First peek of Babylonia (230)

As it had always happened before, Ainz experienced the sensation of being transported in space, a somewhat strange, if very specific sensation. It lasts only moments before the cozy shadow and semi-darkness changes to a bright, scorching Sun, forcing Ainz to shift his gaze. Or rather was forced to, as he was now falling, with the ground fast approaching.

"Hmmm?" Ainz remarked with interest at the unique occasion, even as gravity started pulling him down to Earth along with his Servants, who had appeared close by in the air with him. As befits their status as Servants, they were also calmly assessing the situation, just as Ainz is.

"This is the first time in memory that teleportation has transported me with such an error. Above the ground by… A couple of hundred meters? I suppose. Well, at least this allows me to do aerial reconnaissance."

“Mass Flight.” Ainz intoned, as he cast his spell over each of his Servants a moment before they would have hit the ground or even reacted to the botched teleportation. Their momentum was completely arrested midair.

Ainz even considered for a moment whether it made sense to lower his protective barriers to air his grievances to Da Vinci before deciding to put it off for the future. Instead, without the threat of massive falling damage, he started looking around.

“A land scorched by the Sun… large Steppes… And a vast Sea of black on the horizon?”

“Am, uh, what?” Mashu, having finally oriented herself a moment later, was too shocked to react to suddenly falling, and so was also unable to react when she stopped in midair. Trying to see where Ainz’s attention was pointed at, she was shocked to see what could only be described as a sea of wildly churning darkness that seemed to cover the whole horizon.

Of course, despite the shocking situation, some other Servants have strange priorities.

“Ozymandias the Great should not be floating in the air like an unassuming ghost!” Ozymandias' voice resounded in the air, sounding genuinely offended.

"Mesektet!”

In a flash of light, a huge sky barge in gold and blue, the barge of Ra himself. It appeared in a crack of reality like a huge battering ram, manifesting in its majestic radiance, as Ozymandias motioned for the barge to move where he stood.

As Ozymandias surveyed his surroundings on top of his barge, Ozymandias noticed the other Servants just floating in the air, and perhaps affected by the craziness in Chaldea, gave a command that would previously seem unthinkable even to him. “Hmph, I’m giving all of you permission to defile this barque with the touch of your feet. Do not neglect or abuse my great favor.”

“Of course, not at all!” Jacques was the first to take advantage of Ozymandias’ kindness, lowering herself onto Ozymandias's barque, wearing a smile that was equal parts good-natured and menacing. “I am pleased to be a witness to your favor, King Ozymandias.”

Ozymandias did not even pay attention to her words, only cringing slightly at the way the incarnation of the Dark Mother had touched Ra's sacred divine relic, which was probably the ration Jacques was looking forward to seeing. Fighting his impulse to react with violence, as a king he had given his word, and therefore it would be an even greater embarrassment should he retract his permission now.

Still, despite it, the greater violation of it all was… Shifting his eyes towards the still soaring Ainz, Ozymandias began wondering whether Ainz enjoyed making a mockery of aristocratic etiquette. Forcing Ozymandias to choose between the actions of a king who did not know his own worth, by repeatedly suggesting that others desecrate the golden relic of Ra, or the actions of a lowly king whose invitation of hospitality was ignored by his ally.

Ainz, however, did not think at all about the subtleties of diplomatic etiquette that Ozymandias seemed to be consternating over, continuing to stare into the distance, concentrating on the undulating sea before him.  “A Black Sea… Is there such a place on Earth? I remember reading something about a Dead Sea? The look at least fits the bill…”

Ainz's surroundings could be described as fairly ordinary, something that Ainz had observed in past Singularities as well, blue sky and clouds floating across the sky… Except for the vast Black Sea that he could see covering the horizon. The sea almost looked like it’s alive, undulating as it splashes with a viscosity like oil, rippling like a living heart, moving as if it was breathing. Such a ‘sea’, for Ainz was pretty sure that such a thing was unnatural, as even in the destroyed ecosystem of his future, such a thing was not anything natural.

And over that Black Sea, a firmament of black and red sky contrasted heavily with the careless blue and clouds floating across it. The contrast turned the white fluffy clouds into a grotesquely crawling blot in the sky, seeming to flow downward to join the general sea of darkness spilling around them.

Ainz cast his gaze intently, rubbing his eyes a few times to make sure that the teleportation hadn’t damaged the body on loan to him by Da Vinci. He even looked to the edge of the Black Sea to see the usual blue sky and brown earth, before it transformed into the strange lands of the Black Sea and red sky. It was as if there was an invisible boundary where the normal world of Humans ends, and the anomalous land begins.

Perhaps it was a trick of the eye, but Ainz could swear that the Black Sea was slowly advancing, inching closer and closer, devouring both the sky and the earth.

Looking closer, as thanks to his senses greatly enhanced as a Servant, Ainz could make out a structure like fortress walls on the border between the seething ocean and the human land, but Ainz couldn't make out any details.

Ainz didn't have a great knowledge of the magic of this world, of course, but something told him that even without such knowledge he could make a very rational guess as to what the ongoing apocalypse looked like. Which, however, did not answer Ainz's question about who had caused it, what was keeping it from spreading to the last remaining piece of land, and what Ainz had to do to stop it.

Of course, with no knowledge of the current state of the Singularity and the magic of this world, Ainz couldn't make any assumptions about what exactly he saw in front of him at the moment. For all he knows the Black Sea that seemed to be just oozing malice, could actually be a good thing! Very unlikely, of course, but he had experienced weirder.

Ainz's mind began trying to compare the situation in front of him to situations he had encountered in the past. Well, perhaps he was exaggerating when he said that he had experienced weirder stuff, and so after a moment, Ainz's mind tried to find memories of something like the Black Sea in YGGDRASIL.

Most of the bosses of YGGDRASIL correlated with their specific battle zone, which was just, well, common sense really. No one would be expecting to fight an Angel of all things in the depths of Hell, for example. And perhaps most important of all, most of the bosses of YGGDRASIL, barring some very specific examples, were static. Quite a few of them existed only within their own prepared battle zone, excluding some situations where the bosses could be specifically kited from their prepared zone, a tactic that Ainz Ooal Gown, the guild that is, utilized whenever they could when the Field was just too disadvantageous for them.

And the Boss arenas in YGGDRASIL were extremely varied, even some that did SAN damage, as Peroroncino liked to joke about. Like one where the arena is a repeating fractal that hurts the eye if you stare at it hard or long enough, or that one strange arena with broken geometry and architecture… I think it was called the Stairs of Escher?

Ainz really wasn't entirely sure who Escher was and what the stairs had to do with them, considering that the boss arena was a castle with towers…

In any case, Ainz had seen such a view many times in the past, it basically screams ‘the boss is here!’ after all. Like any game, YGGDRASIL tried to use pre-made game assets as many times as possible without turning the game into an endless self-repeat of itself.

Phase One of the battle with the World Eater, for example. When the huge dragon rose above the horizon, the black flowing sea around him was almost entirely a copy from the battle with one of the Eight Dragons, Tiamat, the Dragon of Original Life.

Actually, Tiamat herself, a three-phase boss, was the first World Enemy that Ainz Ooal Gown had defeated after its founding. After her, it was probably Leviathan? The Child of the Depths, and then Norn, the three-faced goddess and one of the Realm Lords of the Nine Worlds of YGGDRASIL, ruler of Asgard.

In theory, Ainz could mention… Five other bosses? Yeah, five that share some characteristics, like the other two dragons of the Eight, Jormungand and Apophis, but their Boss arena was different from what he’s seeing right now.

After looking around and coming to no particular conclusion, Ainz slowly lowered himself onto Ozymandias' hovering barque, next to Ozymandias himself, who had been staring at him thoughtfully all this time, before deciding to make a joke.

“Who will make their guess as to which way we should head now?”

A moment later, two hands flew in diametrically opposite directions. Angrboda pointed towards the black oily sea, while Arthur pointed a finger somewhere further from the boundaries between the sea and land, to the peculiar anomaly center of the still surviving humanity, before the two girls faced each other's gazes.

“There are monsters where you’re pointing.” Arthur pronounced, as she looked into Angrboda's eyes challengingly.

“And there are humans where you’re pointing.” Angrboda parried equally calmly before glancing at everyone else as if to threaten those around her to disagree with her comment, causing Ainz to sigh.

Angrboda and Arthur were probably the most powerful of his Servants, even Ainz himself would have to use at least some of his Noble Phantasms to defeat Arthur. But as powerful as a Servant they are, they were almost the exact opposite of each other in their judgment and temperament.

That was what Ainz was thinking about as he considered the fact that personal strength was no more than half of the team's strength. What use is great personal power in teammates that refused to act as a team?

What one should really fear is not a competent enemy, but incompetent allies instead… is the way the saying goes, right?

For a moment, Ainz considered calling out to Arthur, about how his kingdom was not brought to ruin by dragons or monsters, but by human hands instead, like with Morgan or Lancelot, before he thought better of it. Angering the person who could counter most of his own abilities is just  foolish, especially since he doesn’t agree with Angrboda in meeting the monsters anyway.

Especially since the monsters dwelling in such an evil place would almost definitely be the ones responsible for this apocalypse… Though, he does feel a bit hypocritical saying that, taking in mind just what kind of guild Ainz Ooal Gown is.

Even if Angrboda treated the monsters as her own children, it absolutely did not mean that the monsters themselves would reciprocate her love. But Ainz definitely didn't want to make a scene with Angrboda as the first thing he did in a dangerous Singularity…

“This barque is mine, and you have been granted the right to step on it, not to direct its flight.” Ozymandias' calm, but definitely with an edge of threat, voice cut through the silence, causing Ainz to sigh in relief at having the solution to the conflict being presented so easily.

Good job Ozymandias!

“Indeed, Angrboda, Arthur, we shouldn't argue with each other… Ainz immediately corrected himself when faced with Angrboda's cheeks slightly puffed up in childish resentment, why? Oh, right. "Kehem, I mean Angri.”

Ozymandias’ barque moved a moment later with the sound of his frustrated sigh, before the two powerful Servants backed down, glanced hatefully at each other for a moment, before turning away like squabbling high school girls. That crisis over, with the time allowed to him with the barque moving not under his command, Ainz was able to take a look at the other Servants and judge their reactions.

Mashu, who had been observing the brewing fight with no small amount of nervousness, released a relieved sigh, calming down before glancing at Ainz, seemingly seeking his support with her gaze. To which Ainz answered with a reassuring nod, pretty much lying since if Arthur and Angrboda got into a serious fight, the best he could do is teleport everyone away to minimize the damage.

Not that he would be telling Mashu that, of course.

Jacques, on the other hand, didn't even bother paying attention to the two’s squabble, instead leaning on the edge of Ozymandias' barque, watching transfixed at the rolling, black water in the distance. She had a complex expression on her face that simultaneously managed to express her admiration and disgust at such a sight, sympathy, and hatred in equal measure.

Alturia, however, as if not quite understanding exactly what she was supposed to be doing right now, continued to look around the barque as if trying to figure out which corner she would occupy the least amount of space in. The strange sight caused Ainz himself to sigh as he looked back at the distant rolling Black Sea.

Ozymandias’ barque was capable of flying with considerable speed, and as befitting its magical nature, even at its top speed, no discomfort could be felt by its passengers. Despite moving at incredible speed, the only wind they felt was only akin to a pleasant, cool breeze, instead of the hurricane speed winds that traveling at such speed would usually entail.

This fact allowed Ainz himself to concentrate on his observations.

The Black Sea, rolling in unnatural waves that are not dictated by any winds but instead by some invisible drum beat, was the only thing that could be seen on the horizon. Faintly discernible in its details from this distance, but it was not difficult to estimate its extent as it covered the entire horizon. Ainz would not have been surprised at all if it turns out that this rippling Black Sea covered the entire world outside the small area protected by the humans.

After all, it fits in perfectly with the information about the current end of the world inside the Singularity.

Ainz had no way of seeing the wall standing on the edge of this sea, but the fact that it was a wall he could clearly recognize. As well as the fact that if this wall was visible from such a distance and even withstood the pressure of the Black Sea, meant that this wall was clearly a monumentally grandiose construction. Far surpassing all other similar ones built later in human history.

Of course, YGGDRASIL could boast even more grandiose structures, The Tomb of Nazarick for example, but that was while in a Video Game, reality was often more lackluster. The mere fact that such a large wall existed, built by human hands, was still extremely impressive.

Ozymandias' barque’s great speed also cemented the fact to Ainz that the wall he was seeing from afar was huge.

Considering that, despite their rapid progress, there is almost no movement of the structure in the distance as compared to the rapidly changing landscape below him, leads Ainz to believe that he was observing the titanically huge structure from afar…

After a moment, Ainz looked a little more closely, noticing a small black dot appearing on the horizon, before seeing it gradually grow larger, as if it was approaching the barque of Ozymandias… Which couldn’t be right.

As that small black dot continued to be a small black dot on the horizon, it couldn’t be anything large. But the very fact that it was fast enough to be noticeable was a worry, making Ainz cast a glance at Ozymandias, as if wondering if he had noticed the potential enemy approaching.

Ozymandias responded to this action by glancing back at Ainz, and then at the point slowly taking the shape of a human figure in the distance, before wondering for a moment if he should have opened fire when it approached.

Then, with a shake of his head, he waved the notion away, as if deciding to give the moving figure a chance to show its alignment first. A great mercy for the Pharaoh, who usually treats those unrespectful enough to approach the Pharaoh without invitation with great violence.

The approaching dot, now closer, turned out to be a short girl with long black hair partially arranged in two long girlish ponytails on the sides of her head, dressed…

Ainz’s mind stalled for a moment, looking at what the girl was wearing. Or more specifically what she was not wearing.

Typically, he would have continued describing the person by what she’s wearing, starting his description with the words ‘dressed in’. But, the word ‘dressed’ was so far from the truth in describing the girl's appearance that Ainz could not say with all his will that she was ‘dressed’ in anything.

In fact, she was undressed, so undressed that even in Yggdrasil her clothes would be considered close to eroticism and would be banned for excessive exposure. And bikinis existed in Yggdrasil without any problems!

The approaching girl's clothes were comparable to Jack's, clothes that even Angrboda found excessive and changed to something more appropriate for her age. And that was Angrboda! The mother of monsters whose morals were almost the opposite of humans.

In any case, the only clothing, or a parody of it, on her body was a microbikini, white on top and black below, and, for some incredibly strange reason, a single blue-purple stocking on her right leg. Yes, a stocking, one, leaving her other leg bare. The girl herself was traveling by using a strange device in the form of two half-arches, which were not unlike an overly huge bow, or maybe a fish? It moves freely through the sky at a very impressive speed, while the girl herself was leaning with her foot on one of such arches.

“Not one step further!” Finally reaching close enough to the barque that she could potentially be heard, the girl tried to shout, but most of her voice was drowned in the gusts of wind. She tried shouting a few times more, to the same result, before with an embarrassed realization that no one could hear her, flew closer, coughing. Was she trying to mask her embarrassment or pretend that she was just coughing and not speaking instead, Ainz wasn’t sure.

Then, when she was sure that the group on Ozymandias’ barque could hear her, this time she tried to strike a heroic pose, repeating her words once again.

“Not one step further!”

Hearing the voice, Ozymandias suddenly wrinkled his nose, as if he remembered something extremely unpleasant, before slowing down the movement of his barque, without stopping it completely, however, prepared to listen to the words of this unknown, rude girl. He felt that it was recompense enough for her embarrassing herself.

“I told you not to go any farther!” The girl shouted, in loud indignation, like a frustrated child, shouting at the silly adults for not listening to their demands, with equally the same result. Ozymandias ignored her, chastising himself for wasting the precious seconds listening to the child.

Of course, the girl, like a child, simply grew more indignant, coming closer to the barque, this time her voice sounded with more threats. To a very mixed result.

“Stop, or you will know the wrath of the most beautiful woman under all Heaven!”

“The most beautiful!?” Ozymandias did actually stop his barque from hearing the girl's statement. But, judging by the surprise, and anger in Ozymandias’ face, he was not halted by the girl’s threats, instead more out of some sense of outrage.

“I don't see my beautiful Nefertari in front of me, so you dare to call yourself the most beautiful! You, a street wench, dare to claim the title of my beloved?!”

“A street wench?!” Hearing Ozymandias’ response, the girl recoiled as if struck, before she proudly placed her hands below her chest, raised her nose proudly, and surreptitiously raised her floating bow so that she could look down at Ozymandias.

"Let it be known to you that I am the most gracious and elegant of all women, it is I, Ish… I mean the Goddess of Babylonia! The most desirable and beloved of all, and all the riches of the world are mine by right of being the most beautiful of all! Praise your luck that you could look upon this beautiful visa…!”

She could not continue her boast, if that was what the girl had planned, because a moment later she had to dodge a huge ray of light that cut through the sky and almost swallowed her strange flying device whole.

Ainz glanced at Ozymandias questioningly for a moment, hoping to stop his attack on the girl, who was clearly not going to attack first. But, the cold fury in his eyes made Ainz hesitate to speak, allowing Ozymandias himself to speak his verdict slowly, word by word as if he was spitting venom and not words.

“There is only one most beautiful woman in the world, and it is not for street wenches to make themselves her equal, you wretch. My patience, befitting the King of Kings, is boundless even before my royal personage, but one word against my beloved will cause the fall of ten thousand kingdoms, woman! All the fortresses of the world will be unable to contain the wrath I felt now, wretch!”

“A-all right, all right, I apologize, my mistake!” Instantly realizing that she might have just stepped on a landmine, the girl quickly lowered herself so that she would no longer stand above the clearly irate Ozymandias. Almost immediately, the self-proclaimed most beautiful woman in the world, tried to find a compromise. “Your beloved is not a goddess, right? So there's no problem if I'm ‘the most beautiful goddess’, right?”

Ozymandias looked at the girl and frowned for a moment, as if weighing her words for a moment, giving her an attentive look before waving the girl away, now a little irritated. “I don't care about such titles, but don't you dare equal yourself with my lover.”

Ainz looked at the Goddess with a strange look. Despite appearances to the contrary, Ainz ability to measure a Servant’s strength, lacking as it was since he’s not specialized in reconnaissance, unequivocally told him that even if the girl had eaten Ozymandias’ attack whole, she would be unhurt. Despite her skittish actions, the girl floating in front of him is strong.

Ainz couldn't say exactly how strong, but he recognized that the girl in front of him might not have been much inferior to Ozymandias in her abilities… Perhaps even stronger than he was. And yet, she had folded as soon as someone showed real anger in front of her. Ainz wasn't sure if she was just acting to lull them into a false sense of security, or if this information about her personality, feigned or not, would be useful in the future.

But he noted the fact just in case, along with Ozymandias' reaction to the supposed implied insult to his beloved. It seems that even the arrogant young master has someone he loves deeply… He was grateful that he was able to sidestep that landmine.

“Wait, Nefertari…?  Are you…” Ainz could literally see by the wrinkle in the middle of the girl's forehead, as she worked her brain. She opened her eyes in shock as she compared the facts to what she knows, and looked at Ozymandias with a look full of extremely complex, almost inexpressible emotion. “Ozymandias?!”

“King of all Kings.” Ozymandias said in a regal tone, as he nodded to the fact that he would be recognized, even if his face still held a note of distaste for the girl in front of him. “Ozymandias the Great.”

“Oh no-!” The complex emotion in the girl's eyes suddenly became even more complex, as a note of fear, exasperation, and despair was expressed. It was as if she was seeing some distant terrible memory, or some oncoming disaster. “Now there are two of them…!”

Ainz, finally finding a good moment to intervene in the dialog without interrupting one of the parties, brought the discussion back to the pressing issues. “Anyway, ahem, since this issue has been resolved, may I ask why exactly you came to us at this moment?”

The girl, having thrown off her stupor, even as she muttered something unintelligible, perked up again when she heard Ainz’s question, trying to return her tone to a suitable grandiosity. “You have the honor to be…!”

She looked at the figure of Ozymandias and then looked down again, before speaking with a less grandiose and sadder tone of voice. It seemed that the girl had preferred not to poke the dragon once again if she somehow misspoke.

“I just noticed something flying in the air, so I went to check to see what it was. I didn't plan on getting involved in anything like this!”

Looking at the saddened face of the girl, Ainz even felt a prick on his conscience, she just looked so miserable that Ainz unconsciously adopted a softer tone of voice.

“I see… Well it’s good that you decided to check, we wished to find one of the locals who could explain the current situation to us… That's all.”

“That's all?!” With a face both relieved and outraged at this information, the girl glanced at Ainz and then at Ozymandias. She finally then sat down on the hovering arch of her strange contraption, before exhaling and shaking her head from side to side.

“You could have just turned to me instead of… Never mind.”

Looking at Ozymandias again, the girl shook her head again and returned her gaze to Ainz, frowning. “Probably the very first question I should even ask you is who are you!”

“Most probably, we are the help… Whatever it is, is happening here.” Ainz answered diplomatically, preferring not to reveal all the cards to the first person he met. She could be an enemy after all.

“And may I know to whom I speak right now?”

“The great goddess Ish…!” The girl instantly blustered with pride, before cutting herself off halfway through her introduction, looking at Ainz suspiciously.

“Just a local goddess helping an insufferable, self-righteous bastard! And now I'm going to demand double my payment when he didn’t inform me that he has a lost twin brother!”

Throwing a glance at Ozymandias, Ainz thought about Ozymandias' potential 'twin brother' for a moment, then shook his head, returning his full attention to the girl.

“In that case, I suppose you could tell us about the current situation?”

“I'd rather leave the explanations to that insufferable king.” The girl complained as she rolled her eyes, then looked carefully at the other Servants standing around Ozymandias’ barque, concentrating on the other Servants, before settling her gaze on Angrboda, Jacques, and then looking closely at Ainz himself.

Ainz himself, sensing the invisible shift in the girl's perception and readiness, also instantly braced himself, preparing his spells internally. Still, with the amount of firepower on his side, equal or stronger to Ozymandias or not, the girl would not survive for long against them.

But that was no reason to relax in the face of a possible opponent.

The girl, also apparently realizing this fact, fixed her gaze on Arthur, who was silently looking at her, and then pointed at him imperiously.

“You! Make sure that none of them commit any atrocities among the survivors!”

Instantly caught in the crosshairs without her asking, Arthur cast a suspicious glance first at her fellow Servants, and then an equally suspicious glance at the girl. “What do you mean?”

“You're a hero, aren't you?!” Even when she was struck dumb by Arthur's confusion, the girl brushed it off as if it were a matter of course.

“Your duty is to protect the people, so I order you to do your heroing properly… Not like that obnoxious king!”

Wrinkling her nose one last time at the mention of the unknown king, the girl turned around, then glanced at Ozymandias before pointing forward and slightly to the side, at some structure in the distance.

“The king is over there, so let him deal with you, he already knows of your arrival anyway!”

“Maybe you could lead us to him?” Ainz was not at all confident in his diplomatic skills to handle another king supposedly so similar to Ozymandias that they could be likened to twins. He knows exactly what would happen should strong personalities clash.

And he would be obligated to take Ozymandias’ side since he is his Servant!

Ainz was not looking forward to that meeting, especially since the chance of a fight breaking out was rather large.

“What, me?! Actually, this beautiful goddess is on a mission and is traveling to the western wall! I have no time to escort you around!”  The girl raised her nose up before realizing that she had just given out information about herself and was embarrassed into silence before waving her hands around a few seconds later, as if to erase her failure.

“Not that it matters! And anyway, I've spent enough time gifting you with my appearance!”

After another moment, the girl's strange hovering contraption reacted to her words, as it quickly headed off again along with the girl herself.

Alone once again, Ainz glanced after the girl’s leaving figure, as he shifted his attention to Ozymandias, who was also looking at the weird Goddess’ trail before shaking his head, dispelling his thoughts and pointing forward.

“I'm curious to know exactly who dares to call himself King under these circumstances. Ahead!”

Ainz in turn would hardly have expressed his thoughts in those exact words, but he was also interested in meeting the king that ruled the city in the distance, quite possibly the last refuge of humanity on Earth. And especially learning from him about humanity's current situation.

So as the barque sailed swiftly forward through the sky once more, Ainz followed the girl's distant figure, now nothing more than a black dot in the distance once again, with a glance, before returning to observing his surroundings. The wavy grasslands, the shifting steppes, and noting the jungle at the edge of the distant walls, before turning his gaze back to the Black Sea, watching the hypnotic unnatural rippling.

A few minutes later, however, his full attention was taken by the city now slowly appearing in the horizon. It was almost circular, encircled as it was by tall walls, with the buildings inside the walls looking carefully arranged, built virtually according to a single city plan, and densely populated.

A multitude of small stone houses and streets clearly delineating the blocks ran through the city from all sides and from the gates. The roads finally meet in a center, in a large palace with high crenelated walls and towers, surrounded by a moat of crystal-clear water.

“I think I know the king of this place.” Ozymandias' voice broke Ainz from his observation of the city in front of him, causing him to shift his gaze to Ozymandias, who looked both slightly annoyed, but strangely… pleased?

“I can't believe he's the ruler of the last remnants of humanity, but to see him again… Perhaps it won't be the worst adventure of my life.” Ozymandias stretched his lips in a kind of smile that Ainz could even misleadingly call friendly, but there’s too many teeth for it to be mistaken as such.

“But to think that that arrogant king is here again…”

Glancing at Ozymandias, Ainz frowned momentarily before shifting his gaze back to the approaching city. Now he was actually worried.

Ozymandias had called someone 'arrogant'…

Now, he wasn't so keen on meeting such a Servant in person anymore.