Overlord Volume 11

The Craftsman of Dwarf is the eleventh light novel volume in the Overlord series. It was released on September 30, 2016. It details about Ainz Ooal Gown, Shalltear Bloodfallen and Aura Bella Fiora visit the Dwarf Kingdom in the Azerlisia Mountains. However, they discover that the dwarves are being threatened by the Quagoa and the Frost Dragons.

Main Summary
Ainz Ooal Gown heads towards the Dwarf Kingdom along with Shalltear Bloodfallen and Aura Bella Fiora in search of the lost rune magic. Upon arrival, Ainz finds the country being threatened by an impending invasion by the demi-human race called the Quagoa.

The Dwarf Runesmiths promise future endeavors with the Sorcerer Kingdom if Ainz would help them retake the capital. What awaits them there is not just the Quagoa, but also the strongest race of the Azerlisia Mountains, Frost Dragons.

The Sorcerer Kingdom shall carve its magnificence on the unknown world in the upcoming Volume 11.

Full Summary
In the Dwarven City of Feo Jera, Gondo Firebeard, a dwarf miner of the Dwarf Kingdom prepares for his final day of work in the mines. Gondo, Gagaiz and several other dwarf miners are sent to Sector 8821 where Heatstones are mined. After his work, Gondo take a bath alongside with the other miners while Gagaiz tries to persuade him to go with them to the White Beer Pavilion, but declines his offer.

When Gondo is done taking a bath, he goes to the counter to get paid. The dwarf manager examines his condition of any sign of Whitesnow Sickness and asks him if he wishes to have a permanent position here, but Gondo tells him that he will leave the city and travel to the abandoned city of Feo Raizo to dig up the White Iron there. The manager warns him that the city is a dangerous region. He even tells Gondo that he will pay him more if he sell the white ore to him, yet Gondo declines and tells him that he will continue his research. The manager realizes what Gondo is doing and implores him to face reality which results in Gondo's outburst declaring to the manager that his father didn't choose a false path and vows to revive the arts that were lost before leaving.

As Ainz Ooal Gown returns from the Baharuth Empire, he sat at his desk in E-Rantel and begun recruiting for the newly founded Adventurer's Guild of the Sorcerer Kingdom. Ainz is still confused of Jircniv's sudden proposal on making the Empire into a vassal state to his nation and decided to give this to Albedo and Demiurge. Ainz thought about the Runes that didn't exist in YGGDRASIL and decided to investigate the Runes. Ainz also decided to visit the Dwarf Kingdom of the Azerlisia Mountains and needs to find a bodyguards on his journey to the Unknown Land. He asked Decrement if she would be willing to die for him, she answered that she would gladly throw her life if he ordered her to do it. Ainz asked another question if the other NPCs would do the same, she said that everyone would gladly accept death without a second thought.

Upon hearing the maid's opinion, Ainz decides to use the NPCs to be his bodyguards on his journey to the Dwarf Kingdom. However, Albedo and Demiurge will be handling the vassalization of the Empire, Cocytus is in charge of the Great Forest of Tob and the Great Lake, Sebas Tian is currently carrying out managerial duties in E-Rantel with Tsuare. The only suitable bodyguards for Ainz are Aura Bella Fiora and Shalltear Bloodfallen. Aura and her magical beasts could be considered an ideal choice while Shalltear, the strongest Floor Guardian could serve as a trump card against a strong foe. Ainz thought of bringing Mare along instead, but would leave him behind this time.

Additionally, Ainz receives a message from Entoma that she and Shalltear have reached the Lizardmen Village. She also tells Ainz that Cocytus sent over a lizardman with a report concerning the villages' status and seeks Ainz's permission to open a Gate. Ainz grants permission to open the Gate and welcomes the lizardman name Kyuku Zuzu, the former chieftain of the Razor Tail. Ainz asks him about Zaryusu Shasha and his new born child. Ainz also asked him about his knowledge on the dwarves of the Azerlisia Mountains. Sadly, he has very little experience with them and suggests Ainz to speak with Zenberu Gugu. After dismissing the lizardman, Ainz has just finished contacting Fluder Paradyne and Pluton Ainzach for information about the dwarves. Unfortunately, Ainzach is not sure of its location while Fluder had heard of the dwarves, but he knew nothing about them.

Because of that, Ainz contacts Shalltear and Aura to meet him in his chambers at E-Rantel. When Aura came first, Ainz explains to her that they will be visiting the Dwarf Kingdom along with Shalltear which surprises Aura, since Shalltear is considered to have very limited uses. Ainz also explains to Aura that Shalltear's reputation as the strongest Guardian has hampered her growth and want her to accumulate various experiences. Shalltear arrives at Ainz's chamber in full battle gear which shocks Ainz. Aura tells Shalltear to wait for Ainz to finish speaking. Ainz explains to Aura and Shalltear that they will be visiting the Dwarf Kingdom and that Shalltear will be under Aura's command. He also suggests to bring their followers as well on their journey. After the meeting, Shalltear vows to redeem herself from her past failure. Aura offers her a prayer to her creator to watch over Shalltear.

Meanwhile, Ainz and his five Hanzo go to the Lizardmen Village to meet with Cocytus and the lizardmen. Ainz discusses with Zenberu to be his guide to the Dwarf Kingdom, but Zenberu is hesitant and tells him that he is willing to disobey orders and risk death than betraying his dwarven comrades. Cocytus seeing Zenberu's lack of proper manners intends to kill him at the spot for his insolence to his master. Ainz stops him, and reassures Zenberu that is only for diplomatic purposes. Before discussing more about the dwarves, Cocytus suggests to Ainz to have seat on him as a chair which troubles Ainz though continues his discussion about the dwarves with Zenberu. After the discussion, Ainz appoints Zenberu Gugu to be the guide to the Dwarf Kingdom.

Later on, Ainz and his expedition prepare for their departure to the Land of the Dwarves. Ainz's expedition consist of 25 undead beings, 30 magical beasts, 5 Vampire Brides, 5 Hanzo and 5 mammoth-like magical beasts of burden. During their journey, Zenberu guides the expedition to the Dwarf Kingdom, but can't remember the exact path due to the terrain and his memory when he visited the dwarven city five years ago. Ainz's expedition camps for the night and Ainz creates a Fortress to have his subordinates to rest. In the Fortress, Ainz requests Zenberu to allow him to use magic take a look in his memory to accurately locate the Dwarven Kingdom. Since he tested it on Shizu, Ainz believes it would work. However, Ainz didn't see anything helpful in Zenberu's memories, so Zenberu continues to guide them to the north.

Eventually, they arrive at the entrance of the dwarven city, but discover that the city was abandoned. Ainz orders his subordinate to search any signs of life in the city. Aura discovers a footprint in one of the abandoned buildings on their way to the home of the dwarf, who took care of Zenberu and it's clearly not a dwarves. As they continue to search the city, Ainz receives a message from the Hanzo, informing Ainz that they found a trace of someone's presence in the tunnel. Ainz orders Shalltear, Zenberu and the others to stay on guard at the entrance of the tunnel while he and Aura proceed to investigate the hidden tunnel of the building and make peaceful contact.

With a trace of someone's presence nearby, Ainz and Aura find a lone dwarf miner digging in the tunnel all by himself. Aura proceeds to meet the Dwarf and ask him a question. The dwarf is startled by the sudden appearance of the dark elf and uses the cloak of invisibility to hide his presence. Aura persuades the dwarf that she doesn't intend to hurt him and wants to look at him. The dwarf reveals himself and wonders why a dark elf is in the mines. Aura introduces herself as the emissary from the Sorcerer Kingdom and the dwarf introduces himself as Gondo Firebeard. Aura asks Gondo why there are no dwarves in the city. He tells Aura that the city was abandoned three years ago due to the Quagoa, an underground dwelling race just like the dwarves.

Once Gondo explained everything, Ainz reveals himself before Gondo, who screams in terror at Ainz and attempts to flee, but is stopped by Aura. Ainz introduces himself as the Sorcerer King, and convinces Gondo that he has no intention in harming him and tells him that he is a friendly undead. Gondo calms down and agrees to listen to what the Sorcerer King had to say. As Ainz brought the topic on runecraft, Gondo became hesitant, but once Ainz showed him some of his knowledge of runes continues the discussion. Gondo explains to Ainz that runecraft is on the verge of declined and he is determine to preserve his ancestor's work. Seeing Gondo's determination on reviving runecraft, Ainz offers him to be his patron on advancing the runecraft. To do that he intends to recruit the runesmiths to his country. Overjoyed by the generosity of Ainz Ooal Gown, Gondo accepts his offer. Ainz asks Gondo that if him being an undead is the right decision for him, but Gondo assures Ainz that he doesn't care about him being undead as long he can see that runecraft lives forever.

By the time they're outside the tunnel, Shalltear reports to Ainz that a hundred Quagoa had invaded the abandoned city. Ainz orders Shalltear to captured them. Shalltear led the Hanzo and her undead followers to capture the Quagoa in the city. Shalltear easily captures the Quagoa and flawlessly finishes her task. Ainz orders Shalltear to interrogate the Quagoa. Ainz's group learn that the Quagoa had discovered a way to reach the last city of the dwarves. Ainz tells Gondo and Zenberu to prepare to travel and orders Shalltear to send the prisoners to Nazarick. After learning there is an impending invasion, Ainz tells Gondo to guide them to Feo Jera and warn the dwarves about the Quagoa invasion.

In the Elf Country, the Slane Theocracy has speed-up its invasion of the country after deploying the Holocaust Scripture. A female elf pleads with the Elf King to use his great power and save the country. However, the Elf King refuses and forces the elf to leave. The Elf King then begins to ponder on how to create powerful offspring. He had send his children to the front lines in hopes that the war would awaken their hidden potential, but that ended up being for nothing. He then recalls the time that he had abducted and raped the woman whom was the ace of the Black Scripture. Unfortunately, the Theocracy rescued the woman and took the child he impregnated her with. The Elf King intends to go the Theocracy after the Elf Country has been destroyed to retrieve his child.

On the other hand, the dwarven fort comes under attack by the Quagoa led by Yozu. The dwarves guarding the suspension bridge over the Great Rift fell into the hands of the Quagoa. This causes the Dwarf Commander to order his men to seal the gates of the fortress protecting the entrance to Feo Jera. While the Quagoa are momentarily halted, it was only a matter of time before they breached the walls of the fort. He is notified that a group of monsters are waiting outside the fortress guarding the entrance to Feo Jera and are requesting entry. Learning that they are delegation from the Sorcerer Kingdom wishing to open trade relations, and warn the dwarves of a massive Quagoa invasion. The Commander agreed to allow them entry. He also accepted their offer of military assistance to repulse the Quagoa.

Just as the Quagoa cross the suspension bridge and are preparing to break through the fortress gate, they are taken aback when the gates opened and two of Ainz's Death Knights came out and started to slaughter the invaders. They were forced back at suspension bridge with sheer amount of heavy losses from the Death Knights' attacks. Yozu sensing their defeat pulled back his remaining troops and orders to cut down the suspension bridge that connected both sides of the rift to prevent the enemy from coming to their side. While successful in eliminating the two golem, the Quagoa suffered heavy losses and their path to the dwarven capital was cut off, forcing Yozu and his army to fall back and report to the Quagoa Lord.

After Quagoa had fled, the dwarf commander agreed to take the Sorcerer King to the Council Chamber. Then Ainz senses that two of his Death Knight has been defeated and believes that there is player on the Quagoa side which results in Ainz altering his plan. Ainz meets the Regency Council and the negotiation between the Dwarf Kingdom and Sorcerer Kingdom begins. During the negotiation, Ainz offers the dwarves to lend them his undead to use as labor and military force in return for profits. He also offers them to reconquer the ancient capital of Feo Berkana from the Quagoa and the Frost Dragons in exchange for the Dwarf Kingdom handing over all the runesmiths to the Sorcerer Kingdom. The dwarf councilors ask the Sorcerer King to wait for their final decision.

In the Regency Council's private discussion, many of the dwarf councilors are unanimous in rejecting the Sorcerer King's proposal, due to their prejudice against the undead. The Dwarf Commander is the sole voice of opposition in those talks and convinces them that the Dwarf Kingdom would be destroyed without the Sorcerer King's aid, several of the councilors changed their decision and supported his proposal, except the Forgemaster, who believes they were betraying their own people to a monster. The Regency Council agreed to Ainz's proposal on the condition to be allowed to send an inspection team to see if the runesmiths are treated well. Then Ainz asks the Forgemaster to construct a set of armor for a gift that he wished to present to one of his subjects. The Forgemaster was given an ingot of a peculiar metal that the armor was to be made out of.

Thereafter, Ainz visited Gondo's house where Gondo gathered the remaining runesmiths by bribing them with exotic wine given to him by Ainz. Ainz address them about the runes and shows them a magic sword carved with twenty runes, a feat deemed impossible by the runesmiths of old. Ainz offers to become their patron and help him revive the lost secrets of runecraft if they join his nation. Having seen this miracle before them, the runesmiths' souls are inflamed and accept the challenge. After dismissing the runesmiths, Gondo asks Ainz if the Council approved of sending over the runesmiths and also if they see the runecraft was no longer necessary. Ainz tells Gondo the truth that his country seems to view its runesmiths as disposable and handling them over with hardly any resistance. However, Ainz reassures to Gondo even if they're discarded by their country, it's not over as long as another one needs them.

Carrying out their objective, Ainz's group prepare to depart to Feo Berkana when Gondo shows up and states to Ainz that he will guide them to the old capital, and also to get his father's weapons and technical manuscripts from the Treasury which Ainz agrees. Gondo explains to Ainz about the three trials to reach the old dwarven capital. Ainz's group along with the dwarf soldiers led by the dwarf commander proceed to the fortress. Inside the fortress, they see many corpses of Quagoa and Dwarves lying around. Ainz investigates on how two of his Death Knights were defeated and notices that the suspension bridge were cut and believes that the Quagoa had cut the suspension bridge which resulted in two of his Death Knights might have fallen into the Great Rift. After they recover the fortress, Ainz's group depart from Feo Jera and proceed to recapture Feo Barkana from the Quagoa.

As Ainz's group departed Feo Jera to retake the city of Feo Berkana, the six dwarf councilors drink their wine to calm their nerves over the ordeal. They learn that Gondo is the one who gathered the runesmiths, but decided not to touch them. The Cabinet Secretary decides to inform the Forgemaster who had locked himself in his workshop to start working on the armor that Ainz requested. He discovers that the Forgemaster disciples to be locked out as well, and decided to personally enter the chamber, where he saw the Forgemaster is in the state of distress due to his inability to melt the single ingot of metal given to him by the Sorcerer King. He encourages his friend not to despair and take this as an opportunity to learn something new. However, the next day, he learns that the Forgemaster had disappeared with the ingot.

In the Merchant's Guild of Feo Berkana, Pe Riyuro, the Quagoa Lord of the United Quagoa Clans, received a report from Yozu that the invasion force was repel by two black golem. Pe Riyuro assures Yozu that they learned about the Golems and returned here after realizing that it was important information. As Pe Riyuro continues his talk with Yozu, one of his guards inform him that someone is heading towards the city and Pe Riyuro realizes that the dwarves have sent out pursuit troops. Pe Riyuro decides to use the situation to convince the Frost Dragons to deal with the approaching dwarves and have them fight each other to weaken both sides. Since Pe Riyuro was deeply furious about how the Frost Dragons had taken the best spot in the city, the Dwarven Royal Palace and orders his clansman to prepare the payment for the meeting with the Frost Dragons.

In the Dwarven Royal Palace, Olasird'arc Haylilyal, the King of the Frost Dragons, allows Pe Riyuro, to request an audience. Pe Riyuro informed him that invaders, are planning to attack Feo Berkana and he requested his aid to repel them. Olasird'arc hoped to use the dwarves to open the vault of the royal palace. He also made up his mind to get rid of the Quagoa and enslave the dwarves instead, deeming them to be a better species to use. After talking about the matter of aiding the Quagoa with his three wives, he accepts Pe Riyuro's request in return a huge tribute in gold and jewels. After a discussion with his wives, they decide to send Hejinmal to repel the enemy. He was forced to go get him, however, as he had isolated himself in the library. After getting his son outside, the two came into an argument about him reading books all day instead of training his body. He claims that if he wanted to see the world he should just leave. Hejinmal responds by saying that he isn't strong enough to survive the dangers of the outside world, however, he claims that in case he should have just focused on growing strong in the first place. He then informs him about the job he had for him and added that in one month he will be free to leave.

With that objective in mind, Hejinmal isn't particularly thrilled about the prospect of being handpicked to become the one to deal with the intruders, considering he was never a fighter to begin with. He even shivered when he thought just what the intruders would do to him should he be defeated. Hejinmal knew deep in his heart that his father had actually given up on him as he had never shown any sort of qualities that his father would be proud of, compared to his other siblings. Just as he was swimming in his own negative thoughts, his enhanced senses caught the presence of incoming individuals. It didn't take long for him to spot the four figures at a distance, thanks to his draconic sight. He first recognized a dark elf, among them. Then, he was shocked to see an Elder Lich, accompanying the group as that type of undead was known to be immune to cold and has the spell of fireball, the racial weakness of the Frost Dragons. Then, his nose caught something else in the air. The value of the equipment worn by both the dark elf and the Elder Lich was beyond anything he had ever come across. That made him even more wary of the intruders and prayed that they had actually come to discuss in a sociable manner.

Hence, he then approached the group and politely asked that they state their business. Ainz was not amused to see a dragon such as he to make an appearance and contemplated whether this was actually a trap. As the undead continued with his assessment of the situation, Hejinmal grew more afraid by the minute. Just as Ainz started to raise his hand, the welled up fear within Hejinmal burst out of confinement and the Frost Dragon immediately begged with all his might that his life be spared, surprising Ainz. As Hejinmal submitted to Ainz Ooal Gown, he gives information about the Frost Dragons. Hearing this, Ainz decided to give Aura this Frost Dragon as her pet. Ainz orders Shalltear and Aura to give the Quagoa an ultimatum while he and Gondo proceed to the Throne Room.

As Ainz and Gondo ride on Hejinmal back, Hejinmal asked his Majesty to spare his mother life which Ainz promised. Hejinmal introduced the Sorcerer King, Ainz Ooal Gown. However, his words were cut short by Olasird'arc, now furious with his son, screaming at him if he had gone mad. When Ainz told him to submit to him, he initially insulted him by calling him a mere skeleton. However, after his eyes caught Ainz's equipment, he ordered him to surrender it if he wished to be forgiven. Ainz, however, having grown tired of this foolish Dragon Lord instantly killed him using Grasp Heart. When Ainz asked which among the three frost dragons was Hejinmal's mother, Kilistran along with her two companions answered in fear for their lives. Hejinmal feeling sympathy of the two tells Ainz that he has three mothers.

Under Ainz's orders, he commanded the three female Frost Dragon to gather all the remaining Frost Dragons in the Throne Room and also orders Hejinmal to gather all the dwarven books to him. After the four Frost Dragons left, Ainz used Gate to bring over his Eight Edge Assassins and orders them to search the Royal Palace. Ainz orders Yuri Alpha of the Pleiades to store the corpse of the Dragon Lord on the 5th Floor. Ainz use an item to opened the Treasure Vault. Inside the Vault, Ainz found a strange sword that enables a magic caster such as he to utilize it by feeding magic into it. As Ainz was about to identify the item, Gondo's call had interrupted the spell, Ainz tossed the sword back into the pile. Ainz feels shame that he was hoping if there is a World Items in the treasure vault. While Ainz continued searching, an item caught his attention.

Outside of Feo Berkana, Aura activated her World Item to trap the Quagoa from escaping. The army of 60,000 led by Pe Riyuro was confidence that they would be able to stand up to any opposition. Then, two figures appeared before them. Having known of Yozu's encounter with the Death Knights, he approached the two warily. Shalltear and Aura gave him an ultimatum and declared that they had been sent to let the Quagoa know that they were to be taken to the Sorcerer Kingdom. However, only a number 4,000 each from the male and female population and 2,000 children would be given such privilege while the rest would be eradicated. Pe Riyuro instinctively knew this was neither a bluff nor the words of madmen.

Soon afterwards, the genocide began. Each of Shalltear's strike sent tens of Quagoa flying through the air, their bodies torn to pieces and their flesh and blood rained down on the nearby Quagoa. Trapped inside an unknown dimension and facing an enemy none of the Quagoa could hope to win against, Pe Riyuro gathered all the Red and Blue Quagoa, and sent the elite troops into engaging the overpowering enemy with a heavy heart. Watching his troops cut down, he sent another order to the rest of his troops; select two thousand from their children and kill the rest. When they had gone to carry out his order, Pe Riyuro broke down in tears as he who had been revered as the greatest king of the race bore witness to the greatest genocide of his people, but his self wailing and cry of despair were drowned by the screams of death coming from the executed children.

Back in the dwarven palace, all the Frost Dragons are gathered before Ainz in the Throne Room and one of them who don't believe that his father was killed tries to attack Ainz, but didn't affect its attack. Ainz retaliate using Grasp Heart by killing him the same as his father. After killing that dragon, Ainz tells them if someone want to try which the frost dragons bow to him deeply. In the outskirts of the dwarven capital, Pe Riyuro is finally brought forth to Ainz, he could only bow his head in eternal servitude. Ainz tells Pe Riyuro to give his life and his loyalty to him that Ainz shall guarantee their prosperity. After Pe Riyuro swears his loyalty, Shalltear sank to her knees and began sobbing in tears as she redeemed herself without failing his master while Aura put her hand on Shalltear's shoulders to comfort her friend. Ainz wipe her tears away and tells Shalltear to stop crying. Shalltear asks Ainz if she was useful to him which Ainz agreed and tells her they need to return.

When Ainz arrives back at Feo Jera by riding on the dragon's back, the Regency Council faced another crisis when one of their member, the Forgemaster had disappeared with metal ingot given to him by Ainz. The Council feared heavy repercussions from the Sorcerer King should he learn of this breach of trust. To appease him the Councillors offered three sets of armor to compensate for the ingot. To their relief, the Sorcerer King accepted, seeing it as reasonable. Ainz request the Councillors to hold a farewell ceremony for the runesmiths which they accepted. During the farewell party, Gondo became the representative of the runesmiths on working for Ainz's country and thanks Ainz for giving them a purpose in life. Ainz excuse himself to meet his messenger, Demiurge, the two met and talk about the plan that will begin in the fall.

In Carne Village, the village was rebuild after the attack by the Crown Prince's Army. Nfirea Bareare and Enri Emmot are officially married while Nemu Emmot stayed with Nfirea's grandmother to leave the two alone, and the dwarf runesmiths build a workshop and reside in the village. Lupusregina Beta arrived at Carne Village to inform Enri that she won't be able to come for a while. She informed Enri that Ainz seems to have been defeated in battle and died.

Chapters

 * Prologue
 * Chapter 1: Preparing for the Unknown Land
 * Chapter 2: In Pursuit of The Land of Dwarves
 * Intermission
 * Chapter 3: The Impending Crisis
 * Chapter 4: A Craftsman and Negotiation
 * Chapter 5: Frost Dragon Lord
 * Epilogue

Trivia

 * Overlord Volume 11 is currently the longest volume in the Overlord light novel series.
 * Overlord Volume 11 marks the second time a World Item is used in the entire novel series to date.
 * In this volume, Ainz has repeatedly manages to use the spell, "Grasp Heart" twice, killing both the Frost Dragon Lord and one of its sons during their first encounter.