Chapter 100: Chapter 26
Time was running out. He had to take one last precaution before the first potentially dangerous guest would arrive. Momonga had already upgraded his own God skill and now he had to take care of Albedo's ultimate and create one for Pandora.
Lastly, he wanted to take a look at how to improve Shion's abilities. Out of his three consorts, she was weakest by far. Unfortunately, upon closer inspection, it was clear that her unique skill already greatly strained her soul and upgrading it was impossible without finding a way to empower the soul itself.
Theoretically, |Omniscience| could provide answers to every topic imaginable but didn't give clear answers to overly vague questions like how to empower a soul.
With that, the question of how to make Shion stronger needed to be put aside.
As for Albedo's skill, |Ginnungagap|, all Momonga needed to do was to reorganize it and add a few cores. The first and most important was a Divine boost core which could be copied from other God skills.
Using Nazarick's reactor as the power source, he didn't need to use his own energy for the task.
The next was a blank Goddess core, which could over time become one with Albedo's personality and ensure no foreign entity takes her over. In the end, the skill was renamed to |Goddess of Destruction|.
Finishing with Albedo's skill, Momonga plunged into the hardest task to date; upgrading a unique skill to an ultimate one. The first and most obvious addition to Pandora's |Greater Doppelganger| was the God core.
By itself, it wasn't enough to bump the skill to the Ultimate level. The divine boost did the trick but Momonga wasn't done yet. The shapeshift core could be upgraded as well.
At the moment, the core let Pandora's Actor temporarily use most unique skills in Nazarick's library with about ninety percent efficacy. With that in mind, he reconstructed the core to resemble that of other ultimate cores and wrote in the list of all ultimate cores connected to Nazarick.
Now Pandora would be able to use all ultimate skills connected to Nazarick with about seventy percent efficacy. The only exceptions were intrinsic skills.
Ultimately, the unique skill, |Greater Doppelganger|, evolved into the ultimate skill, |God of Trickery|. The skill was not as elegant and powerful as other ultimate skills but still was an ultimate skill and thus gave the ability to resist the effects of all lesser skills.
With all of Nazarick's upper echelons now having ultimate skills, Momonga was sure no matter what tricks the incoming guests could attempt, his home and people would be safe.
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A simple, well-made carriage slowly drove over the smooth stone road, followed by seven adventurers riding horses. A single A-level adventuring team was all that agreed to serve as bodyguards of the Free Guild's grandmaster, Yuuki Kagurazaka, and his second-in-command, Kagali.
Even with supposed written contracts in place that let the free guild operate within the Tempest Hegemony, very few dared to enter the Storm Dragon's domain.
Yuuki himself sat within the carriage with a subtle expression on his face with Kagali sitting opposite to him, unreadable as always.
For a few weeks, something has been observing him from within. The feeling was unmistakable; Yuuki had felt the same when Kazareen, now Kagali, tried to take over his body. Some mysterious entity was poking around at the borders of his consciousness. Of course, it would be easy to assume that Kagali was up to something but she wasn't so stupid to try to mess with him like that.
"Nervous?" he asked. Kagali seemed to ignore him at first but then slowly looked up.
"This is a huge risk. If even one of our assumptions is wrong, we may lose our physical bodies. I would prefer not to spend another century in the void." Kagali said in a neutral tone.
"The thought scrambler ability you developed shouldn't be decodable, so they won't be able to spy on us. And even if Tear is noticed there isn't even circumstantial proof to link her to us." Yuuki said. "Being overly cautious is just as damaging as recklessness."
"Lecturing me? Really?" Kagali said with clear annoyance, letting her mask slip.
"The appearance of Tempest is an unexpected turn of events, but nothing we should be too worried about."
"The Storm Dragon is free! You may be stronger than me, but even you wouldn't be able to stand up to that beast. I would have preferred to work on tools to handle him, not sit in the belly of the beast and spy on his pawns."
"Look at this as an opportunity. The close proximity to the beast might lead you to find a way to steer him in a preferable direction. He and the other true dragons need to be contained before we take over the world." Yuuki said with a smirk.
"You are the boss." Kagali said, resuming a neutral expression and tone.
Yuuki chuckled at his subordinate's acting skills and looked outside the window. The trip would take a few more days until they reached the capital. Tempest had offered to teleport him and his crew but he refused the offer in hopes of seeing something of value during the trip.
Kagali, paranoid as she was, turned out to be as untalkative as he predicted. That was expected with her cold and calculating personality, although she had mentioned that her now living body had given her a wider range of emotions, not to mention the glee of regaining her once-lost beauty.
Her own father had mutilated her to a degree that her original body was unrepairable and her soul was put into the body of a dead male elf as a sick experiment.
The body she hated to even look at was her prison for two millennia until the infamous Demon Lord, Kazareem, died at the hand of the upstart Demon Lord Leon two centuries ago.
Kagali was more than willing to be patient and slowly plan her revenge on Leon to reclaim her old title as the Curse Lord and show the world that even death was not enough to stop Demon Lord Kazareem.
There were many secrets between them, even back when Kazareem still inhabited his body, as each had their own goals and aspirations. If not for his sheer willpower and unique skill, Creator, Kazareem could have destroyed Yuuki's soul and fully taken over his body.
In the end, Yuuki proved to be stronger than the fallen Demon Lord and Kazareem, now Kagali, swore loyalty to him and became his subordinate.
Even with the smooth road, it took two weeks to reach the capital from Blumund's border. As the impressive walls came into view, Yuuki asked his companion. "Ready to put up the show?"
"I will be up to the task." Kagali replied flatly while looking out the window.
"Still, think this is a bad idea?"
"We'll need to deal with Tempest sooner or later. Better get a foot in while we can." { Considering that Tear got inside without a hitch with the upgrade you gave her I don't think they will be able to spy on us but… there is a chance they are just as patient as us. }
"Feel it too, huh?" Yuuki asked.
"This veil is strange." { In either case, each of our steps needs to be carefully thought out. } Kagali switched to encrypted messaging once the veil gave a suspicion that they could be overheard.
The method of thought scrambling she had developed was by all means unbreakable. Generating believable messages over true information made detection even harder.
{ Let's see what Tear can find out. Taking the kids back may not be an option for now, but maybe we don't have to. If the one Leon seeks is in Tempest all we have to do is to tip him off. } Yuuki said.
{ Hmm, I would prefer to kill him personally. Tear him apart piece by piece. }
{ Buying you a new body won't be cheap. That is if he doesn't end you for good this time. } Yuuki dryly remarked.
{ I am well aware of my chances! All the same, the trust built through the agents should not be wasted. }
{ He either dies or kills his way through their numbers. All we need is someone who can deal with Veldora. }
{ The only solution would be to pit him against another true dragon and hope for the best. We on our own won't be able to do any damage to a being of his level. }
{ All in good time.} "Looks like we have arrived." Yuuki said, opening the door.
The five-story building was similar to most guild halls. By the entrance stood the guild members who worked on the construction and beside them stood a massive hobgoblin dressed in a gray suit. Behind him stood a smaller hobgoblin and a goblina both dressed in similar suits.
The hobgoblin walked up to them and said with a light bow. "Welcome to the Tempest Hegemony, I am Rigurd, the mayor of the capital city."
"Yuuki Kagurazaka, the Grandmaster of the Free Guild and this is my assistant, Kagali" Yuuki said as he extended his hand.
Rigurd accepted the greeting, shaking his hand with a strong grip and continued. "I have prepared assistants for you. They are authorized to arrange meetings with Tempest's officials and serve as guides."
"Thank you, we will be in your care," Yuuki replied with a smile. The feeling of being watched grew more intense and filled with deep hatred as if the observer was wronged by either Rigurd or Tempest itself.
'I will warn you once. If you want something with me, then communicate otherwise I will find a way to eliminate you.' He made a loud thought in his mind to send a clear message.
'A schemer… you will do just fine… patience… window is not yet open.' A faint whisper came back sounding like his own thoughts.
It wasn't hard to notice that the pair was very attractive, and save for the green skin, looked almost fully human. 'Using eye candy, they are going the extra mile to convince people that monsters aren't that different from humans.' Yuuki mused as the woman assigned to him explained the basic layout of the city and the most interesting places to visit.
With Kagali tackling the practical side of running the guild branch, he could turn his attention to politics and their real goals.
First order of business; meet the monster that managed to trick him.
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With the first guests arriving Momonga had called for a meeting to discuss further action. With Nazarick's main conference chamber preserved for memory, a new one was made with most of the floor guardians, Pandora, and Veldora in mind.
Besides Momonga, the meeting was attended by Pero, Buku, Demiurge, and Albedo.
"The appearance of a spy who carelessly entered our borders just a day before the arrival of the Free Guild's Grandmaster is not a coincidence. This spy is searching for Nazarick's entrance but can easily be guided around by rearranging the shadow demon patrol routes." Demiurge was the first to talk. He walked around the table putting a copy of his report in front of each participant.
Returning to his seat, Demiurge continued, "This spy may have two associates who have observed us for a while but have not crossed Tempest's border. All three of them share similar dressing styles implying that they belong to the same organization. Unfortunately, it seems that the thought process of said spy is encrypted and I was unable to get a read. The same encryption style is also being used by Yuuki and Kagali of the Free Guild."
"I see… Demiurge, link the specters who read the information to me." Momonga said. 'I will need to look at the information they have gathered myself, maybe Omniscience will let me decode it.'
The data the specters sent him was a jumbled mess, that on the surface level looked like random subconscious brain processes. Filtered through Omniscience, the results were not as decisive as he would have liked. The skill did decode the information, but unfortunately, there were about fifty different answers.
Still, with more information, some of the calculations would be bound to be wrong and with a process of elimination, give the right cipher. He quickly sent all fifty decoding algorithms to Demiurge.
"For now all we know is that Yuuki and to an extent the free guild are actively spying on us. For now, keep the spies away from Veldora's cave but let them roam around." Momonga added.
"Don't you think we are giving them too much free range?" Buku asked Momonga.
"They are not aware that we are onto them. For now, let's gather as much information as we can and then see how we can turn it against the Free Guild. As much as I would want to deal with them swiftly, we would likely make most of the human nations our enemies in the process, which I want to avoid until we are sure we can crush them in case of conflict." Momonga said.
"Sis, you have a better grasp on this, how high do we stand in their threat level?" Pero asked.
"I have only the general idea of how to rank threats but even on the low-end Nazarick has at least two hundred S-ranked members. One S-rank threat usually requires the church's involvement to deal with. If I have to guess, save for some wild cards, we likely could crush the entire human part of the world." Buku explained.
"Shouldn't we just go with a preemptive strike to ensure these pathetic worms don't develop countermeasures against Nazarick?" Albedo asked. 'I hope my beloved doesn't see my question as too foolish.'
"Thanks to Chloe, we know that it's not the western nations but the Eastern Empire we should worry about. There is a chance they would use every opportunity to strike either us or other human nations while we are at war with them. We are only growing stronger each day, so time is on our side, at least for now." Momonga replied as Albedo gently squeezed his hand with a subtle smile.
"So, for now we try to be friends and gather dirt on them in the background. Knowing humans, I think we could use our wealth and the growing espionage network to either buy or blackmail people in positions of power." Pero said while scratching his beak with one talon. "I mean, if we can pull the rug out from under them we might not even need to show our trump cards."
"I agree. For now, let's work on spreading our indirect influence and prepare to quickly resolve any aggression against us." Momonga said.
"Very well, I guess I'll talk with Yuuki myself and Pero can take on Kagali." Buku said, glancing at her brother. 'If Momo can get all the info out of him indirectly we will get the upper hand over him in no time. The moment he tries to take the kids back we will drag him through the mud and crucify him publicly!'
"Sure, I would have to deal with the guild anyway. The majority of their members present in Tempest are either craftsmen or merchants." Pero said.
The game of wits had begun. Beating their opponents at their own game would be much more beneficial than just charging at them, guns blazing.
Proofreading by Visur Nyxan, Sad_Smiles, RottenPizza, I AM THE STRING CUTTER, Ethal07, Alasssandro, and SwissChocolatess
AN: Thank you for reading the story, and if you have caught up to the latest chapter, you can check out my other work or join my discord server (Link is in my profile) where additional chapters are available or if you are interested in becoming a beta reader.
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