Draft 5

When traversing a dungeon without a fully-equipped party, it is best for one to avoid aggroing every monster there from the start

Aggro- An MMORPG term for triggering non-hostile/neutral NPCs into attacking you through a set of action from your part. Normally this aspect is activated by dealing damage, committing otherwise hostile interactions or entering the mob's field of vision beforehand. This particular game mechanic can be used for a variety of different purpose

From a dungeoner's point of view, usually the player with highest defense statistics like the Slime Princess and Silver paladin will be the one doing this, luring the mob's lead aggro (which operates upon an entirely different programming) toward them and tanking the hits while their teammate do the damage dealing from the rear. An effective "flank" if used by military term

However, interesting applications could also be used

He remembered back when Ainz Ooal Gown was first founded, one of their female members, Yamaiko possessed a Divine class gear with the ability to knockback any enemy she punched. But since the item's damage itself was quite low, none of them paid any attention to it after some brief inspection

That is....before they realized the knockback effect can be applied on virtually any target that is not a World Enemy. That means one can actually "glitch" a raid boss out of it's dungeon into the open world where it's HP will automatically drop to zero due to it's programming having not dictated such a possible course before, thus forcing the NPC to do a "reset" and kill itself. If done right, they could even push it into the dungeon wall and let it be affected by slow suffocation damage

The patch came just shortly after, unfortunately. Damn shitty devs

But it has been so long since Ulbert Alain Odle has ever gone in a dungeon. He would be lying if he say he wasn't loving it

Thus that is the reason why he threw stealth out of the window mid-way through their journey, ignore all pre-established rules of dungeoning, started blasting nearby enemies with offensive spells and drawing their aggro like the absolute chad that he is

"You think you can defy my power?!" The goat demon roared, an aura of darkness violently swirled around him "Me, the incarnation of Yggdrasil's Primordial Darkness?"

Beside him, Momonga the lich facepalmed

With a single Maximized [Ignite] - a forth-tier spell - the mass of level 55 Voidborn explode into furious sparks of flame, turning the area they're standing on into a storm of raging fire that dwindled down just instant later. A red bar appeared on their HP hotboxes, signaling their demise

Due to his almost-excessively overpowered magic damage, Ulbert only use spells of the 8th-thier at most when dealing with enemies below his level to preserve Mana. Nonetheless, the man know what spell to use, so most of the time it always result in an instakill

No, instakill would be the wrong word. More like overkill. 

Momonga observed as their corpses slowly withered away- standard NPC's death animation- before leaving behind several data crystals and materials that left him shiny-eyed

"Right, the loot" He put all of them into his inventory before catching up to Ulbert from behind

The lich glanced again at the three-legged crow on his shoulder. Six red menacing eyes, pitch blackk feathers, a long, curved beak that could be used to rip out flesh.

A summon from [Lead of Yatagarasu], this creature will guide it's caller through the shortest path toward the core to any dungeon they're in

But the shortest route doesn't mean the safest, as obstacles such as traps or secret enemies may appear on the way. This can only be used when trying to rush a dungeon with time limit, or when your party only consists of burst damage players. Else if you want to play it safe, there's always the skill [Bless of Titania]

As of now they're in the midway there. Judging from the skill's special visual animation- the more agitated the crow appeared to be, the closer you are to your destination- he could say they're pretty much on the right track

[Create Middle Tier Undead: Death Knight]

Four gigantic mass of rotten flesh rose up from the ground upon his reckoning in a square formation surrounding them. The menacing clanking of metal armor could be heard as they all raised their shield per his command, ready to defend their summoner at a moment's notice

Ulbert looked at him, before grunting in approval

Death Knights are the more defense-oriented summons among his arsenal, with their ability to use sturdy shields and their slightly overpowered special ability- one that allows them to survive instakill attacks from other enemies with their HP at a meager 1 - makes them useful as meat shields that serves to buy time for their master, either in a tactical retreat or casting of a new spell

Considering their party formation that only consists of glass cannon, this would be the wisest choice in this situation

Momonga pointed forward, issuing one of the few standard orders for his knights

[Advance]

And thus they continue, delving deeper into the darkest depth of this dungeon.

It wasn't long before another wave appeared, this time much larger in numbers

[Cursed Requiem III]

Goosebumps washed over Ainz's body as a sharp noise akin to a ghastly cry of a Banshee started emitting from Ulbert. The melody somehow seems melancholic, yet terrifying at the same time

He remembered this. A skill that lower the enemy's magic resistance, at the same time applying a temporary boost on one's magic in battle. He recalled having red about this spell being nerfed several updates before due to the OP-ness of it

'Let's not tell Ulbert-san about it just yet'  

[Maximize Magic: Napalm]

A blast, a sharp flash of light penetrates his vision. The high-leveled monsters crumbles away under the goat demon's AOE skill like cattle before a hurricane. Such is the might of the [World Disaster]

[Aura of Despair II]

The same can be said for the ones that managed to pierce the vanguard. The sudden pressure exploding from Momonga caused them to be temporarily paralyzed on the spot from status effect

[Attack]

The Death Knight's blade impaled them from multiple directions just moments after. A critical hit alarm sounded out, thus resulting in another kill from the skeleton's part

The inhuman shrieking didn't stop. Instead, two other group of Eldritch-like abominations continued swarming them from both side in a surprise attack. In an instant, two of Momonga's Death Knight were vaporized by their energy blast, while Ulbert's HP dropped by a small amount due to a charge attack from one of them

"Geh? These things are certainly different from the ones we've been fighting for until now" The goat demon sounded more annoyed than scared, as if having to deal with a larger bunch of insects instead of actual enemy NPCs inside a high-leveled dungeon

[Greater Magic Barrier]

[Wall of Bones]

Two defensive structure were immediately erected just moments before the impact, separating from the rest of the swarm, yet at the same time entrapping themselves inside a tight place while the enemies began attacking it from the outside

The two other Death Knights trapped on the outside managed to kill 4 of them before being mauled by the bug-like insects Zerg-rushing the armored undeads, thus cutting off Momonga's connected vision with them

The usual flashing of red of the game's damage visual appeare, indicating they have only a small amount of time before their moment of respite ended made them tense up further

"Back to back, Ulbert-san!" Their bodies slammed together as they create a two-man front, overlooking opposite directions to easily take care of the swarm they're facing "Don't use [Fly] just yet, there may be flying monsters above us"

"Understood" His companion nodded "What plans do you have, great leader?"

[Arcane Vision]

His vision became see-through as Momonga calmly gazed outside the wall, looking upon the sea of NPCs that has accumulated around them, snapping their jaws at the wall in a display of savagery

In the face of such adversary, one mistake is all it takes for them to get overrun by these things

[Life Essence]

"Their HP indicates their level as around 70-90. I detect presence of mini-bosses and flying Voidborns surrounding us" He slowly breathed out "And there's a swarm of them outside. This might be bad"

"Ulbert-san. From what I managed to remember from Yggdrasil's wiki, Void creatures has an extremely high tolerance against physical attacks- capable of evading or resisting against 6-tier attacks from warrior-class players. Their purplish armor also has the ability to absorb a certain amount of physical damage and reflect them against the original wielder at the moment of impact"

"Buuuuutttt....." His goat companion drawled, knowing full well his leader is just beginning with his analytical assess of the enemies

"But" He continued "As you can see, their resistance against magic is lower than average- immune to forth-tier and lower, but magic above 6th-tier will always affect them. I would guarantee we can clear most of them away if you opt for more...aggressive spells as of this instance"

Had Yggdrasil's system allow for flexible use of their facial animation, Ulbert's expression could be described as a "shit eating grin"

"You got it, my skeleton friend!"

Let's see, armored creatures with both low magic resistance and armed against physical attacks. Both points to a vulnerability against arcane-natured spells with high armor-piercing capability

In that case....

[Penetrate Up]

[Delay Magic: Thunder God Tribulation]

[Delay Magic: Lightning Overcharge]

[Delay Magic: Thunderstorm]

He intoned, three large magic circle sprung up behind him and pirouette around the baphomet's back in a vertical circular motion, waiting for their power to be unleashed

The demon grumbled a little as 10% of his reserve were spent in one go. But the fact that they're being used efficiently did consoled him somewhat

[Delay Magic: Eldritch Blast]

Momonga also contributed an extra spell against the horde seeing as that is his limit, but in typical Momonga fashion he think that still may not be strong enough

Which is why he took out two more magic scrolls from his item bag and held them in his hand

"Ready?" A nod

"Alright, from the count to three, okay?"

Both of them braced themselves

"One..." he began

"Release Magic!"

"Goddammit Ulbert!" In a short instant, both their defensive structures are lowered, allowing them a split second of attack

A wave of thunder exploded from the player's body, decimating the outer perimeter of their surrounding. Lightning coiled around Ulbert's avatar as he released blast after blast of electric spells at the horde, reducing their number by half in less than a second 

Momonga released a pitch black beam of pure energy that completely split their rank in half. As the rest of them readjusted their formation and swarmed him in a pincer attack, the lich activated the two magic scrolls in his hand, forming them into two separate spells

[Widen Magic: Atomic Blast]

[Widen Magic: Hurricane]

Aided by the wind's spread momentum, the mass of NPCs are consumed by the fiery explosion that came afterward, completely swallowing them and leaving behind destruction in it's wake

After all of them has been cleared, the two Ainz Ooal Gown members stood in silence

Not to recover their MP, but to collect the loot left behind like the normal Yggdrasil players that they are

"Uh...shall we continue on, Ulbert-san?" Momonga asked, putting over fifty data crystals inside his pocket dimension

"Yeah, let's. We're already halfway there"

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Spells after spells they cast, slowly clearing away the enemies they faced. Two heteromorph. Two monsters. Their eyes shining with sinister intentions in the dark as they kept on delivering calamities on this monstrous realm

[Halt]

The party stopped on their track. For a moment, all was silent as both of them admired the scenery before them

"Oh man" Ulbert muttered "Our resident blacksmith would love this place"

A massive dorm overreaching their head were revealed in sight. Sparkling purplish crystals adorning it's wall like a grandiose decoration of a royal palace, waiting to be harvest by whoever that set foot here

"Please be careful" The skeleton's voice was cautious. Worried. Perhaps paranoid "This might actually be the boss room"

"I doubt it"

For once, the concept of a restroom right before a boss battle isn't that unfamiliar with them. Most dungeons have this for parties to regenerate their mana and wait for their skill's cooldown to reach zero for a freshed out rest before inting the last boss themselves

Regrettably, or perhaps, fortunately, this also means that the boss of this dungeon is a high-level one

Both of them looked at each other, nodded, and began buffing themselves again

[Penetration up]

[Harden up]

[Greater Anatomy]

Regardless of the battle to come, this boss fight would surely be a formidable challenge for both of them

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The two of them stood in front of the defeated form of the Dungeon's boss, disappointment evident on their faces

"Damn shitty devs"

"Damn shitty devs" Echoed his friend

For one of the supposed continuation of the hardest questline in the game, this dungeon so far has not lived up to their expectation

The mobs are trash NPCs that can be killed without using a single 10th-tier magic. The loots collected are adequate enough in nature, but that alone cannot be compensated by the hype they have been looking forward to the boss

A combat-focused aspect should have been interesting with the boss. A high-mobility, tanky knight clad in high-quality Void armor and wielding Void weapons that deals a fuck ton of physical damage, who could also charge-cast an AOE as per Yggdrasil's unbalanced boss build

It would have been exciting, if it wasn't for the fact that they could just use the normal tactic on him.

Momonga, being the utility magic caster that he is, repeatedly spamming CC spells like [Time Stop] and [True Death] to restrict his movement and casting parameter, buying time for Ulbert to charge out one of his Super-tier magic and killing him in one hit

The disappointment is evident in the air

"Looks like they haven't had time to fix all the bugs yet?" Momonga offered an explanation

"Yeah, perhaps" Muttering something along the line of 'fuck this game', the goat demon blinked at the notification window that pinged into existence in front of them

Ding!

You have successfully taken out [Artorias of the Void]!

Rewards:

[50,000 Gold Coins]

[Void King's Sword]

[Magic Tome: Void]

You have successfully conquered this dungeon

The secret conditions have been met

1. Have a clear time of under 40 minutes (21:24)

2. Discover the secret location (Void mine)

3. Conquered this dungeon on your first time

Reward:

[20,000,000 Gold Coins]

[World Item: Ouroboros]

A silence descended down upon them

"Hey, my eyes did not deceive me, right?"

"Surely not" The lich voice was laced with shock "Did they just seriously give us a World Item by defeating this dungeon?"

Another second of silence, before both of them burst into laughter

"Hail the shitty devs!"

"For once their stupidity has benefited us!"

The two casters cheered. However, their joy was not unprecedented by the sense of nostalgia that came along with it. Perhaps this is what they have longed for, not the journey itself, but the joy and relief shared among friends who have played this game together for years

"But seriously though, let's just collect the loot first, and we can celebrate later"

"Yeah" Ulbert nodded "Obviously, you can have all the mined void minerals along with the Void King's sword. I'll take the Void Tome. After that, we'll share the data crystals and gold coins 50/50. Sounds good?"

"Yeah" The sound of clanking and items being distributed into their inventory can be heard for a few seconds "But what about this thing?"

Momonga raised his palm, showing an obsidian ring inside it. The ornament is black in color, with no notable features except for the engravings of a golden symbol upon it: That of a serpent swallowing it's own tail

Ouroboros. Considered by the Yggdrasil's fanbase as both a cursed and a blessed item. For one, the chance of coming across this item in the game is close to nil. For two, those who are lucky to possess it will hold an incredible amount of authority over the game's gameplay aspects

"Hm..."

That is because the one who hold this will have the ability to request any change to Yggdrasil's game system on a large scale by directly contacting the developer's company

In essence, it's broken as hell. And that is a statement coming from someone who'd played Yggdrasil for several years and gotten used to its bullshittery

"Should we use it now?" A nod, he hesitated slightly before putting the ring in his hand

Under other circumstances, Momonga would have think a little bit longer about using such a sacred item as this

"What would you have wished for, Ulbert-san?"

"Me? Hm, I'll make some goddamn ridiculous request like reducing the time to cast a spell to zero and for one to have an infinite amount of mana just for the heck of it. But it'll probably backfire upon us very quickly "

"Indeed. It'll have to be a wish that could benefit us the most" Momonga hummed, raising a bony finger to scratch his chin "And I think I just have the perfect one"

"As of now we're the highest level Players on the server" He sent a smiling emoji "So, wouldn't it be logical that we take advantage of that fact?"

Type Set: Momonga (ID: 3112018)

Wish Content: Permanently increase all Player's level by three times

The wish itself was not that balance-breaking. It would have been a different matter if they had used the level increase for themselves, as that would literally make them into a sub World Enemy considering their classes

But Momonga didn't. He played it fair and square by requesting the same changes to other players, so that way no complaint can be raised. That's the integrity in his plan

They waited for a few moments as it disappeared. Then, the window popped back with a ping sound

Wish Approved

[Momonga] had leveled up (100 -> 300)

[Ulbert Alain Odle] had leveled up (100 -> 300)

Developer's Note: You fucking mad lads. You actually read the lore and found out about this dungeon. Take this reward as our thanks for supporting us all these years

The two players of Ainz Ooal Gown high-fived each other

"We did it!" The goat demon grinned "Two hundred new levels. What shall I spend it on now?"

"Maybe you should spend it on improving your mana reserve...for once"

Both of them shared a laugh. Both of them know there's no way he is going to do it

Yet that laughter stopped abruptly as the cave began shaking. Void crystals shook slightly from the tremor of the earthquake, and before they can react, the Void dungeon exploded in a shower of magenta-colored lights   

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[Magic Growth]

- A popular concept in the MMORPG Yggdrasil. It is the notion that a player's magic-related statistics can indeed scale with their level. Either it may be a reduction in time, increase damage and effect duration, or possibly all of them, while ignoring the spell's tier-level 

To put it bluntly, a level two player casting the same spell as a level one will have a noticeable change in magic damage, even when they are of the same tier. The skill [Magic Arrow] is an ideal example of this, with a level 1 only being able to fire a single arrow, while existences like Ainz can fire up to ten superior versions of them without any difficulties

This is why it can be said that one cannot beat an opponent with a larger than five levels gap between them

Note: It is possible to learn skills that can accelerate your magic growth, though through very challenging (often time impossible) means