Overlord S03E04 Review: Side Quest

Overlord, Season 3, Episode 4: Giant of the East, Demon Snake of the West

A bit of an interesting episode as we continue the Carne Village... side-story? Sidequest? Yeah, this definitely feels more of a side quest in between huge political upheavals. Is that going to be the model for Overlord seasons? The first arc is a detached side-quest exploring minor characters, and the second and third arcs are more world-shaking ones?

The episode starts off with Ainz asking Lupusregina about just why the hell is she hiding things about Carne Village from him, information that Ainz wouldn't have stumbled upon had he not ran into Enri during his guise as Momon. We're not 100% sure if Lupusregina is genuinely being innocent and she genuinely just thinks that none of that is important to Lord Ainz... of is she is sadistic and wanting the humans to die -- which would be problematic since this means that the Nazarick NPC's can betray Ainz, and this is a far less benign version compared to Sebas's own independence causing him to rescue a human girl.

Whatever the case, though, Ainz gets super-duper angry, and I think it's the angriest we've seen Ainz Ooal Gown act towards one of his subordinates. He's not angry at the perceived betrayal, though, but more about the failure of what he thinks is a simple task of basic reporting. Ainz quickly apologizes, and calmly explains (and bullshits his way) about the importance of Carne Village, noting that it's his fault for making Lupusregina think that the village was a 'mere experiment'. Ainz notes that the only real thing of value in that village to Nazarick is Nfirea, due to his potion making capabilities... and then Ainz notes that it's far, far more conducive for Nfirea to work for him out of a sense of gratefulness and obligation instead of in chains.

Not sure how much of this is true, mind you -- a little of both, I suppose? Ainz clearly have been losing more and more of his human empathy, but it's clear that he gets attached to specific humans like Ninya and Nfirea, provided he spends time with said specific humans.

Apparently Lupusregina completely forgot about the purple potion too, by the way, which is hilarious, and we get some fun background angry faces from her superior, Yuri. Narberal asks Ainz about why he gave away a random red potion to a random adventurer back in season one, when potions are so important... and then Ainz laughs, and then adds a bullshit note about how, yes, that's a huge risk, but that did allow them to encounter Nfirea in the first place because you would take the mysterious potion to an apothecary. It's actually kind of smart thinking there for Ainz. Ainz also notes that Lupusregina's priority in the village are Nfira, Nfirea's grandmother, and Enri. Everyone else is disposable. (Oh no, poor little sister!)

After appearing like a goddamn awesome chessmaster while protecting both his reputation and Carne Village's safety, Ainz and Aura then goes off to look for this "Giant" and "Snake"... and it's definitely a much-needed bit of screentime for Aura. I'm pretty sure Aura and Mare remain the most consistently forgettable of the Floor Guardians, with neither of them really getting much spotlight beyond a couple of obligatory lines here and there.

Aura notes that she probably missed both the Giant and the Snake because they are so comparatively weak to her own beasts that she just ignores them. And when questioned about just why Ainz wants such comparatively weak monsters to serve him, he notes that he just wants to collect these creatures and experiment -- like Hamsuke, who's used as a test subject on whether beasts and death knights can get a Class. There's also a bit of a comedy moment as Ainz considers how skinny Aura is -- Ainz sees Aura as literally a child, but there clearly is some "uwaaa" bad touch jokes from Aura. Kinda interesting is the notion of Ainz looking for an elven nation to get tutors for Aura and Mare, which is nice of him.

Ainz and Aura end up in a place where ogres and trolls (which are beak-nosed ogres) are apparently trying to emulate the Fake Nazarick that Aura was building in the forest, and then as Ainz shows up, accidentally kills an ogre with a backhand, and meets the Giant of the West, a mighty green troll, we get a bit about how the Giant, Gu, laughs at Ainz for having a weak, cowardly name. Because it's made up of three words.

Of course, this is a prelude to a complete curbstomp by Ainz, who quite literally just stands there and takes all the attacks from Gu -- the blade strikes are completely nullified by Ainz's passive ability of nullifying attacks from weak creatures. There's a fun bit where Gu looks so baffled he tests his sword out on one of his minions. Oh, and the Serpent of the East, a naga called Ryraryus Ryryaurus Ai Indariun something something very long is there, trying to strike up an alliance with Gu, but both Ainz and Aura just see through his invisibility, and Aura chokes him and drags him around.

Ainz basically prolongs the fight to test out just how powerful Gu's sword is -- intending to 'gift' it to the people of Carne Village. We also establish that trolls can apparently regenerate from wounds, but it hurts like hell... which then Ainz capitalizes on by brutally breaking Gu's bones just to hurt him, and after a bout of humiliation, Ainz kills Gu and his followers. "I AM DEATH!" is pretty cool, and I do find it hilarious that this is apparently the Level 5 version of the Aura of Despair that Ainz uses to 'beat' Hamsuke. Ryraryus quickly grovels and swears fealty to Ainz, although I'm not quite sure if he's going to have as much screentime as other 'recruits' like Hamsuke and the Lizardmen.

Ainz then asks for a troll  minion from Ryraryryus, wanting to "test" Lupusregina and experiment with troll zombies. It's overall not the most eventful storyline, and I must say that the conversation between Ainz and his bluffing his way through his minions' questions is fafr more entertaining than the genuinely pretty bland encounter with Gu and Ryuaruas... but it's not bad, and it sets up a pretty fun plot hook as it's implied that Ainz uses Ryrauaayus as a proxy to cause an attack on Carne Village to test it out. Now we'll see if Lupusregina will protect the humans, and if any of the names not on the list will die.