It's been 3 days. Three days since the creature rose from the sea, and started its rampage across the continent. Hundreds of thousands have perished, as some tried to fight, others tried to flee the Great Old One. However, maybe the most shocking fact was that the humongous aberration didn't actually kill most of the victims.

Most of the intelligent beings died due to going insane after gazing at the form of Cthulhu. There were also those who fell victim to Cthulhu's servants who spent no effort in harvesting the lives of the locals.

As madness consumed the world, no place proved to be safe, no place could remain hidden from the prying eyes of Cthulhu. The 6 Great Gods seeing the destruction it brought had hidden themselves with their powerful magic. Many believed they were driven out the realm, defeated by the horror that Cthulhu wrought, and yet… they prayed.

The people prayed that they would be saved, their prayer however fell on deaf ears, or did it? Something else heard it, something dark. Their painful wishes were heard by Cthulhu and she came, she came to punish, and to make them believers. Worshippers of the Great Old Ones.

Ainz had retreated to his cave, carefully hidden in the mountain range, though he also had other hide-outs, he figured until he wasn't found this place would suffice. More so that he had all his research material stored here.

He reached into the depths of his inventory, searching for books on monster lore form Yggdrasil. He figured there might be something on the creature. Though he did not find what he was looking for in the monster encyclopedia, he discovered it at his collection of fantasy books. He read into them, and the more he did, the more his rib cage tensed, compressed. He felt at his heart, only to find nothing but air…

The first revealed her purpose:

"At the proper time, the secret priests would take great Cthulhu from his tomb to revive His subjects and resume his rule of earth... Then mankind would have become as the Great Old Ones; free and wild and beyond good and evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and all men shouting and killing and reveling in joy. Then the liberated Old Ones would teach them new ways to shout and kill and revel and enjoy themselves, and all the earth would flame with a holocaust of ecstasy and freedom."

The second taught him about the nature of the Great Old Ones:

"They were not composed altogether of flesh and blood. They had shape… but that shape was not made of matter. When the stars were right, They could plunge from world to world through the sky; but when the stars were wrong, They could not live. But although They no longer lived, They would never really die. They all lay in stone houses in Their great city of R'lyeh, preserved by the spells of mighty Cthulhu for a glorious resurrection when the stars and the earth might once more be ready for Them."

The third book taught about their limitations, and frankly there wasn't much:

"When the stars have come right for the Great Old Ones, some force from outside must serve to liberate their bodies. The spells that preserved Them intact likewise prevented them from making an initial move."

The fourth illuminated a general and undeniable truth:

"That is not dead which can eternal lie.

And with strange eons even death may die."

Ainz's brain was working overdrive, desperately trying to find a way to beat this thing. This world was beautiful, he didn't want it to end. "How do I even think without a brain?" He asked himself, marveling that only now did he question this. "Back to work, still there must be a way."

"Nevermind that but this… THIS IS CHEATING! How the hell am I supposed to beat that cheat?!" While he felt his mind twist around the matter, he found a description of Cthulhu. "Great, it can't hurt to check once more, if I am really up against a planetary existence… Maybe I made a mistake identifying the creature, yes that's it. It must have been a mistake."

The source read:

"The most detailed descriptions of Cthulhu are based on statues of the creature. One, constructed by an artist after a series of baleful dreams, is said to have "yielded simultaneous pictures of an octopus, a dragon, and a human caricature ... A pulpy, tentacled head surmounted a grotesque and scaly body with rudimentary wings." Another, recovered by police from a raid on a murderous cult, "represented a monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind."

Castro, a Cthulhu cultist reports that the Great Old Ones are telepathic and "knew all that was occurring in the universe." They were able to communicate with the first humans by "moulding their dreams," thus establishing the Cthulhu Cult, but after R'lyeh had sunk beneath the waves, "the deep waters, full of the one primal mystery through which not even thought can pass, had cut off the spectral intercourse."

Ainz looked up for a moment from his book. "Shit… I can't explain it, but that sounds pretty accurate." He stood up and went to his workshop, still behind the veil of {perfect unknowable}.

"Now, let's see. My experiments are coming nicely along with wild magic and tier magic blending… I wonder…" He said as he lifted a glass of potion with his palm. The radioactive liquid glowed a dangerous yellow when lifted before quickly changing back to a faint green color. "Hmm, it is still not stable, no matter… this should be good enough."

He gulped down the liquid, or at least he tried to. Nevertheless, after he spilled it inside his mouth the content of the bottle swiftly disappeared, and a greenish yellow glow enveloped his body. It was soon gone, as his bones hungrily drank in the potion.

"Hmm, I should feel its effects soon, arghh ARGGHH!" He couldn't finish his sentence as pain overwhelmed his sense. This was the first time when he had felt real pain ever since coming to the new world. Even when he experimented throwing high level spells at himself, he didn't feel such pain. No, all he had felt back then was a mild sensation, which he could ignore without much trouble.

After ingesting the potion an agonizing feeling overcame his whole body. He felt as if his soul was being ripped apart. His red orb hovering in his rib cage flashed a dangerous red, before darkening even more. Almost turning black, almost.

"Haah, ahhh." He inhaled and exhaled sharply as the pain passed. He conjured up the {mirror of remote viewing}. Most of the time it was used as a means of reconnaissance, but it could also be used as a standard mirror.

"Hmm, yes. It doesn't seem to affect my appearance at all. Maybe the orb is a bit darker now, but that is negligible. It is also a world item, so it might have an erratic reaction, after all it has own properties, and rules."

He pulled the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown into his hands, and stared deeply into the mirror. "Now, it's time for my daily practice. I can't appear like a buffoon now, can i?" He encouraged himself, while getting ready to move out, and face his most difficult battle yet.

He had already instructed his minions to gather for there is a battle to be won. He also sent a Hanzo to bring the six players to the battlefield. What he needed now was information, and time. Should he have enough of these components he would surely be victorious. His plain would be failsafe.

The Dragon Emperor was beyond furious. He had released the seals on the body of his most hated adversary, maybe the most powerful creature on the world. Whom even he couldn't beat. Just so they can teach that skeleton a lesson. Now, however that bastard skeleton was nowhere to be found!

The Dragon Emperor had to make himself as small as possible and remain non-threatening, for the power gap between them was astronomical. He still remembers when his father, his predecessor had told him, if that creature was ever to be released, not to anger it, or else it would be their last mistake.

He thought his father was soft, weak for saying such things, but now… Now, he felt it. The unbreachable gap between their standing, their power. He had done everything to gain more power, even brought items, and apparently other beings like that skeleton into the world through a forbidden ritual, just so he could gain more power. Now, he understood, that even if he had gained the power of all these items and individuals, even then he might still fall before the might of Cthulhu.

The being dwarfed him in size, as its head adorned with countless tentacles made the clouds give way wherever she tread…

The dread, the despair it emanated would be enough to sway the most powerful, and deliver them into madness' sweet embrace. Even he, HE the apex predator of the world would go insane, should he let his guard down.

He flew above her, as the horrors reflected in his eyes. He saw countless octopus like creatures marching next to Cthulhu.

He briefly looked behind and saw the destruction they had left in their wake. There was nothing left of the once great forest, nothing but a barren waste land. Then, he turned his sight to the right and the once great mountain range of Trist came into view. He didn't understand why, but apparently it seemed that the subordinates of the Great Old One had left that place alone. Why? It was a mystery to him.

"I shouldn't have freed her. This is madness." He thought to himself.

Suddenly, he felt his body shivering as a cold, slimly feeling invaded his mind. "Madness is such a beautiful thing, isn't it?"

"What the… ?! She invaded my mind that easily?!" Questions came to light inside the head of the Dragon Emperor, as he tried his best to remain unmoved by the unexpected development.

"Silly creature, you think there is such a thing as your thoughts in my presence? I am Cthulhu The Great Dreamer, your mind is but an open book before me."

The Dragon Emperor gulped audibly, as he tried to command stop to his mind. Not to make things worse, not to reveal any information needlessly.

He peaked back at Cthulhu to see what she was doing, only to come face to face with a glowing pair of yellow eyes. He felt his muscles strain themselves, as if trying to rip away from his body, trying to escape as if they were beings on their own, but his attention was elsewhere.

As he gazed upon the horrendous creature, he felt his mind going crazy. Madness would consume him, should he lose concentration even for a moment. His heart pounded hard against his rib cage, trying its best to supply enough energy to his body, so he could have the strength to escape. So he could fly away.

Before he could move a great tentacle in a diameter of 10 meters came crashing down on him. He was smashed into the ground harshly. He felt many of his bones shatter, and his organs failing.

"Fuck, is this the end?"

"No, I still have a job for you. Do it well, and you shall be spared."

"What is it?" The Dragon Emperor was desperately trying to find a way out of this mess. He couldn't accept the fact that his life would come to an end before he could reach the apex of power.

"Use your primitive magic, though it's barbaric in nature, from my understanding if enough souls are supplied it can be passed of as a middle level magic."

The Dragon Emperor slowly collected himself from the ground, while he applied a self-heal spell. Though, he was not too efficient in healing, as he was more of an offensive type, he had one such spell nonetheless, who knew he would have to actually use it?

"Align the stars for me, and in exchange you shall be spared."

The Dragon Emperor saw a vision of the stars' alignment and he hastily scurried away.

"HA-HHAH-HA-HA. Soon, my powers will be no longer restricted, and I shall consume this world. Ahh-haha-h-hah-a."

As the Dragon Emperor flew high above the mountain peaks, he could only wonder. "What the hell does she mean, it's not her full power?!"

The six were sitting in a circle. They were currently located inside an underground mine, on which they had cast protection spell to shield themselves. They had been staying here for the past few days ever since the madness had begun.

First they had tried to help the people, help them to survive, but it was pointless. Even the weakest of those octopus and squid like creature was lvl 30, and there were lvl 80 monsters mixed in, in every dozen or so monsters. There was also a lvl 90 every hundred or so.

They had decided it was the best course of action to lay low and wait out the Storm.

They were making wild guesses about as to what is going on in the outside world to pass the time. It was on such a day that an alarm went off, something broke through their wards.

They took up their fighting positions, with Surshana and Alaf on the front, and the others behind them in a diamond shape.

"Wh-what is it Surshana? C-can you see it?" Aqua asked in a weak voice, while the {staff of flowing water} in her hands was shivering. She was disgusted by those horrendous creatures, she didn't want to see, much less fight another of those abominations. "I can't, I can't!" She chanted silently.

"Do not attack." Surshana said as he stared deep into the darkness.

"Greetings Great Gods!" A hoarse voice called out from the shadows. The being remained hidden from all praying eyes, even Surshana had trouble distinguishing the being in the dark, despite his {dark vision}. "So he is an assassin." He thought.

"Identify yourself creature!" Alaf said in a commanding tone.

The new arrival snorted, before answering again with its hoarse voice.

"I am what you may call a "Hanzo". I am here by Lord Ainz Ooal Gown's decree. You are to vacate this place, and immediately head to the battlefield. Accommodate HIS wish willingly, and your reward will be great. However, should you deny his compassion, you will be forced to participate in the battle against the one known as "Cthulhu" one way or another." He said as more shadows moved in the vicinity.

Their mouth slacked open. "Haaaaaahhhh?!"

Ainz received information about the village which he had once visited from the Hanzo. Apparently the six also found themselves in it. Now, he knew the whereabouts of the once village, now evidently a town.

He had a place for them in his grand design, and so he personally headed out. While he did so, the undead gathered endlessly under his banner in the mountain range.

There was over 150 000 Death Knights, 50 000 Death Warriors, 30 000 Elder Liches, as well as 1 000 Hanzos, 500 Death Emperors, and 2 000 000 zombies, and skeletons and other lower level undead.

He had burned through a trillion consumables already and he had also used his daily undead creation ability ceaselessly in the past century. He knew it would come in handy someday, but even he didn't expect it to be so soon.

He was worried about the opponent's might, after all the unbelievable things he had read about Cthulhu he expected it to be a tough battle. He decided it was best to try and crush his foe with overwhelming might in one go. He would make Cthulhu realise her folly for daring to encroach upon the world claimed by Ainz Ooal Gown.

When he reached the city of Maz, there was a siege going on, as the unending wave of octopus like creatures kept coming, the city's defenses were failing. The defense forces had already abandoned the outer walls, and were regrouping on the middle wall, which encircled most of the residential areas.

"Good, there are still a lot of people. Yes, this will do." As he said that he reached into a tear in space, and brought out an unremarkable bag. It was a bag of holding which could hold up to 100 different items, and 999 of each said items. Ainz had filled it with trash items beforehand, and now he was going to give it to the town to have a fighting chance, and of course to slow the enemy down.

These trash items would be quite useful if there wasn't a limit placed on how much a single person could use at a specified time. He also didn't want to use it himself, as frankly it would be a waste of his time to summon 10 low level beings at a time.

Ainz saw yellow bursts of energies. These signaled that the items were being used, and hundreds upon hundreds of summon monsters appeared. "What the?!" He watched as every 10 or so items summoned armies instead of small groups of mercenaries. He noted it as a topic worth investigating later on.

The goblin general's horn in particular had summoned numerous armies. It seemed that their rate of success was much higher than the armies of demons and angels, which only happened after every 200 or so uses.

There were also those items that summoned or more like constructed golems for them to fight. In the end there were more than 750 thousand newly summoned troops ranging from level 7 to level 70. The people had managed to drive out the invading monsters, and with the use of their newly acquired support they were able to fortify the city and protect it from further breaching.

Ainz was intrigued by the trash items, though he had already experimented on them. He didn't use hundreds so it might be that he didn't use enough or that a certain criteria had to be met. He would look into this in detail, but not now. He left the area in a flash of light, which had not gone unnoticed by the locals.