(Part 1) Swimsuits, Lizards, and Dark Elves

(Part 1) Swimsuits, Lizards, and Dark Elves (【前編】水着と蜥蜴と闇妖精) is a game event in Mass for the Dead that was released on July 15, 2022 to July 31, 2022. The event was continued in (Part 2) Swimsuits, Lizards, and Dark Elves.

Background
At the petition of Shalltear, a re-experiment of [Gate] was carried out. The destination is the familiar "beach". The coordinate shift was a concern so to make sure it's stable, Aura and Mare train in final battle weapon "swimsuit" and take the challenge to confirm it――

Incident
Present in the Round Table Room, Shalltear Bloodfallen makes an earnest petition before the Floor Guardians, Momonga and the protagonist for permission to resume [Gate] experiments to reconfirm the phenomenon that teleportation magic still functions. While Nazarick is still being structurally reconstructed, the transitional traps under the vampire's jurisdiction, from the 1st to 3rd Floors have ceased to function. Given that [Gate] is an ability given to her by Peroroncino, Shalltear believes that it should not be in an odd state to use.

Momonga having set up the consultation for this very purpose opens the floor for opinions on Shalltear's requets. Demiurge answers first that the while there may be risks, it would be useful to know if that transition coordinates can still be used. Albedo gives her opinion next, as she finds the inter-floor [Gate] system to be sufficient enough as well as the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown for their needs, and finds the request to be unnecessary. Her opinion almost discourages Shalltear, but Momonga then asks the protagonist for his input, which the homunculus believes re-investigating the [Gate]s would be a powerful weapon to outperform other countries in transportation of goods and personnel.

The Overlord notes that the inability of not using [Gate] has robbed Nazarick of their means to conduct emergency evacuations in the event of a surprise attack by a strong enemy. While there may be risks, it is no different from Demiurge's experiments with the Cracks when the benefits outweigh the risks. On this Demiurge agrees as his own investigation on the Cracks has not revealed much but the risk have thus far remained minimal.

To restart the [Gate] experiments, Momonga authorizes that the take place in the same place as before, on the 2nd Floor of the dungeon where it will be as far away as possible from the Cracks, and provide enough space for interception if the [Gate] connects to enemy territory and brings a powerful enemy. Plus with the experiments taking place on the 2nd Floor, it will minimize the observation from people outside the dungeon. The coordinates of the mine managed by Demiurge is selected to be the target destination for the [Gate] experiments.

Demiurge seeing that they were re-experimenting suggested that they conduct the tests under the same conditions as it would be useful in measuring the difference from the previous time. The idea is novel to Shalltear at first but is more than happy to include it to be more useful to Momonga.

Aura raises a question on what was he problem during the first set of experiments with the [Gate]s, annoying Shalltear thinking Aura is trying to second guess Momonga's wisdom. Aura though only wants to check the status of the Cracks and suggests that she check on the one on the 6th Floor before any experiment starts. Her advice is believed to be prudent by Demiurge as they never observed a [Gate] in action when a Crack was activated. Momonga agrees and orders the dark elf twins to head to the 6th Floor to not only subjugate the emerging Chaos Beasts and check on the condition of the phenomena before the [Gate] experiment is performed on the 2nd Floor by Momonga and the others.

After being dismissed, Aura and Mare at on the 6th Floor where they subdue the Chaos Beasts. While waiting to see if anything strange is with the Crack, the twins talks about Shalltear's behavior and her desperation to move forward with the experiments. Aura has a pretty good idea where the desire is coming from and states to her brother it is just from Shalltear's need to contribute to the defense of Nazarick. The two admire the vampire's dedication as they head to t for news from the 2nd Floor.

On the 2nd floor, Demiurge has already replicated all aspects of the previous [Gate] experiments using records he made that mark the exact place of where everyone involved was and the placement of the [Gate]. The twins come into the room to report no abnormalities with the nearby Crack. Ready to begin, Momonga gives Shalltear he order to connect a [Gate] to the 2nd Floor to the ore quarry. A s[Gate] appears and to make sure it can be used, Momonga sends a skeleton to cross the threshold. Through [Remote Viewing] Momonga uses his undead to see what it sees. Albedo is excited about the result and expects the [Gate] to have successfully connected to the mine. However grows confused when Momonga reports to be seeing a beach instead.

The sight of the beach on the other side of the [Gate] befuddles Momonga and his Floor Guardians. For all intents and purposes the [Gate] seems to have opened a way to the island that Nazarick encountered during the early days since coming to the New World. For Momonga it is a monumental discovery, even though if it is uncertain that the Cracks are stable to allow [Gate] transport. Demiurge though thinks they can secure a permanent route to a new foothold for their nation. Albedo adds that in the previous report when it was first discovered the island was located in an isolated sea.

Though the Floor Guardians find this news receptive, the protagonist voices his concerns as does Momonga as just because it looks like the same place, does not necessarily mean it is. And while the possibility of a trap is low, it would be unwise to jump in without any assistance as there could be an unknown hostile existence on the other side.

The protagonist advises that they first confirm that the [Gate] operates stably before attempting to cross through it. To do so they need a landmark or marker to determine they can connect to the place location. Momonga then sends a skeleton he created from using his skill to cross through the [Gate] to the beach. After Shalltear closes the [Gate] and then attempts to open another to the mine operated by Nazarick a [Gate] appears with the beach once more. The skeleton crosses through back into the 2nd Floor, demonstrating that the target destination is constant to the beach. No changes have appeared during a short period of time, but Momonga orders Shalltear to close the [Gate] again to test out the limits of the phenomena's stability.

After a period of precise testing, the group returns to the Round Table Room to inform everyone of the results from the [Gate]. From what Momonga can tell when a [Gate] is activated in the same way on the 2nd Floor it always leads to the beach area. Though it is still unclear if the island is the same that Nazarick visited before, but it is highly likely. Albedo believes that if it is the same island, it would be all the better. Since it was reported to be uninhabited, the Sorcerer Kingdom could claim it to serve as its physical territory without scrutiny from the other nations. Momonga adds that besides acquiring marine resources, the island could be the perfect evacuation point in the unforeseen event of an emergency evacuation or as a convenient location to serve as a bridgehead to explore the outside world. To Demiurge the isolated island represents emancipation from the Re-Estize Kingdom and Roble Holy Kingdom ports as they now could use the island to launch a conquest of the open seas.

Before any future plans could be made, the protagonist is called up to testify if there are any memorable landmarks on the island. From the homunculus's memory, there was a well in the forest, remains of base in a cave and a pirate ship wreck. However it has been awhile since they last visited the island and its status may not be the same. Furthermore the protagonist is concerned on the location of the isolated island. When survey the water around the island, he wondered if the island was really in the "sea". Using the knowledge from Ashurbanipal he was able to determine the liquid around the island was seawater. Though seawater is an indicator that the island is in the sea, local knowledge states that the sea does not contain salt. So what would the waters around the island taste salty? From what he gathered from his readings in the library he hypothesizes that the place is not an "isolated island in the sea" but an "island floating in a huge salt lake".

Momonga notes the protagonist's concern and he remembers that from the salvaged logbook of the pirates, their ship stopped by a port town of the Re-Estize Kingdom before heading to the island. The mystery deepens as how did the pirates get from the sea to a salt lake? If the true nature of the island means that it is in a lake, then they will have to be wary of the opposite bank of that island which could be somewhere in the continent, or a continent in different land.

These newfound concerns then has the protagonist ask to conduct an investigation, on which Albedo agrees as it would be awkward if the island was close to an unknown power. Still Demiurge is hopeful that if the island is a forgotten piece of land then it can still serve as their nation's bridgehead. Momonga then prioritizes confirming that the isolated island is the same as before in preparation to building a base for the Sorcerer Kingdom.

Aftermath
TBA