Mass for the Dead Prologue

Prologue (プロローグ) is the introductory main story chapter in Mass for the Dead. It was released to the public on February 21, 2019.Mass for the Dead Prologue
== Full Summary ==
The DMMO-RPG game YGGDRASIL that was released in 2126 having become explosively popular in Japan, due to is expansive map and freedom it gives players, was now coming to an end 12 years later.
In the Round Table Room of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, two players of the once famed guild of Ainz Ooal Gown have a reunion on the last day of the game. Herohero, a Elder Black Ooze, greets his old guildmaster Momonga, as it has been a long time since they saw each other.
Momonga, undead an Overlord, was worried that Herohero would not be able to come to the old guild base as it has been two years since they last met up. The amount of time surprises Herohero, as he did not expect it to be that long, and blames it to doing overtime at his job. Herohero apologizes for not being able to call Momonga in that time, and makes another apology of needing to leave the game, as he is too tired.
Momonga is disappointed by this, but understands. Before logging out, Herohero expresses his surprise that the Great Tomb of Nazarick was still operating, and notes how much time and effort Momonga must have put in maintaining the dungeon. The undead player tells his comrade that Nazarick is the base he and the guild made together. That being said, Herohero hopes that they meet again in the future somewhere before he logs out, leaving Momonga alone. 
Momonga having bid his friend Herohero farewell, is saddened by his departure as he hoped he would have stayed until the end, as today is the last day of YGGDRASIL's servers. But then soon realizes it's just him now, as everyone in the guild faced reality and left the game eventually. Even he will have to as tomorrow he has to work at 4 AM. 
Momonga seeing that the countdown was ticking down to the shutdown time, decides to head to the Throne Room and sit on the Throne of Kings, since he never got to sit on it. 
The guildmaster then heads to the Throne Room where the Throne of Kings, resigning himself as the last member of Ainz Ooal Gown. Unexpectedly when the countdown clock stops, Momonga who was just withing the Throne Room, is not logged. A flash of light occurs and Momonga finds himself in a ruined Throne Room. 
Around the same time, on the 10th Floor, in Ashurbanipal, a homunculus, the protagonist, awakens to consciousness, finding himself in a ruined Ashurbanipal. Confused on what transpired, the protagonist rushes outside to find out what is going on. To his shock, he comes to the Lemegeton to find all of its golems shattered and its countermeasures destroyed. Seeing the unthinkable, the homunculus assumes that an enemy raid has occurred on the 10th Floor. 
Dreading the worst, the homunculus rushes to the Throne Room, thinking the Overseer Guardian Albedo is there fighting the intruders. Despite knowing the danger that an enemy that manage to lay ruin to Nazarick is potentially in the Throne Room, and his his limits, the homunculus still wishes to defend Nazarick even if it costs him his life. 
Entering the room, the homunculus finds that the person in there is none other than Momonga who seems to be contemplating on his magic. The presence of the homunculus is detected by the undead. There is some confusion between the two, as the protagonist immediately bows before the Supreme Being, and Momonga demanding to know what happened to the GM call. Though the term is lost to the protagonist, who instead introduces himself as a creation of one of the Forty-One Supreme Beings. 
This comes as a shock to Momonga, as he can't believe that one of the Non-Playable Characters, created by his colleagues is independently thinking. He at first thinks it's some sort of trick, someone impersonating the NPC. At the moment he decides to focus on the emergency at hand. Momonga finds he can't get a console or game controls, and yet he can now use his player body perfectly. 
The protagonist tries to ask what is going on, but Momonga wonders if he knows, thinking he is part of the game's management or the GM. However the terms are lost to the NPC. His honest reaction causes Momonga to be taken aback as he can't believe that the NPC is thinking and acting alive. Before the confused homunculus, Momonga studies the character, from his emotional reactions and facial expressions that are beyond the work of programming in YGGDRASIL. 
Finally Momonga then addresses the protagonist, to confirm his identity as a creation of the Supreme Beings, which the NPC does. While Momonga confirms the NPC's name is on the master source of the dungeon, but cannot access his profile for some reason. However he also sees that no other NPC names are on the master source, which means that they were all killed. This only confuses Momonga and he has no explanation for why this has happened. 
While using [Message], its revealed that prior to the protagonist finding the Supreme Being, he had been experimenting with his magic capabilities in his game avatar. Though the [Message] fails as there is no one to connect with. The homunculus reports that he saw no one else on the 10th Floor. From that Momonga supposes that someone has attacked Nazraick, all the way to the 10th Floor. More questions are raised by Momonga, has he recalls Albedo, Sebas Tian and the Pleiades present in the Throne Room with him, before he closed his eyes and then awoke to find his precious Nazarick in ruins. 
But what he does know that if it was an enemy attack, then they were incredibly powerful. What's more is that there is now some kind of weird anomaly, a Crack, now sitting where the Throne of Kings once was, raising even more questions. Momonga likes to gather more information, but seeing as there is no one but him and the homunculus, it raises another question why just them? The protagonist is quick to reply that it is because of Momonga's power in being the representative of the Supreme Beings. While the evaluation is a bit too praiseful, Momonga is more curious on how the homunculus is still alive. The protagonist has no answer to this quandary. So Momonga asks who is his creator, to which the homunculus answers with the name of one of the Supreme Beings.
For further confirmation and to experiment and see whether a NPC could be revived using resurrection magic, he revives one of the Pleaides to confirm the homunculus's identity. The revived maid is initially confused by her surroundings. Momonga finds it curious that the revive maid possesses all her gear, and believes its a bug in the system, though finds it acceptable.
The maid realizing that she was dead and brought back to life, thanks the Supreme Being, though apologizes for wasting Nazarick's resources. Momonga tells her it was worth the effort and asks her if she remembers anything of what transpired before her death. The maid though cannot answer as she has no memory. He then asks her to confirm if the protagonist is who he says he is, which the Pleiades maid does stating he was created as an assistant diplomatic representative. The title seems odd to Momonga, and the maid confesses that she does not know why either. 
Though tells him that besides her creator two other Supreme Beings were involved in the homunculus's creation. The three being: Beast King Mekongawa, Herohero, and Nishikienrai. Thus recommends asking their creations for further information. 
Momonga agrees and so uses resurrection magic again until the three Pleiades maids, Narberal, Lupusregina, and Solution are before him. 
The Overlord is about to his ask his question again, but then the Crack in the Throne Room begins to flash. It then erupts, and from it emerges a slime-like purple crystal monster. Momonga seeing it is in disbelief, and not recognizing the type of monster, thinks that its is a POP monster that has invaded the room. 
Narberal attempts to use [Chain Dragon Lighting] eliminate the creature, only have nothing happen. Solution realizes that their magic and skills are gone. This is deemed impossible to Momonga as the expenses he gave for the revival should not have changed their statuses. 
The creature approaches dangerously close to Narberal, who the protagonist attempts to protect my standing in front. However Momonga steps in to protect them and casts [Maximize Magic Reality Slash] on the monster. The creature though is briefly cut, before it reforms and becomes angry. Momonga compliments on the homunculus's spirit despite his weakness, before ordering the NPCs to leave the fight to him. 
After the monster is successfully eliminated, Momonga finds a strange drop item in its place, a purple glowing crystal. At first thinking it to be a data crystal, Momonga corrects himself as it is a bit different. 
The Pleiades maids apologize for being useless, though Momonga tells them it is not their fault. However one deniable fact is that their fighting strength has been lost. On the Pleiades' lost abilities, Momonga wonders if effect could be a penalty for dying? In YGGDRASIL there is should be no such thing, but now he is considering that maybe "this world" is not even YGGDRASIL. 
First of all Momonga sees that it will be necessary to investigate to clarify what accident befell Nazarick. He then asks the protagonist if he truly knows nothing. One of the Pleiades maids vouches for him, as the homunculus has never been out of Ashurbanipal. 
Still not satisfied, but seeing that there is nothing more to get from the Pleiades and the protagonist, Momonga decides to revive one more person who might know what happened to Nazarick. That person is revealed to be Albedo. The Overseer Guardian still groggy from her revival is pleaded by Momonga to identify the intruders who attack Nazarick. The news that Nazarick had been attack jolts Albedo awaken, unbelieving it to be true, but even she sees the ruination around her, the reality sinks in. 
This travesty shames Albedo who takes full responsibility, but Momonga is more concerned on finding the true identity of the intruders who took her and the other NPCs lives and devasted Nazarick. That being said Albedo swears on her personal honor to avenge herself and Nazarick and bring those responsible to Momonga's feel for a painful punishment. 
Before they can go any further, the drop item beings to flash just as the Crack does. Narberal thinks its an enemy attack like previously, though Momonga is not sure as the Crack begins to glow. Soon enough Momonga discovers the Crack in conjunction with the drop item can perform summoning magic. While it is unsure if this is the effect of the drop item or the effect of the ruined Throne of Kings, the summons from the Crack, unlike the previous mysterious being, appears to submit to him. To Momonga it's akin to gacha, but quickly reminds himself that this is not a game. 
When Albedo asks what gacha is, Momonga tells her its another story, and turns focus on the Crack. Albedo raises a question on whether it could also be in other places in the Great Tomb of Nazarick. That is one thing that Momonga states that they will have to check as the enemy could still be hiding. 
And with Albedo weaken like the Pleiades, Momonga uses his magic to summon lower tier undead. Once he confirms the summoning magic is fine, Momonga plans to send the undead to every part of Nazarick and conduct a search. 
After awhile, Momonga states the result of the undead search. They found neither the enemy nor any survivors. There appears to be other Cracks on other floors which are being monitored by undead squads. For now it is impossible to know the identity of the Cracks or the intruders. From this, if there are no clues in Nazarick left, Albedo deduces that they need to reconnoiter quickly to ascertain the enemy's status. 
Albedo asks Momonga who he wishes to send out, offering to make the selection. Momonga glances at the three Pleiades and protagonist. Seeing his hesitation, Albedo asks if everything is fine. Momonga is uncertain if she should send his subordinates out as there could be unknown risks and hidden dangers. 
The Overseer Guardian though states that is their purpose to live and die for him. Even in the face of danger. Regardless Momonga tells them the rules of revival may not apply to them in this new world, and if they die again, they may not recover safely. And asks Albedo and the rest if they have considered that possibility? 
This causes Albedo to be stunned. Since they are all the children of his comrades, Momonga has no wish to see them die. 
Albedo replies that she thanks Momonga for such kindness, but while Nazarick as been defanged, she cannot stand and wait idly. Of all the Forty-One Supreme Beings, only Momonga has remained in Nazarick. Thus she must do whatever it takes to all the nearest dangers to him. 
Momonga silent on this, it takes some prompting from the protagonist, using a provoking quote from either the "Philosophies of Monarchs Applicable in the Workplace" or "Top 100 Wise Sayings of Managers". The quotes are recognized by Momonga who remembers that the protagonist came from the library. 
The protagonist is trying to say they they cannot avoid making decisions that involve risk. To that end he volunteers to go outside and do a survey as there will be less risk. Albedo is skeptical given that the protagonist is a homunculus with the same strength as a human. She asks what he can do? As he has no combat ability. 
The protagonist answers that he cannot be spared just because he is powerless. Albedo is confused by this answer, but Momonga sees that since the homunculus is low level, it means that the amount needed to revive him is minuscule. Thus he can be brought back constantly like a zombie without any risk. 
Even so Momonga does not wish for any of his friends' children to die. But the protagonist pleads Momonga to allow him to live and be of service to him. Momonga comments to the NPC that he has never been called to duty before, doubts that he is suppose to have such a setting, but seeing his determination to work for him, decides to hear him out. 
== References ==
 
== Navigation ==
Category:Mass for the Dead Chapters