a theory, nothing more.”

“Da Vinci, I’ve asked you, no more theories.” Olga-Marie wrinkled her nose and shook her head,

"Anything else we should know?”

“The Age of the Gods, over two thousand years B.C., Mesopotamia…” Da Vinci put a finger to her chin, as if pondering or searching her memory for information, before snapping her fingers as if she had just remembered something important.

“Oh yes, judging by the signatures we've received, this Singularity is filled with Servants of absolutely incredible power. I'm betting on at least five Divine Spirits. Oh yes, and most likely apocalyptic events are unfolding in the Singularity at this very moment! And I do mean that quite literally.”

Hearing these words, Ainz raised one eyebrow, but not because he was surprised by such information. On the contrary, all Singularities were apocalyptic events in themselves in one way or another, and the state of those usually reflected that fact, so was there any need for Da Vinci to mention that fact separately? And if so, why?

“I think I should be taking the floor here.” Roman took over after a few seconds, finding that Da Vinci wasn't going to clarify her information any time soon, only to receive an enigmatic smile from her, but he continued on.

"All the Singularities we've seen so far have been linked in a chain, part of a chain of apocalyptic events, and the situation in them was… Strictly speaking, well, quite apocalyptic in itself. Each time, the Singularity represented a historical moment of humanity altered by the Grail, by the Servants, or even outside magical intervention. Many times, it could be said that humanity was going through its apocalyptic moment. But, strictly speaking, from the world's point of view, it was not such a destructive event.”

Needless to say, being on the front-row seat to many of these not-apocalyptic moments, Ainz was surprised to say the least.

“Yes, from Humanity's perspective, the destruction of humanity meant the end of everything, but it would not be so for the world… From the world's perspective, such a thing had only happened twice. Once, during the third Singularity, Okeanos, when the destruction of the Demon Kings had brought the world to the brink. And lastly, in the last Singularity, when the Goddess attempted to use the full potential of her divine power and her spear. In both cases, a crisis was averted before the event was realized, however… In this Singularity, that didn't happen. The apocalypse, the collapse of humanity's world history…”

Roman paused for a moment, as if he himself was unsure of what he was about to say and the correctness of his information, before taking a deep breath and just saying it. “As far as we understand, in the current Singularity, such a collapse of world history is happening right now.”

“Or rather, from all signals, the process of the destruction of human history is happening right now in this Singularity, but… Something has stopped its progress.” Da Vinci looked at Ainz with a calm smile, as if more interested in what might be resisting the ongoing collapse of the world than being concerned about the fact that it was happening in the first place.

“It's not hard to imagine what might have caused such a destruction of human history. In the last Singularity, one Divine Spirit, one Alturia, was enough to bring the world to the brink of destruction. If we're talking about the Age of Gods at this point, Divine Spirits like her, maybe even ones that surpass her power, are far more prevalent.”

Does that mean… More World Class Items!?

“Chaldea is a marvel of technology and magecraft fused together, but even a marvel has its limits.”

Roman looked at Ainz with a guilty smile, as if he were apologizing for a personal failing. “Chaldea has incredible scanners that can look inside the Singularity, but the Age of Gods is incredible even for such marvels. Chaldea can only determine the bare minimum about the Singularity, the current Mana in the air of the Singularity is so intense that any observation of the Singularity is like trying to drink honey through a cocktail straw. It's practically impossible. So all we can say is that the Singularity is filled with powerful Servants… Not that that’s a surprise.”

Shrugging self-deprecatingly, Romani however, continued to explain their findings.

“We cannot say exactly how many Servants are in this Singularity, nor how powerful they are. Given the current state of the Singularity… I can only say that you should expect at least a few Divine Spirits upon your arrival. And each of them will be equal to the Goddess of Camelot…  Or even superior to her.”

“On the other hand, if anyone is capable of keeping human history alive even at such a level of disaster, then it must be something of Divine origin. Something which meant that not all of these incredibly powerful Servants are your adversaries. You'll have at least one powerful ally waiting for you in the Singularity." Da Vinci smiled, before adding, "That's a plus.”

“It's certainly a plus, Da Vinci, but it's a plus that doesn't override the minus," Roman sighed as he then glanced at Olga, as if hoping she would draw a line under Roman’s and Da Vinci's story.

Olga, seeing Roman's look, only rolled her eyes before turning to Ainz. "Anyway, Roman and Da Vinci wanted to let you know that we are absolutely certain that this Singularity will not only be the most complex Singularity you have ever encountered before, as usual. But, also the fact that we know absolutely nothing about this Singularity, except that the increase in complexity in this Singularity will be enormous. You could say that all previous Singularities have been a preparation for this one, so… It's up to you. Again, as usual.”

It was Olga's words, brief and concentrated in their meaning that made Ainz nod, finally settling in his head a complete picture of his current situation as he was about to tackle the new Singularity. All these talks about Divine Spirits were certainly understandable to Ainz, but the clear information from Olga Marie really helped him to draw a line in his thinking.

If it was for the most dangerous mission, then…

In YGGDRASIL, the most dangerous mission usually meant that Players had to select the weakest and most useless members of their guild to serve as sacrificial pieces to gather more information. Because, when faced with something radically new, and even more so unambiguously dangerous, many players preferred to lose the first, second, or even third time in order to fully explore all the potential problems they would face in that mission. Gaining as much information as possible to finally prepare for the ‘real’ assault. But in this case, such a tactic was unavailable to Ainz.

Firstly, he was completely unwilling to test how dying and reviving, if that’s even a thing in this new world, would affect him. And secondly, unlike in YGGDRASIL, this was not a game. The fate of mankind was literally being decided at this moment, and there was no tolerance where he could lose even once…

Especially not in the Singularity, where the end of the world was happening at this moment.

Therefore, Ainz had to utilize a single tactic that went beyond YGGDRASIL’s tactics, a way to solve an unknown but unequivocally strong difficulty. Namely, to assemble the strongest and most effective team possible and hope that it would be enough. And he would not randomly assemble a team perfectly unsuited for this singularly dangerous mission.

Pondering this fact, Ainz inwardly turned to his memory and his Master ability, listing the most powerful Servants he had.

Certainly King Arthur, he… She, even among all the summoned Servants of YGGDRASIL he had summoned and in YGGDRASIL itself, was one of the strongest of them all. Angrboda and Medb were strong, and perhaps in certain circumstances they could match Arthur’s prowess, but only in those certain circumstances.

Considering the overall strength, and the current condition where he lacks information, this Servant, who possessed four broken Noble Phantasms, made Arthur the most powerful of his Servants.

Perhaps there was some sense in such a case in simply gathering all the servants from YGGDRASIL, their parameter is certainly among the best he has. But even if one were to dismiss the idea of 'excessiveness', which Ainz didn't believe in any way, many of the summoned Servants had already formed personal bonds and attachments in this world. Not that Ainz was seriously worried about disrupting anyone's relationships in this way, but half of the problem with forming a battle group existed in the interactions between each individual member of that group. Servants did not create relationships according to their combat effectiveness, trying to forcibly break old relationships and try to fit them into new ones… Disastrous

In a team play, just an abundance of powerful Stats, doesn’t determine victory. Teamwork could allow weaker Servants to defeat stronger ones that could not work together.

Unfortunately, Ainz had seen such ‘dream teams’ where Gilds consolidated their strongest Players into one raid team, only to have it end rather sadly in YGGDRASIL on more than one occasion. And so, for his pick of the Servants of YGGDRASIL, he needed to take someone who was not too involved in Chaldea and was strong…  Angrboda seemed to Ainz the most rational choice in this case.

As the mother of monsters, she did not find much connection with the heroes of Chaldea, while still being second in direct power among Ainz's Servants after King Arthur.

Then, following that same logic… Ozymandias was very strong for the local Servants, as well as not having had time to build up connections at the moment. It was strange at the moment to think that the actions in Singularity could be a great experience for personal growth, but it could perhaps also be counted as an argument in favor of his candidacy. Plus, while King Arthur and Angrboda fulfilled the role of both tanks and primary melee dd's, Ozymandias fulfilled the role of support and ranged dd's as well.

Next would be Jacques? Yeah, Jacques could play well as a debuffer… And then, Mashu. Aside from serving as a pure tank, Mashu had been with Ainz since the very beginning, since the very first Singularity, and had been through all of them. It was only fair that Mashu would be by Ainz's side in the last Singularity.

Ainz probably needed a healer to fully complete this raid group, but there were no healers in Chaldea, except perhaps Da Vinci.

Ainz looked up meaningfully at Da Vinci, who immediately understood Ainz’s intention, causing her to exhale and give a slightly embarrassed smile, shrugging slightly. "I'm sorry, but the mana levels and conditions of the Singularity are such that it would take someone incredibly capable to perform a rayshift and someone very familiar with the machinery of Chaldea. So, I'm sorry, but I can't provide assistance this time.”

Ainz exhaled, thought about it for a second, then decided to choose Altria as the last member of the party. In the case of facing the unknown, it was better to have a World Class Item holder on one's side than not, after all.

“Mashu, Altria, Ozymandias, Jacques de Molay, Angrboda, and King Arthur,” Ainz nodded seriously after a moment of deliberation and coming to a final conclusion of his pick.

“You really thought seriously about this mission if you decided to assemble such a team.” Olga-Marie couldn't help but comment on Ainz's decision, and he agreed with that sentiment.

Except Mashu, each of the named Servants was literally the ‘absolute pinnacle’ of ability and, to put it in simple terms, would mean a clear and instant victory in an ordinary Holy Grail War. If such a thing even existed, of course.

However, a Holy Grail War was a mere trifle compared to the current problems of Chaldea, and for a clash during the Age of Gods? Such a line-up might have been the only reasonable one. Moreover, perhaps this might not even be sufficient… And it would be, if someone decided not to take Ainz into account. A big mistake on the part of that potential someone.

“Yes.” Ainz nodded, glancing at the three Chaldean commanders gathered before him before taking one last deep breath.

"Well, in that case, I think we should call the Servants to the rayshift…”

Olga nodded in response to these words, before casting a glance at Roman, who sighed. “Okay, I understand…”

After a moment, Da Vinci rose from her seat before smirking at Ainz. "Try to grab me a souvenir, okay? It's not every day one gets the chance to visit the Age of Gods, after all.”

Da Vinci left first, opening the door, before stopping for a moment, as she glanced at Ainz. “And good luck.”

For a moment, however, Ainz was distracted, noticing a figure flashing past the door, stirring a memory in his mind. Something almost forgotten, tinged with a slight tang of resentment, stripped of its rightful prey…

After a moment, however, Ainz shook his head from side to side and glanced at Da Vinci, nodding in response. “Thank you.”

It was unlikely that it was anything of significance.

At least that's what Ainz thought.