Harbingers of Change

Chapter 36

She had finally passed through the bug-infested parts of the forest. The next large area was mostly occupied by goblins, and unless provoked, they should leave her alone. Unlike the bugs, the goblins had at least some base level of intelligence and would avoid fighting adventurers if they didn't have to.

Thus finding herself surrounded by dire wolf riding hobgoblins came as a great surprise.

"Halt! What is your business in Tempest?" the one who seemed to be the leader of the group barked at her.

"Tempest? Sorry, I am just passing by."

As the one who was entrusted with guarding the borders of Tempest, Gobtun was not about to let some random masked human walk around. Even before becoming what he was now, he could have seen a lone human wandering around the dangerous forest as trouble. Trusting an adventurer usually meant death for his kind.

"Humans just don't pass by in Jura! We will give you one chance to just turn around and leave!"

What was this Tempest? Why were hobgoblins of all creatures riding the much more powerful wolves? What was going on here? Besides these questions, she couldn't just turn around, too much was at stake.

"I am sorry, but I need to pass one way or another. I would prefer to avoid conflict." Shizue said in a calm tone, putting her hand on the handle of her sword. Could she even defeat them all?

The wolves were something above a dire wolf. If she had to guess by their auras, they likely were in a high B area in terms of the free guild monster ranking system. Multiple B ranked monsters were not something she would want to face in the current situation.

"You are coming with us then. Lord Demiurge will decide what to do with you!" the hobgoblin ordered as the wolf riders surrounded her.

{ Take off the mask. Let me be free. I will deal with them. }

'I shouldn't. They can be reasoned with.'

{ You are wasting time you don't have! }

'No. I will talk with their leader and explain to them that I mean them no harm.'

{ You have grown soft. You will never reach your destination by being soft! }

"Move!" one of the hobgoblins said, pointing a spear at her back.

"Wait. Just let me pass. I will not cause any trouble. I just need to reach the southwest parts of the forest."

"I said move! We will not give another warning!" the hobgoblin shouted, trying to poke her with the tip of his spear.

Out of instinct, Shizue unsheathed her sword, hitting the spear away. That was it, another unavoidable conflict had been sparked. Five wolf riders against her alone were not odds she was fond of. Even before the next jab at her, she could feel the flame titans power rushing through her. A blast of flames from her hands made the attackers jump back and give her some much-needed space.

"Keep her in place while reinforcements arrive!" the leading hobgoblin shouted as the wolf riders circled her.

"We have to…We have to…" Her thoughts were becoming heavy, and her mind dulled. The influx of power was too much for her aging body. Even without the need to fight against Ifrit's will, it was too much.

{ Rest. I will protect us. }

'We have to... Thank you.' With the last words passed on to the titan of flame, her tired mind retreated into the darkness, never to surface again.

To see the adventurer burst in flames was not something Gobtun was prepared to handle. Even with his trusted companion's speed and reflexes, it wasn't enough to avoid the fire blast. His wolf was hit head-on and hit the ground with a whine, breaking Gobtun's right leg with his massive weight.

Trapped due to the dead wolf's weight, he desperately tried to pull the broken leg from underneath it as the flaming carnage spread from the adventurer. Then the transformation started. The human woman's mask broke in half, falling to the ground, and the massive flaming figure rose above the ground, melting the soil around it.

The heat became unbearable, melting the skin of his body. His subordinates suffered the same fate, being burned alive in the intense heat. He had failed his duty to protect Tempest. He had failed his master's expectations.

{ Flame elemental. Danger! } Were the last words of warning he could send to Rigur before passing out.

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It was just another day in the office. Momonga was going over various reports, letting Dark Sage do most of the work and upload them directly to his memory with the photographic reading speed the dutiful skill provided.

There was a need to delegate some of the responsibilities to his subordinates but with Albedo and Demiurge being already overworked by his standards, Momonga soldiered on with the tedious task.

Then he felt it. Someone under him had just died. Five hobgoblins and five wolves perished, their souls being sent to Nazarick. He instantly knew where and how they died, Nazarick's link made sure of it.

{ Albedo! Gear up. Tempest is under attack! }

{ My Lord, Demiurge is already preparing a response team; you shouldn't go yourself. }

She was right of course, but he was not about to leave this matter for the guardians to resolve. Demiurge could deal with the situation just fine, but something inside him wanted to face the one who dared to harm those in his care.

{ Our own were killed. I will not sit idly by. Come here and gear up. I will rely on your protection. }

The succubus teleported to his office with a panicked expression and dropped her dress on the ground, remaining dressed only in her underwear, and rapidly took the armor pieces out of her inventory and put them on.

In hindsight, he should have worded his order better, but it was too late to stop it. Just as his emotional suppression hit him like a hammer, Momonga turned away to not stare at her gorgeous body and cast buffs on himself and her as fast as he could.

"I am ready, my Lord."

"Good. Be prepared." Momonga said, quickly locating the nearest safe spot to the carnage at Tempest's border with Remote Viewing and opening the gate.

"Albedo, keep me protected from the flames. We are flying closer to take that elemental down."

With a quick Fly spell, he shot up into the sky, with the dutiful succubus following him with ease. Even a quick glance showed that the damage to the forest was extensive. In the middle of it floated a flaming humanoid figure.

As soon as the elemental noticed them, he sent a flame blast in their direction which harmlessly dispersed at the contact with the protective barrier Albedo held up.

Momonga quickly tried to assess the monster's power but something was clearly off. He was rather weak, far weaker than the greater flame elemental Momonga could summon with the Ainz Ooal Gown.

While the Overlord pondered how to approach the situation, another gate opened in the distance, First to step through was Demiurge, followed by Shalltear and Cocytus. With them came seven frost virgins, numerous demons and at least ten vampire brides.

True to his word, Demiurge had prepared a decent task force to deal with the threat. Considering that the elemental was much weaker than anticipated, Momonga decided to test his own magic a bit more.

{ Stand down for now. I want to test a few things. This elemental seems less powerful than we anticipated. }

With no one voicing their disagreement, it was time to test what a high tier spell would do. The first to come to mind was the 9th tier spell Winds of Niflheim.

The first thing Momonga realized was that spells weren't exactly tier-based anymore. They had some base magical requirements, but even the weak ones could be empowered purely by fueling more magical energy into them. Also, there was no need to cast them verbally as well. One thought could activate a spell with the exact amount of intended power.

Momonga extended his hand and channeled enough energy to make the spell equivalent to the eighth tier, as he wanted to see how well the elemental would defend against it. Since Winds of Niflheim was a wide-area spell with a rather weak direct effect, there was no real reason to assume that one hit would kill it.

The cold winds of the frozen realm surged out of his palm, covering an area wider than the flame elemental had damaged, freezing it instantly. The elemental himself put up a flame shield, but the unrelenting winds tore through it in a mere moment; even his outer flame form could not withstand it fully.

The Ifrit spirit who had known nothing but rage for decades felt a new feeling: fear. The one who cast the spell gave no indication of power, but his spell was far too powerful to resist. Shizue's body froze up within him as the flame body he projected around her started to shimmer and turn translucent. Another such hit and Shizue would die from the cold, trapping him inside a dead body, too weak to animate it.

His only chance of avoiding such a fate was to parley with a being rivaling a demon lord in power.

"Wait! This was a mistake I…" A spike made of pure ice pierced through him and Shizue. Where once was his host's heart, only a hole remained. The resulting damage was too much to handle, and he was forcibly pushed back into the dead body.

The elemental wanted to talk! The sheer audacity of this being angered Momonga to no end. He carelessly killed Tempest's border guards and, when defeated, wanted to talk. Without delay, Momonga shot an empowered ice shard towards the monster. The projectile found its target easily.

The flame elemental disappeared, leaving a frozen female figure behind. Not being held up by the spirit's magic, it plummeted to the ground, landing with a thud.

Momonga flew to the corpse, with Albedo following behind him just as Demiurge let the others on the ground towards it.

'She looks Japanese!' That was the first observation. Momonga stood over the dead body inspecting it. She looked rather young too, no older than twenty. This woman entered his nation, killed border guards, and unleashed a fire spirit. Whoever she was, in Momonga's mind she got off far too easily.

"My Lord, what should we do with the body?" Demiurge asked.

"Deliver it to the fifth floor. Buku will consume her."

"At once, my Lord." Demiurge responded, ordering one of his demons to pick up the corpse.

"Albedo, we are going back to Nazarick. Send Mare to repair the damage done to the forest." Momonga said, opening the portal. Surely the border security needed Nazarick's direct involvement. A small oversight of just how powerful opponents could carelessly enter Tempest had cost ten of his subordinates' lives.

Momonga could feel their souls stored in Nazarick, even though their bodies were turned into ash. There had to be some way to return them to life, and he needed to find a way. Even if they were just named monsters, they were part of Nazarick, and considering the dangers of the world, he needed to be sure those much closer to him could be revived in case something kills them.

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"Who was she?" Buku asked, looking at the figure. The stripped corpse of a young woman, with a huge hole in her chest area, was her ticket to attaining a human-like body.

"She entered Tempest and killed border guards. That is all we know. Does it matter to you who she was?" Momonga asked.

"I guess not. It's just… She looks Japanese. For all we know, she might have been like us and someone summoned her."

"Maybe, but besides a few of her personal items, we don't have much to go on. I didn't want to damage her corpse even more. Are you ready?" Momonga asked, putting a robe next to the body. It was a rather safe assumption Buku would be naked after transformation.

"No, but there is no helping it is there? I have to do it if I ever want to have a human body."

Momonga nodded and turned around to give her some privacy.

"Oh, you don't have to be so shy. Someone will have to inspect my new body." Buku said with a giggle.

"Um…W-what?" The overlord stammered.

"Sorry, Momo, but it was too easy, I couldn't resist."

"Right."

"Oh, don't pout. It was just a little joke, and I'm not that shy. Besides, I'm not sure how to do the transformation, so don't turn away."

'At least she can't read my expression.' If Solution's explanation was correct, she will be completely naked after the first spontaneous transformation as Buku didn't hold any stable forms in her Predator skill.

Momonga watched how the reddish slime slid onto the table and slowly engulfed the corpse. He could sense a new skill be added to the Nazarick's list, one that instantly attracted his attention. Degenerate would let them break down and remake skills. The best part was that he could acquire it for himself, that is if it didn't put too much strain on his soul. But tests could come later, first Buku needed to finish what she had started. The red mass slowly reshaped into a humanoid form, gaining the proportions of a slim woman.

He watched with curiosity how the gelatinous mass turned into muscle and grew skin. Then came the hair and eyes. He tried to keep his gaze on her face as the medium-sized perky breasts gained nipples and hair grew in Buku's private area. Unlike the woman she consumed, Buku's hair was fiery red.

Then another surprise came. Buku gained a new unique skill, The Lord of Fire.

'Hmm, that must have come from the elemental.'

Suddenly Buku opened her eyes, jumped up, and screamed. Startled, Momonga hastily asked, "What's wrong?"

"I…I lost control. I am sorry. We made a mistake." She then looked around, confused. She blinked, staring at Momonga, and then looked down, touching her body and inspecting it. "I… no she was on a mission to save them."

"Buku, who are you talking about?" Momonga asked and handed her the robe. As a skeleton, he didn't have a physical sense of desire, but as a man at heart, his willpower had its limits, and he had to resist staring at her.

"She… Momo, I think something went wrong!" Buku said taking the robe and putting it on. "I have her memories, I feel what she felt. The children, I… She just wanted to save them. Her attack was nothing more than a misunderstanding."

"I will call Solution."

"Wait. No, don't leave. I need… Give me a moment."

Momonga watched as Buku sat down on the cold floor, closed her eyes, taking deep, even breaths. Tears started to flow from her closed eyes. After a moment Buku spoke again.

"Five summoned children. They will die soon if nothing is done. Shizue was their teacher, she sought out the demon lord who summoned her to this world to understand how she survived being summoned as a child. I have to help them. They are my responsibility now."

"Then we will see what we can do." Momonga said, not wanting to stress out his friend even more.

Buku opened her now golden-colored eyes and stood up. "Momo, if you don't mind, I will get some rest. There are a lot more memories and feelings I need to sort out."

"Of course. Just message me if you need anything." Momonga said, watching her teleport away.

'That surely went in an unexpected direction.'

Edited by Edgy

Additional proofreading by placid_void