"Back to normal?" Lan
On the stone street, Sona picked up her skin and put it on like clothes, transforming back into the adorable black-haired little loli like a porcelain doll.
Sona was now curiously looking at the empty streets around her.
If the streets weren't missing the usual bustling crowds, Sona would have subconsciously dismissed what had happened as a hallucination.
"It's not really back to normal; this is just a disguise."
As he spoke, Enderi, with three shark-like heads covered in sharp, backward-pointing fangs, squatted down.
Tendrils intertwined and twisted to form a terrifying arm, which directly grabbed a section of the floor and lifted it up.
Beneath the stone floor was dark red flesh, pulsating slightly.
"Why is that lord doing this?"
At this moment, a girl nearly three meters tall, covered from head to toe in dense pupils, walked over, looking at the fortress city of Ye-Lantir, which had been completely disguised as an ordinary city.
"Who knows?"
Enderi said, returning the stone slab to its original position.
With a click, the stone slab perfectly aligned with the empty space on the ground.
Unless someone like Enderi lifted the ground, who would imagine the true appearance of this city? Lan
"Who! ?"
Just as Enderi and the others were pondering the meaning of Lu Minghao's actions, Sona suddenly turned her head, looking vigilantly at the shadows in a distant street corner.
There, as the shadows twisted, a figure shrouded in a black robe slowly emerged.
"This feeling..."
Sona looked at the mysterious person shrouded in a black robe in the distance.
She sensed a familiar aura on him, an aura exactly like the one on them, meaning they were beings similar to herself and Brother Enderi?
"Greetings, everyone, I am the Sin Apostle from Eight Fingers."
The black-robed man, or rather, the Aberrant from Eight Fingers, raised his head, revealing an ordinary face beneath the black robe, a twisted smile on his lips as he looked at Sona and the others.
After initially noticing the changes in the fortress city of Ye-Lantir,
a large number of Eight Fingers members secretly gathered here from all over the kingdom, constantly spreading forbidden knowledge in secret.
Otherwise, it would have been impossible for the fortress city of Ye-Lantir to complete its transformation so quickly. Lan
"Eight Fingers, the Eight Fingers that rule the entire underground world of the kingdom?"
Across from him, Enderi, who had grown up in the slums and been exposed to the darkness of this world, immediately recognized the other party's identity.
He knew that Enderi and the others had heard countless times about Eight Fingers, the underground power that ruled the entire kingdom, and that they were not entities that orphans like them, who scraped by with petty theft, could come into contact with.
Now, members of Eight Fingers had approached them, and most importantly, they felt the same aura and power from that member of Eight Fingers.
"It is indeed the Eight Fingers you speak of.
Now, all members of Eight Fingers serve the great Lord of Forbidden Knowledge, that is, the one who granted you your power.
Also, please rest assured, I have no malice towards any of you."
Across from him, the Eight Fingers member smiled and nodded after hearing Enderi's words.
In the process of pursuing forbidden knowledge, they would increasingly understand Lu Minghao, who was the embodiment of forbidden knowledge, and within Eight Fingers, Lu Minghao was called the Lord of Forbidden Knowledge.
However, in reality, this was completely unimportant to the thorough villains who were members of Eight Fingers.
They weren't fanatical believers who worshipped gods.
The reason they worked hard for Lu Minghao's plan was simply that they could gain powerful strength through forbidden knowledge in the process.
However, this was also Lu Minghao's goal.
He had no interest in religion or gods.
For these thorough villains, only tangible benefits could drive them. Lan
"Then what do you want from us?"
After hearing the other party's answer, Enderi not only didn't relax his vigilance but was already prepared to escape with Sona and the others if the situation turned bad.
After all, he had heard about Eight Fingers' actions and knew that Eight Fingers, as a force that ruled the entire underground world, couldn't possibly be kind to them for no reason.
"It's simple, I invite you to join us."
"I'm sorry, please..."
"Lord Enderi, is it?
Please don't refuse yet.
Even if you're not considering it for yourself, you should consider it for those around you."
Just as Enderi was about to refuse, the Eight Fingers member interrupted him and walked towards them step by step.
After approaching within a few meters of Enderi and the others, the Eight Fingers member directly removed the hat on his head, revealing an ordinary face that wouldn't attract anyone's attention in a crowd.
"Lord Enderi, do you plan to leave here looking like this?" Lan
The Eight Fingers member pointed to his ordinary human face, then looked at Enderi and the others, who were nearly fifteen meters tall, bloated, enormous, and terrifying beyond description, and asked.
"....You mean you have a way to turn us back?"
Enderi looked at the Eight Fingers member's appearance, which was exactly the same as a human, and asked after a moment of silence.
Although after completing the Aberration, Enderi and the others had completely accepted their Aberrated selves from soul to flesh, the memories and wisdom they had as humans told him that if they left here in this state,
it wouldn't be long before adventurers would come to crusade against them.
After all, their indescribable appearance and the uncontrollable power they emitted were deadly to ordinary people.
It could be said that they were now walking disasters to ordinary people.
For such beings, whether it was the kings of the major kingdoms or the adventurers who considered themselves heroes, they would come to eliminate them for various interests or ideas.
"No, we don't have that power."
Across from him, the Eight Fingers member spread his hands after hearing Enderi's expectant words, looking at Enderi with a wicked smile.
Enderi, realizing that he had been tricked, subconsciously raised his arm composed of hundreds of tendrils and slapped it towards the Eight Fingers member in front of him. Lan
However, at the last moment, Enderi stopped.
He didn't believe that this Eight Fingers member had appeared here and wasted so much breath just to trick them.
"Not bad will, to actually be able to stop at the last moment."
Across from him, the Eight Fingers member looked expressionlessly at the huge palm nearby, even clearly seeing the tendrils that made up the palm wriggling, and then, after seeing Enderi retract his palm, he looked at him and continued speaking.
"Although we don't have this power, you, or rather, you all, possess it.
In fact, it's very simple to transform into that appearance.
As long as you can perfectly control your own power, you can disguise your original appearance, but if you want to fight with all your strength, you still have to revert to this form."
For the method of transforming into a human appearance, it was actually a very simple matter for the Original Sin Aberrants.
Whether it was the Gluttony Original Sin Aberrant's ability to control flesh or the Lust Original Sin's ability to control souls, as long as they adapted and controlled their power, they could easily compress and distort their original appearance into that of an ordinary person.
The only downside to doing this is that it suppresses a portion of one's own power. If one wants to fight with full strength, they must remove the disguise. However, the benefit of doing so is that one can travel to other kingdoms in disguise and secretly spread forbidden knowledge.
"I understand. We'll join Eight Fingers, but what do you want us to do?" Endri asked.
After hearing the explanation from the Eight Fingers member, Endri agreed to join and inquired about what they wanted them to do.
"It's not what we want you to do, but what you yourselves want. The current Eight Fingers is completely different from what it once was. The only thing we pursue is new forbidden knowledge. The reason I invited you is just for a mission. As for what you want to do afterward, you'll probably be sent to other kingdoms to spread forbidden knowledge. After all, the entire kingdom, including the royal capital, is already completely under our control."
Across from him, the Eight Fingers member casually stated his purpose to Endri, whose tone was full of vigilance. He had only come to invite Endri and the others for a mission, the reward being a page of new forbidden knowledge.
As for what Endri and the others planned to do afterward, he didn't care at all. However, to prevent Endri and the others from adapting to their power and competing with them for territory within the kingdom, he deliberately guided them.
After all, the only way for the current Eight Fingers members to obtain new forbidden knowledge is to spread forbidden knowledge to more people. The old guard of Eight Fingers members already considers the entire kingdom their trump card, and most newcomers like Endri are ostracized and sent to other kingdoms.
"Just that simple?"
"That simple."
"So, what should we do now?"
"Follow me. I'll take you to the Eight Fingers' base."
After speaking, the Eight Fingers member who had come to invite Endri and the others turned and headed toward the City Lord's mansion. It had long since become the Eight Fingers' base within the Fortress City of E-Rantel. In the coming days, Endri and the others would adapt and master their power there.
After Endri and the others left, a large number of Eight Fingers members emerged from the shadows, changed their clothes, and disguised themselves as ordinary residents. At the same time, throughout the empty houses in the city, the floors and walls writhed.
One by one, humans appeared, identical in appearance and memory to the former residents of the Fortress City of E-Rantel. In just half an hour, E-Rantel returned to its former peaceful and prosperous state.
Even if a new adventurer were to arrive now, they would find that the city hadn't changed much from their memories. At most, the security was a little better, and the residents' attitudes were more harmonious.
Meanwhile, in the royal capital, at the manor where Lu Minghao resided.
At this moment, Lu Minghao, who had just returned with Clementine, was looking at the novel monsters in front of him with great curiosity. Their bodies were completely between illusion and reality, able to transform into formless air at will, or condense into solid flesh.
Moreover, the appearance of these monsters was constantly changing. One second they were indescribable monsters, and the next they turned into falling leaves, butterflies fluttering in the air, or a wisp of breeze.
"Master, how is it? This is what my sister and I worked hard to create."
Yuri stood with her hands on her hips, looking at Lu Minghao, seemingly wanting to be praised. These monsters were the offspring of the monster Yusa created using air and the power of sin, and the being Yuri created using intelligent life, when Lu Minghao left earlier.
"Not bad."
Lu Minghao glanced at Yuri, who was waiting for his praise, and threw Clementine to Yusa before patting Yuri's head and praising her. He was very satisfied with the existence that the two sisters had unintentionally created. Their ever-changing forms, special physiques, and the faint power of sin they carried were all remarkable.
With them, Lu Minghao's plan to erode and pollute the entire world's air into his own form could be accelerated considerably.
"Yusa, how is their reproduction rate?"
The next moment, Lu Minghao turned to look at Yusa and asked. The more monsters like this, the better. When they occupied every corner of the world, becoming as common as goblins and slimes, the entire world would be shrouded in the power of sin.
"The mother can reproduce up to a hundred per day. As for the offspring, they can reproduce up to ten per week. Furthermore, the next generation of offspring requires at least one week to mature to the point where they can reproduce without the nourishment of the mother. Most importantly, their strength is only slightly stronger than slimes. The only thing worth noting is their super vitality due to their special physique."
After hearing Lu Minghao's words, Yusa told Lu Minghao all the information she had researched during this period. Honestly, in Yusa's opinion, these monsters were complete failures.
Originally, Yusa thought that the offspring reproduced by the mother would also have similar power to the mother after they matured. However, the fact was that the offspring, in addition to having the same physique as the mother, were only slightly stronger than slimes.
However, through Yusa's experiments in the past few days, she discovered that even the offspring had the ability to reproduce with any living or non-living thing, and the upper limit of the next generation depended on the main body used during reproduction by the offspring.
For example, if two mature offspring, one chose air and the other chose a magical beast, then the offspring of the one who chose the magical beast would be stronger.
In general, if these monsters were spread out, there would be a magical beast similar to a slime in the future, weak but difficult to kill, and capable of reproducing with any living or non-living thing. In short, it was a species classification with infinite possibilities, but the upper limit was not very high.
"No, Yusa, that's enough. After all, isn't one of our goals to increase the biodiversity of this world?"
Looking at Yusa, who didn't think much of these new monsters, Lu Minghao smiled and stroked her long hair. Then, he arranged for Yusa to have the mother fully reproduce offspring in the near future, and hand over all the offspring to Eight Fingers and Princess Renner to spread these offspring out.
After instructing Yusa and Yuri, Lu Minghao took Clementine into the basement, preparing to create a useful disposable 'tool'.
While Lu Minghao was enthusiastically crafting his disposable tool, Ainz Ooal Gown, who had already helped Carne Village resolve its crisis, met the Warrior-Captain Gazef Stronoff, and learned some initial information about this world, returned to the Great Tomb of Nazarick.
At this moment, he, formerly known as Momonga, had changed his name to Ainz Ooal Gown, the name of his former guild, in order to find his companions who may have also come to this world.
And decided to go to the Human Kingdom as an adventurer to collect information and funds about this world.
