Hamsuke


 * "The Wise King of the Forest is a monster capable of using magic, possessing incredible power. It lives deep in the forest, so there are few eyewitness reports, but its existence has been around for quite a long while. Some even say it is a several hundred years old four-legged silverish, white beast with a snake-like tail."
 * — A description of Hamsuke.

Hamsuke (ハムスケ) is a giant hamster that lives in the southern part of the Great Forest of Tob and becomes Momon's pet, as well as a member of Darkness.

Appearance
Hamsuke resembles a giant Djungarian hamster with a long snake tail. Six sigils dot her silvery fur.

Personality
Before being inducted into the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Hamsuke was very boastful and prideful of her ability and power as the 'Wise King'. However, since meeting Ainz and witnessing the power of the denizens of Nazarick, she has seen how vastly inferior she is in comparison to them. She accepts this and continues to swear loyalty to Ainz, willing to do anything to please her master and earn her keep. One of her wishes is to find a mate, as she believes it's her sacred duty to continue her noble species. She usually speaks in a syntax opposite of the common vernacular, often beginning a sentence with the object and ending with the subject.

Background
From the information, Ainz gathered in Carne Village, the "Wise King of the Forest" is a monster capable of using magic. It is believed to have lived for several centuries and possesses incredible power. Based on a few witnesses, it is an old four-legged silverish, white beast with a snake-like tail. Its territory was formerly the southern part of the Tob Forest. It is regarded with respect and praise by the villagers of Carne Village as their protector, for its presence keeps the other monsters in the forests from venturing too close.

Upon meeting the creature, Ainz discovered it to be a giant hamster. From his conversations with the 'Wise King', it is learned that the hamster has been living a solitary life for many years, as it was unable to find any of its kind. Apparently, according to Evileye, the legend of the Wise King living in the Tob Forest has been around for at least two hundred years.

Hamsuke further testified that she received her title in the past when a band of adventurers trespassed in her territory. She slaughtered the majority of the party, save for one, when he addressed her as the Wise King of the Forest. Feeling generous, Hamsuke spared that warrior and that warrior alone because she thought the name sounded quite impressive. Though according to Ainz, he believes that the warrior may have exaggerated the details of the hamster.

The Dark Warrior Arc
The Wise King of the Forest is first discovered by Aura when Ainz orders her to track and lure it out. Under the effects of the dark elf's breath, she rushes towards Ainz and engages him in battle. Seeing that the swordsman before her is capable of keeping up with her, the Wise King praises him as a skilled warrior. However, this only earns Ainz's disappointment and prompts him to drop the facade and activate Despair Aura I, causing the Wise King to immediately surrender. Given a choice between death and servitude, the Wise King chooses the latter without hesitation. She is then renamed 'Hamsuke' after this defeat.

After Ainz presents his success in taming the famed Wise King, Hamsuke accompanies the adventurers back to E-Rantel. While the Swords of Darkness and Nfirea Bareare head to Lizzie's shop, Ainz and Narberal take Hamsuke to the Adventurer's Guild to have him registered as Ainz's mount. On their way to reunite with the others, the trio cross paths with Lizzie Bareare who introduces herself. She guides them to her home, only for the group to discover the dead bodies of the Swords of Darkness and the kidnapping of Lizzie's grandson.

Hamsuke aides in the rescue of Nfirea by transporting Ainz and Narberal to the E-Rantel Cemetery, where a mob of undead are nearly overwhelming the guards stationed there. After Ainz dispatches the undead at the gate, she and Narberal head into the cemetery. Hamsuke is summarily left behind, but nevertheless, the devoted hamster follows. Narberal proceeds to lift the hamster with her magic to levitate both of them above the undead mob that are attracted to the hamster's life presence.

Ainz has Hamsuke stay out of the duration of the battle. Once the conflict with the Zurrernorn ends, Hamsuke then witnesses the true appearance of her master. Quickly adapting to the situation, she accepts his appearance and is gifted one of the spoils of the battle: the Orb of Death.

The Bloody Valkyrie Arc
Ainz, under his guise as Momon, leads a coalition of adventurer parties to confront the vampire Honyopenyoko. Hamsuke witnesses the utter massacre of the adventurers who journeyed with Darkness and meets Albedo for the very first time. Though terrified at first, she is relieved to know that Albedo is an associate of her master. Hamsuke is then guided to Nazarick so that she may be acquainted with its inhabitants.

The Sealed Evil Tree Arc
Hamsuke serves as Ainz's mount on his expedition to search for a rare herb deep in the Great Forest of Tob. The two are later joined by Aura, who uses her powers to enhance Hamsuke's stats to make the journey. Eventually, they are joined by Pinison Pol Perlia, who guides them to the lair of the treant, Zy'tl Q'ae. When the Floor Guardians arrive, Pinison disturbs them, so Hamsuke takes her to the side to keep her from getting killed. She and the dryad watch the battle between the Guardians and the treant from a distance.

The Search for Hamsuke Arc
Hamsuke gets lost in the Great Tomb of Nazarick, which prompts Ainz to order Albedo, Shalltear, Aura, and Mare to search for her. Hamsuke meets Kyouhukou, who gives her one of his minions to show her the way. Upon meeting the four, all the females are too scared and disgusted by cockroach to get close to her. The situation escalates due to the females threatening Hamsuke with death if she gets any closer, causing her to run away from them. Running for her life, Hamsuke inadvertently runs into Ainz and Narberal, who are looking for her.

The Invaders of the Large Tomb Arc
During the Invasion of the Large Tomb, Hamsuke challenges Erya Uzruth to a duel to test her own progress as a warrior. Hamsuke defeats and kills Erya with her newly awakened martial arts. She taunts the three elves if they want to fight her, but is confused when she sees the three elves repeatedly kicking their master's corpse, while wondering if this is their way of mourning for him. She decides to leave them to her master and continue her training with the lizardmen.

The Ruler of Conspiracy Arc
After E-Rantel has been conquered, Hamsuke is given her own place to stay within the city. She is visited by Ainz and still sleeping with the Death Knight wrapped around her tail, which Ainz figures out is the same one he assigned to train with her to learn martial arts together. Hamsuke is asked by Ainz if she knows about The Giant of the East and The Serpent of the West, but Hamsuke doesn't know them and it's the first time she has heard about them.

They talk about how she needs to be more vigilant and wary. They also discuss how she even got the name Wise King of the Forest in the first place. Once she explains how it came to be, Ainz learns the real truth and realizes that it was truly just a misnomer title. They also talk about the situation of finding more of her kind, which sadly has not been successful, but Ainz promises that as long she continues to work and serve him with her loyalty, he will find other members of her kind. She, alongside the Death Knight, continue their training.

Abilities and Powers
Hamsuke's strength is that of a level 30 YGGDRASIL monster, which, compared to Nazarick standards, is very weak. The hamster is quite agile and fast capable of leaping at great heights and distances. Her fur, contrary to its soft appearance, can become as hard as steel to deflect incoming sword strikes.

While so, the scales on Hamsuke's snake tail are as tough as steel and she can use it efficiently like a whip, attacking enemies within a range of 20 meters. According to Maruyama, a single blow from her tail gives striking damage, as well as slash damage, and can instantly kill silver-ranked adventurers if they are hit by it.

She also has eight sigils around her body that each allows her to use a different spell. While training with the lizardmen, Hamsuke is able to learn and perform a martial art skill of her own. Furthermore, Hamsuke's training is also an extension to using and equipping magical armors and weapons. With her recent training alongside the lizardmen, she is able to wear an armor now that serves to be a prototype.

Hamsuke is even hinted by Maruyama of being able to use the Orb of Death in battle, but only if there is an opponent worthy of Clementine’s level to make her do so anyways. If she doesn't face an adversary of that level, then the Orb of Death will not be used in a fight she is very likely to win.

Active

 * Blindness: A spell that makes the user's opponent temporarily blind.
 * Charm Species: It is a 4th tier spell that works on any species. However, since Hamsuke's level as a wizard is practically zero, the spell's effect is not very hard to resist. She primarily uses it for hunting prey in the forest. In other words, normal animals have low mental resistance.

Martial Arts

 * Slashing Strike: A Martial art that allows the user to use a slash attack to their enemies

Main Equipment

 * Orb of Death: Hamsuke is also given a sentient magic item known as the Orb of Death, which has the power to supplement the power of the undead as well as allow the user to use multiple necromantic spells in a day. Hamsuke sometimes talks with the orb and asks it for its opinions.

Ainz Ooal Gown
Hamsuke was defeated by Momon, Ainz's alter-ego. Thus, she is subservient to him, acting as his loyal pet and steed. Despite Ainz's status as an undead giving Hamsuke a momentary scare, she quickly adapts and accepts his appearance. She is exceedingly loyal, willing to rush straight into a horde of hostile undead to be at her master's side, though she has difficulty understanding most of Ainz's plans and objectives.

Narberal Gamma
Narberal is Hamsuke's colleague and superior in the Darkness. Though Narberal constantly abuses her, Hamsuke admits she is inferior to her and shows no sign of sadness at her treatment. However, since their last visit to E-Rantel, the two have been working together, and have grown accustomed to one another to hold a decent civil conversation.

Albedo
Upon their first encounter, Hamsuke is initially terrified of Albedo for murdering the adventurers accompanying the Darkness to confront Shalltear. Believing she will be next, she tries vainly to hide behind the hem of Ainz's cape. After the introductions are made between the two. Hamsuke accepts Albedo, albeit with hesitation, as her superior.

Aura Bella Fiora
Though Aura initially wanted to keep Hamsuke for herself, she relents and allows Ainz to tame the beast instead. Despite this, Aura is perhaps one of the more friendly Floor Guardians that has freely accepted Hamsuke into Nazarick. However, this is probably due to her previous intentions with Hamsuke, as unbeknownst to the hamster, Aura still covets to skin her soft hide.

Mare Bello Fiore
Hamsuke apparently, prior to encountering Zy'tl Q'ae, met Mare and approves of him.

Pinison Pol Perlia
Hamsuke is friendly with the newly inducted dryad. When she first meets Pinison, she tries to steer her away from being too vocal about her negative opinions on Ainz and the Floor Guardians, otherwise, they'd kill her. Having assimilated with the knowledge of the inhuman strength and power of the Floor Guardians, she shows no concern, unlike the dryad's frantic antics.

Kyouhukou
Hamsuke is one of the few non-insect monsters that unafraid of Kyouhukou. She shows no concern nor disgust when interacting with him or his subjects, even allowing one to ride her head to allow it to guide her when she gets lost on the second floor of Nazarick.

Death Knight
Hamsuke seems to develop some sort of friendly bond between herself and the Death Knight created by Ainz. He is considered to be Hamsuke's training partner who she spends times with. According to her, she seems to be getting along quite well with the Death Knight recently, which speaks proof of their friendship together. However, Hamsuke has stated that the Death Knight is just too quiet and she has to be the one who does all the talking even while they're having tea, it is exhausting to her.

Trivia

 * In the Web Novel, Hamsuke doesn't exist.
 * According to Ainz, Hamsuke doesn't deserve the title of the Wise King of the Forest.
 * Everyone seems to think Hamsuke is a majestic beast that shows power and wisdom. Ainz can only see Hamsuke as a cute hamster and even feels ashamed for beating her up and riding on top of such a cute monster. This has also made him question his own aesthetic view since he is the only one who seems to think that Hamsuke is cute.
 * Originally, Aura wanted to keep Hamsuke as part of her beast collection and later wanted to skin her fur.
 * Due to the descriptions of its appearance by the locals, Ainz originally thought it was a Nue.
 * When thinking of a name for Hamsuke, Ainz briefly considered calling her "Hamtaro," referencing the anime series of the same name, which is about hamsters. This line is only spoken in the English dub, however.
 * Hamsuke was initially believed to be a demon by the New World inhabitants.
 * Currently, there are plans to upgrade Hamsuke's abilities with Aura's help.
 * Hamsuke might be a reference to Giant space hamsters, a race of large hamster-like monsters from the Spelljammer campaign setting in Dungeons and Dragons.
 * In Mass for the Dead, Hamsuke is tamed instead by Aura and becomes her pet and is named by the protagonist of the game. Unlike her Light Novel counterpart, she remains in the Great Forest of Tob to protect the area from Chaos Beasts.

Quotes

 * (To Ainz): "Th-that is so, Master. Your humble servant, Hamsuke, once again pledges her undying loyalty to you!"
 * (To Erya): "I can tell that you're weak just from a glance..."
 * (To Erya): "This king's name is Hamsuke! Go to the other world remembering the name of one who killed you! State your name as well!"
 * (To Erya): "It seems so, indeed...If it keeps on like this, I would win easily. Ah, please don't pay this king any heed. This king has never seen a human that could win against me."
 * (To Erya): "Hmm~ I was taught to keep a distance when unsure of an opponent's strength, but I have to fight as a warrior...I suppose it can't be helped."
 * (To Zaryusu): "Please watch Hamsuke become stronger for my lord! How long would it take for me to properly call myself a warrior? The Warrior Hamsuke."

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