Chapter 1 - Help wanted

At the next day

The sun had risen up high in the sky, when woke Umbra up. It was suprising that she could sleep given the fact that she had no eyelids, but then again she lost conciousness. But she had to confess this was the first time in a Long period of time that she actually had a good sleep. Umbra stood up and looked around the tent. Everything was the same, which confirmed that her magic seemed to have worked. Then she realized that she was basically naked. Actually there was no reason for her to wear anything, since she spent a lot of levels, time and real life money to make her body as hard as adamantium. Normally it was almost impossible to make a Body Armament like her carapace as hard as a Divine Class Armor Set, however Umbra had invested literally YEARS in her character. Even on level 100 she had been able to strengthen her character.

But then she felt uneasy when she realized something. There was still that beetle soldier she had summoned. Did he disappear already?

"Only one way to find out. [Message]." Umbra said as she concentraded on the summon from yesterday.

1 second.

2 seconds.

Nothing.

She also felt no connection to him or the other summons anymore. They were gone. Umbra could have jumped in joy at that, however it also made her a bit sad that she couldn't even say goodbye to them. It made her wonder if he time span they were in this world depended on the species or the Level, but that was something for later. She had to start her day. She got out of the bed and stepped out the tent, before she looked around the forest. It was peaceful. The birds sang, the wind russeled through the leaves of the trees around her and the little streams just flow further into the Island. Umbra then packed her tent back into her inventory as suddenly the earth started to shake violently, almost making Umbra tripple over her tail as she took a step backwards. The earthquake took her completely off guard. Japan was still one of the most active places on earth when it came to earthquakes so she was used to such natural phenomenon. Her ancestors also have solved problems like making skyscrapers in the middle of the city not fall over when a strong eathquake came. The earthquake wasn't very strong, yet the vibrations were feelable for Umbra, but it was shortly over after it started. Umbra looked around. Nothing really had changed in the forest except that the birds had stopped singing and had flown away, but she still felt very uneasy.

'I heard that animals get uneasy before a natural catastrophe occurs. An ability humans have completely lost. Perhaps because of my race I feel like this. But why didn't I foresee this earthquake then?' she thought as she left the forest.

Later

She almost spend the next hour only with watching the wildlife of the island, that was so foreign and yet familiar to her. Like every child, she had seen pictures and movies of how Earth looked before the pollution destroyed the world. She was familiar with some species of animals and plants she encountered, while others seemed to have jumped out another Fantasy game, that clearly wasn't YGGDRASIL. Speaking of which, for Umbra it had become very handy to still be able to use the inventory and the spells of YGGDRASIL. Otherwise she might already have punched a hole in a wall in frustration. Umbra flew upwards into the sky until she could see the part of the island she had landed on in a better perspective. The new heigth also made her notice other islands in the distance, which could be quite big given the distance to them. 'Well no magic arrows and fireballs thrown at me. Seems like I'm really the only one here.' she thought as she flew down again. She didn't went back to the place she had been yesterday, but flew south to another section of the Island. She had to investigate the Island for anything that could give her a clue where she was or if there were other sentient beings in this world. Eventually Umbra found a good landing spot near a river. Shortly after she landed however, before Umbra could investigate the area further, she registered fast movements at her side. She reacted to late and a tongue pink tongue latched itself on her body. Umbra's eyes followed the appendage to it's owner, a large red creature that looked like a crossbreed of a bear and an armadillo. The creature pulled at Umbra, but she didn't moved a bit when she Held against the creature with ease. For her it was clear that this creature normally ate insects and therefore thought she was a suitable breakfast.

'How did I miss this thing?' Umbra thought for a second. "Do honestly think I would just let myself get eaten by something like you?" she then asked sarcastically. The creature now however became frustrated and retracted it's tongue, before it ran towards Umbra. It opened it's giant jaws in attempt to bite Umbra in two, but she had already casted a spell. "[Fireball]." Out of her palm shot a soccer ball-sized flame which collided with the predator. The animal squealed in pain and stood on it's hindlegs, while rubbing it's face with it's paws. Enraged it tried to strike Umbra with it's front legs, but the Vermin Lord simply grabbed the creatures arm and through it over her shoulder to the ground. "And stay down!" Umbra said in a commanding tone. The creature however rolled itself into a ball and rolled backwards, hoping to crush Umbra under it's weight. Though this Action was suprising for the Vermin Lord and she didn't dodge the creature's attack, when she collided with the monster she barely felt it. She wasn't thrown to the ground and actually halted the armadillo like creature in it's movement. Umbra sighed. "Seriously?" she said before giving the big red ball a strong push. It rolled forward with high speed until it collided with a rock and fell over to it's side.

The creature got up again, before turning to Umbra a last time and limping away. Umbra waited until it was gone as she proceed to explore the Island. I wasn't like she wanted to kill this red armadillo like creature. On contrary she only wanted to Show it that it better didn't mess with her. She knew that every living being in an ecosystem was of immensive importance. Each carried an individual and unique set of genetical material in their genes, which they would pass on to their Young. The genetic individualism allowed evolution to proceed and a species to survive drastic changes of the environment. That's why Umbra didn't want to kill with no reason. She had seen on Earth what too much interference could do. Also she could tell that this thing was eating insects given the long sticky tongue it had. Probably it had mistaken Umbra for a meal.

She eventually came across a cave hidden at a little stream. She used [Summon: Will-o-Wisp] to make a few blue aetheral flames appear in the air. The little fire elementals weren't even a threat for a low level monster, but they surely enlightend the area. She walked around the cave until she heard a russeling Sound from above. However, when she looked up, a circular mouth like a leech or a lamprey latched itself on her forehead. The Little needle-like teeth didn't penetrate her armor, still having a large drooling and biting leech on your head was quite annoying. She grabbed the creature and tore it off her head, before examining it. It had a silky White Skin and only stumbs as limbs. THe creature had no eyes and yet had found Umbra. When a Will-o-Wisp came closer the creature struggled from Umbra's grip.

"So you don't like the light, huh?" she said as she put the little creature down, which retreated back into the shadows. Umbra kept Walking around, found a few interesting crystalized structures and then a wall filled with honeycomb like structures. A few of them were intact, while others were either damaged, destroyed or perhaps hatched. "Looks like something has built it's nest around here." Umbra said to herself, before she flew up and picked up one of the intact combs. When a Will-o-Wisp got closer the translucent Membrane revealed an insecctiod creature inside, which reminded Umbra a little of a butterfly and a wasp. 'So those are pupas. I see.' Umbra thought to herself before she put the cocoon back, leaning it against the wall. It may wasn't as good as glueing it back on the wall, but better just throwing it away- She then headed back to the cave's exit. She had arrived at a small valley with a small stream. When she however got up a hill she had a fantastic view on the ocean encircled by the Island. However something else got her attention.

A fence. A large wooden fence with barbed tops with a few torches buring behind it. Immediately Umbra walked up to it. And then she saw it. In the distance was a village, standing on floating wooden platforms. Umbra could've jumped in joy around like a 4 year old.

'Yes! A city, well village. Doesn't matter. I found a settlement of a race of sentient beings. Let's check it out.' she thought before she stopped dead in her tracks. 'I just hope I don't scare anyone in the village with this.' she thought as she looked at herself. Umbra then saw a little village swimming on wooden platforms in the distance. Several windmills stood on little towers and drew their circles. She could also smell the strong scent of fish. 'I can't just go down there like this. Better scout this first.' she thought to herself remembering how violently the earth had been shaking earlier this morning. 'Seriously I'm thinking about going to another less seismic active Island. But for now I should look after this village.' she thought and casted a spell. "[Low Insect Summon: Posion Moth]." she said as a small glyph appeared in front of her on the ground. Out of the circle flew a small brown hawk moth. These sparrow-sized monsters were very weak and were monstly used in swarms by beginners, when their poison effect would be increased with the number of used monsters, but Umbra didn't planned to sufficate this village. "Scout the village, but stay out of the villagers sight. I want to know what's down there." Umbra said pointing at the village in the distance. Without hesitation the tiny insect disappeared. Umbra stood there stupified. 'Well that went quickly.' she thought. She then moved to a rock ledge nearby, to prevent peopple comming from the village to spot her now. After 10 minutes she used a spell. "[Hive Mind]." This spell allowed a spell caster to use their summons like mobile cameras. It was quite useful for PvP or PKing to let a summon scout first the area and to strike, when the enemy is seen through or it's strength is meassured. As result of this she saw everything her summon saw in her head.

In the village

The moth now rested in the shadow of one of the many wooden huts. It looked down to the main plaza and saw a large group of people. They looked humanoid, but their Skin was translucent. Also the moth's eyes could see webbed feet with sharp nails among the crowd. For Umbra one thing was clear already. These were not humans no matter how much they looked like it. They all had rather light clothing on themselves. Umbra honestly got a bit jealous as he looked through all the good looking people, because of her own appearance, when she was human. All of them had brown hair, tanned skin and a nice figure. Quickly she snapped her mind back to the main topic and why she had sent the moth after all. The crowd had gathered around two men. One wore a green jacket, had grey hair and a beard. He also seemed to be blind on his right eye. The other one had spiky black hair and wore a pink jacket.

"Please calm yourself." the elderly man said raising a hand. "I know that the earthquake has shaken everyone of us, but we have to wait for the Hunter's Guild to send someone here for this. Once he or she is here it won't take long until the Lagiacrus is done for it." he said. The crowd seemed to calm a little at this, however Umbra only had gathered more questions then knowledge.

'What's a Lagiacrus? And what is this Hunter's Guild? Why would they need a hunter to stop earthquakes?' Umbra asked herself.

"The hunter should arrive in the following days. So please don't worry." the chief assured his subjects as they returned to their cleaning up. Just as Umbra wanted to tell her spy to withdraw she heard something.

"Father we cannot fool them like that." the man in the pink jacket said in a whisper.

"Now that's interesting. Fly a bit closer." Umbra ordered the moth. Slowly the insect descended by walking downwards. Just half of a metre above the heads of the two men it came to an halt.

"I know, but tell me Junior, what should I have told them?" the chief said.

"The truth, that's what you're supposed to tell them." Junior said. The chief smoked his pipe as he sat down on a Barrel.

"And what then? Tell them that the hunter will most likely arrive in a few weeks and not in a few days. I'm afraid I can't do anything about this Junior. The guild had written in their letter that capable hunters are not available right now. And the rookies are far too foolish for this job. I was a hunter myself and this..." the chief said pointing at his blind eye. "is what I got from being foolish." Junior looked at his father for a second before he turned around and went further into the village.

"You did well." Umbra said. The moth in response folded it's wings together and rested, waiting for it's short life to end.

Back to Umbra

For Umbra this was a lot to take in. The first humanoid settlement she had found and it was already haunted by a monster. Just great. Interesting was also that there was a sound, even though the villagers didn't moved their mouthes. Umbra presumed that the automatic translation function of the game was still active, allowing all players to talk with one another, no matter if they spoke japanese, english or other languages. On the bright side Umbra could now simply blend in their village. She had a very handy Job Class called Shapeshifter. It wasn't as good as being a Doppelgänger, but it still was better then going down there as a giant insect. She took a big mirror from her inventory and placed it on the ground next to her as she used her skills.

"[Perfect Imitator]." Immediately Umbra's body shifted to another form. Her second pair of arms, her wings and tail shrunk back into her body as it went through even more changes. A minute later she looked in the mirrow to look at her new body. She looked now like an ordinary human being. Pale and smooth Skin instead of the stiff carapace, her hair had also changed from short and orange to waist long and dark blue, almost black. Everything seemed to be fine. Umbra couldn't feel her tail and extra limbs anymore, but somehow knew that she could make them come back. However there was something uncomfortable in this moment. As she looked in the mirror again she found the cause for this. She was completely naked. Normally her carapace was like an armor which was why insect player in YGGDRASIL could also walk around naked, but right now she had a human body and this wasn't a game anymore. Her face turned cherry red as she quickly searched in her inventory for clothes. She couldn't use one of the armors she had made, because they were all made for her insectoid self with four arms. Also she needed some kind of backstory fitting to her outfit. 'A maid costume? Too suspicious on this island. The clown clothes? No, they probably don't even know what a clown is. Also I need something with two arms, not four.' Then she remembered that she had actually an armor with 2 arms. With a bright flash of light Umbra equipped the crimson knight armor of the archdevil she had defeated not even 2 days ago. One advantage YGGDRASIL items had to normal clothes were that they would adapt to the size of the one who wears it. So basically a dwarf could wear the armor of a giant and the other way around.

Umbra took a last glipse in the hadn't the bat wings or the horns of the archdemon, but that didn't matter. She then started to think about a backstory, should the villagers ask questions, which they surely would. After she was finished, she put the mirror back in her inventory and walked towards the village. When she arrived the villagers shot her suprised and confused looks when she walked past them. The wyverian blacksmith near the entrance also looked at her or rather the armor, asking himself what it was made off. The children also stopped playing at looked at the armored figure in childish awe and curiosity.

'Why are they all looking at me like I'm an alien? My insectoid features are not present in the moment, now are they?' she asked herself. The chief then talked to her.

"Well what do we have here? Have the tides washed a hunter in our village?" he said before laughing. Umbra gave a chuckle herself, when a young woman in a red and white uniform came over. She had short black hair and dark eyes. She seemed to be unsure what to make of the Newcomer.

"Chief I don't know about this person. He doesn't seem to be a hunter. I've never seen such an armor in Loc Lac." she said.

"Well Aisha perhaps this one came from Dondruma or who knows." the chief said. Aisha turned to Umbra and took a few steps forward.

"Excuse me Sir, but could you tell us who you are and what you are doing here?" Umbra felt a little bit offended that this woman thought that she was a man for unknown reasons.

"Okay, first I'm a woman." Umbra said, earning a suprised look from Aisha and a laughing chief. "And second I don't really know. I woke up yesterday at the beach of this Island and ever since have been walking around. Name's Sayo by the way." she said.

"Well then Sayo, you are probably the only one who would go out into the forest without a weapon and get along with all the monsters there." the chief said.

"Indeed. Still I would like to speak about a few things in private with you if that would be okay." Umbra said. The chief nodded and gave the blacksmith and Aisha a nod. They nodded back and walked to them. The chief then gestured Umbra to follow him.

A few minutes later

The hut of the chief of Moga Village was quite simple like all huts in the village were. A single bed with a nightstand, a table with a few chairs and a box to throw stuff like clothing in it. However right now it wasn't just the chief and his Junior in the hut. In total there were 5 people in the small hut.

The chief, Junior, the wyverian blacksmith of the village, the guild sweetheart Aisha and the mysterious woman Sayo, that had appeared an hour ago.

"So are we still going to talk or are you going to Keep staring at me?" Sayo asked.

"Uh yes." the chief said. "Now then. Sayo was it?" 'Sayo' nodded. "Well how did you come here? You're clearly not from this island." he asked.

"If I only knew." Sayo said. "The last thing I remember is that I woke up on the beach of this Island yesterday. Ever since I've been wandering through the wilderness. And then I found the village." she said. The chief rubbed his chin as he thought.

"Well I guess I should explain a few things to you young lady. You're currently on Moga Island and this is the Moga Village. We live peacefully here with what the nature gives us and try to not disturb it too much." the chief said.

"A noble and good way to live." Sayo commented. The chief and Junior nodded proudly as if the praise was directed to them.

"However, we can't give you a ship to sail off this Island, unfortunately. That Lagiacrus had just destroyed a few of our fishing boats. Maybe if the Aragosy comes here for trading." he said nodding to himself. "But as Long as you cannot go, feel free to stay here. This is the only village on the Island and I'm sure no one would mind to help you miss Sayo." Sayo smiled at this offer.

"I got a few questions though." Sayo said. "What's this Lagiacrus you are speaking about? It seems to be some kind of monster."

"Aye. A leviathan that is also called 'the Lord of the Sea'." Junior answered. "Lately it must have settled on the Island and started to terrorize the Island with those earthquakes."

"Could you describe the Lagiacrus so that I get an idea what we are dealing with?" Umbra said.

"Well it's a big sea dragon looking a bit like a crocodillian with orange horns and blue scales." Aisha said.

'Ah so the dragon I saw when I came here is the Lagiacrus. But...' Umbra thought as she recalled the events of her first day. "Excuse me, but the Lagiacrus is causing the earthquakes?" Umbra asked. "Sure I think some animals can change their environment a lot, but for a sea dragon to cause earthquakes is a bit paradox, isn't it?" she said. For her it sounded like total rubbish that a sea dragon of the size of the Lagiacrus could cause earthquakes. Sure it was big for human and her own standards, but still it was simply to small to do anything that could cause earthquakes.

"The behavior of some monsters is unpredictable. They come and go whenever they please. I know this, because I've been a hunter when I was younger." the chief said. Umbra remained unfazed. Then he looked at her with a judging look. "Say Sayo, are you a hunter?" Umbra shook her head at this.

"No. My village used to be very sheltered so we had not much contact to the outside world, before it was destroyed by a Monster. Before I met you I didn't knew anything about this Hunter's Guild you are talking about." she said. "What makes you think that I am? Is it the armor I wear?" the chief shook his head.

"It's not just the armor. It's the way you talk, walk and act around others. You seem to have experienced some fights before you came here." he said. "Ha! It's amazing how the fighter spirit doesn't die, even when someone loses himself/herself at an unfamiliar place. Reminds me of an amnesial hunter I met a long time ago." the chief laughed.

"That however doen't change the fact that we still need a hunter to defeat that Lagiacrus." Junior pointed out.

"So how does someone become a hunter?" Umbra asked.

"Well first the recruits must register themselves at the hunter guild for mutliple tests. They also beed to learn many things from ecology to how to make items without any tools." Aisha said. Umbra thought about this a few seconds, before nodding.

"In that case I would like to make a suggestion." Umbra said, earining the attention of everyone in the room. "How about this? I do my best to take care of this Lagiacrus and you organise this with the Hunter's Guild. You lose your problem and I get a job. Basically everyone wins. Well except the Lagiacrus." she said. 'If it really is responcible for the earthquakes that is.'

"Mhm...doesn't sound that bad." the chief said.

"I'm afraid the Hunter's Guild won't allow this Miss Sayo. They are very strict with their rules for joining the guild." Aisha said. Umbra frowned.

"Look I don't know about you guys, but you have a serious problem and unless the chief here gets like 10 years younger through a miracle that Lagiacrus could come here and destroy the village. Are you really ready to sacrifise this people for the sake of rules and laws? Sometimes the rules must be broken to fulfill the purpose they were made for." Umbra's words struck and hurt Aisha deeply. The three men in the room looked at one another as Junior nodded.

"I guess...I could make the papers for you Miss Sayo so the guild wouldn't get suspicious." Aisha said. Umbra's face turned into a soft smile. "However you won't be able to fight the Lagiacrus immediately. You still need Training and to understand the mechanics of a hunter." Aisha said.

"I know how to kill people. I think killing an overgrown iguana isn't that hard." Umbra said.

"Not without a weapon." Aisha said. "Also Lagiacrus are only allowed to be hunted by strong hunters. However I've the necesarry documents here so you could study some Basics, while you stay." she said.

'Great now I've to start at level 1 in a level 100 body. Hopefully this pays off.' Umbra thought to herself, but put a smile on her face. "That should do." The chief started to laugh.

"Well then we have our new hunter. See Junior everything is fine." he said as he patted Junior's back, who looked irritated at the older man. Umbra, Aisha and the blacksmith sweatdropped at this. Aisha's and Umbra's faces were frozen in an awkward smile, though Umbra's was hidden by the helmet.

'Is he always so enthusiastic?' Umbra thought to herself.

Several hours later

After this deal was made Umbra had learned several more things. From biology and ecology to the ways the world she had landed in worked. For example the currency in this world was called Zenny and a simple gold coin with a large Z imprinted. In comparison to the gold coins from YGGDRASIL they were a bit smaller, but thicker. With a scale it showed that the YGGDRASIL coins were a little heavier making them worth about 1.2 to 1.3 Zenny. However because Zenny had no cents or pennys she wouldn't be able to use YGGDRASIL coins. For Umbra it was a mystery how they would keep the money in check for dublications or fakes, but that was nothing that concerned her. She didn't even needed to buy an armor or weapon since she was with all the items and money in her inventory pretty much a walking treasury. Another Thing was this new world's order. Several kingdoms had popped into existence in the 'Old World', which was basically a large continent complex, that was already mostly investigated, while here in the 'New World' the territories of nobles, bandits and tribes collided with each other. The only thing that they all had in common was that they all had connections to the Hunter's Guild. Hunters were people, that would earn their money by slaying monsters, which was how the people of this world called a large variety of creatures that roamed this place, and then would use body parts of said monsters and other materials from the nature to create stronger weapons and armors. With other words they were like in a video game. Also everything of daily life seemed in this world to come from nature, which made hunters also valueable to gather rescources. Currently she was on Moga Island, a rather large island, which was known under the hunters as Deserted Island and was usually a popular hunting ground for hunters in the desert City of Loc Lac. The next island were several miles away and part of a small group, however there were no human settlements or hunting grounds of the guild. Because of sharp rocks at the coast and the normally high population of monsters in these parts, ships of merchants and hunters alike avoided these islands.

More suprsingly for her was, that 'ordinary' wildlife, which Umbra knew from books and movies on Earth was on this world still alive. Despite having monsters as major threats and part of the ecosystem, animals like lions, horses, snakes, sharks, pigs and many more extinct creatures lived on this world as well, but there were other more unusual creatures here as well like giant eagles or monkey foxes. For Umbra it was suprising, because she knew that once two species compete about the same rescources it would normally end with the weaker species to go extinct or to move into another habitat. And after learning how those Jaggi, the Little raptors she had met yesterday, lived it was quite interesting that big predators like lions and tigers could coexist with them in the same territory, without getting wiped out.

For Umbra was the first true challenge the language barrier. While spoken words were translated automatically, written language stayed in her eyes the same, which was why she had to ask Aisha to teach her the written language. After that she basically sucked every Information in like a sponge. Perhaps it was due her race or that she actually had compound eyes, but she was able to read through the thick books in almost no time and started to memorize the informations. Then Junior approached her as the sun had set and revealed the stars, that had been outshone during the day.

"Hey. How are you doing?" Junior said.

"Fine. It's a lot to take in, you know?" Umbra said.

"That's the reason why I'm a fisherman and not a hunter." he laughed. "Your hut is ready by the way."

"Thanks." Umbra said. Junior looked for a moment like had remembered something important.

"Ah yes. You should go to the blacksmith for a weapon." Junior said. Umbra nodded. She cloes her book and walked over to the old wyverian. To be honest she was curious about the weapons he could craft. She had dozens of weapons in her inventory, but she would have to see herself how to use them without gaining too much attention from others. When she walked over the yellow-greenish skinned, old man looked at her.

"About time that you come over." he said. "Say Sayo, what kind of weapon do you prefer?" he asked. Umbra thought about that. She was mainly a mage and relied more on her spells. Mages couldn't equip most types of melee weapons and heavy armors, making them more vunerable in close combat. Their weaponary was mostly limited to daggers and staff weapons like a Bo staff. However Umbra had access to two special job classes: [Armored Mage] and [Weapon Expert]. That meant that Umbra was able to use all kinds of weapons and use heavy armor to protect herself, without having her magic restricted. The problem was however another one. She had no real experience with a weapon. Fighting a monster in a video game was one thing. Fighting a giant aquatic monster, that can cause earthquakes is an entirely different one.

"I don't really have a preferance in weapons. I think I will need something that covers up offensive and defensive. It would need to deal a lot of damage if I have to kill this Lagiacrus then." Sayo said more to herself then to the blacksmith.

"Something big and solid then huh? I guess you would like this here." the blacksmith said as he walked off. Umbra watched the old wyverian as he disappeared in the house for a moment, before coming out with a young woman that helped him to carry a giant sword made of iron. "This is a [Iron Greatsword]. Most beginners, who have more muscles use it, but I guess you can make goood use of this." the blacksmith said as he pushed up the blade to lean it against the shop's wall. Umbra eyed the sword. It was a very simple piece of work, nothing special in any possible way. The sword was almost as big as herself. Umbra grabbed the sword's handle and lifted it up with one hand to see how heavy it was. Much to her suprise she almost didn't feel the weigth.

'Ah right. Because my avatar's physical strength it's different of what I'm used to.' Umbra thought. She turned to the blacksmith to thank him, however he looked mouth wide open her. Umbra looked confused at the old man then at the sword in her Hand and back to the man. "Is something the matter?" she finally asked.

"With me? You are holding up a greatsword like it is a stick and you ask me what the matter is?!" the wyvernian said. "Even the strongest hunters need at least both hands to hold this thing, but for you it looks like it weigths nothing at all!" he almost shouted. The woman that helped him carrying it looked shocked as well. Umbra then grabbed the handle with both hands and lowered the sword.

"So the hunters wield it like this, because it is very heavy." Sayo said. She gave it a few swings. The blacksmith looked shocked at the woman's display of strength. Her style was terrible to say at least, but the swings were much faster then they usually are for other blademasters. Hell he never thought a greatsword could be swung so fast at all. "Alright." Sayo said to herself as she strapped the sword on her back. "Thank you sir. I'll take good care of this sword." she said.

"Y-yes...of course." the old man said. With the great sword on her back she entered her new home. The hut looked comfortable, though not as comforable as the tent she had spend the night in yesterday, but there was nothing she could do to change that. The furniture was simply. An oven, a table, a large box, a bed and a beatiful view on the full moon in the night sky. Umbra put her sword in the box, before she sat on the small table. She had asked the Felyne that usually took care of this place to go home, since she wanted to be alnoe for tonight. When she met the catman she almost jumped in suprise. And almost blasted it into pieces with a [Lightning]. Back in YGGDRASIL cat humans were a demihuman race, but like there were lizardmen and heteromorphic dragonoids, there had been cat humans and heteromorphic nekomatas and bakanekos, both part of the youkai family. And those had been a huge pain for her in her past. Though she quickly realized that the Felyne in front of her wasn't one of those two tailed tricky cat Monsters. In her notes she had read about the lynain monster group, but didn't expected to see one in the village. The felyne then told her about it's role and that she should look out for the melynx, because most of them were kleptomaniacs.

When it struck midnight she got up from her bed and started to experiment a little. Her scout from today had already vanished, but somehow Umbra couldn't shake off the feeling that she had forgotten something. She shook her head as she walked to the edge of her hut. She put on her cloak and started to transform her Body partly back into her real new self. Once her body stopped changing, she spread her wings and took off into the night sky. It was cloudy tonight and everyone in the village was asleep. Perfect conditions for a little walk.

Later

The forest of Moga Island was a bit scary in a dark night like this one. Mostly because even the smallest light was unable to shine through the leaves of the trees. For Umbra it made no difference. She walked around the hunting ground looking for anything interesting. In the books stood that hunters needed to be able to combine rescources in the field to items, but for that she needed first such rescources. That being said, this was a midnight walk, a trip to gather rescources and of course to familiarise herself with the environment. When she got a lamp from her inventory and started to light her way through the Island, she was suddenly greeted at Area 5 with a buzzing Sound. She looked around however couldn't find the source of the sound. Suddenly she felt movements behind her as something got into her direction.

Umbra didn't turn around and let it come. In that moment her tail shot out and the pincers grabbed something. Immediately she felt that she had grabbed something living, that screeched and tried to wriggle out her grip. She turned around and almost jumped in suprise. It was an insect with a large red helmet-like head. At the end of it's abdomen a large stinger tried to sting her, but only managed to hit air. It's wings were deep blue and fluttered around. Umbra had read about the Bnahabras in Aisha's notes, and had seen them during her walk on the island, but at night they sure were even more of a pest then at day. With a swing of her tail Umbra threw the Neopteron to the ground, where it died, before she put the dead body in her inventory. However soon she noticed that she was surrounded by the wasp-like insects. Gritting her teeth, Umbra looked around frustrated around for an opening. Then however she noted that the insects made no attempt to attack her or acted aggressive towards her. Instead they flew closer and inspected her from head to toe. Even a few Altaroth came crawling from who knew where and looked up to the Vermin Lord in disguise. "Okay this is awkard." she said. The monsters however then started to land on her back, her arms and shoulders or to crawl up her legs. "H-Hey get off!" Umbra said at this unexpected event. Even more suprising was, that the monsters complied and put a bit of a distance between themselves and Umbra. They had understood what she had said. 'That's weird. I thought [Apex Predator] keeps low level monsters from attacking, but this. Perhaps [Authority of the Queen] has caused this. Could it be a side effect of being transported into this world?' [Authority of the Queen/King] was a skill which could allow Vermin Lords to not being attacked by insect type monsters up to Level 50 in YGGDRASIL. Excluded were monsters above this level and event or boss monsters in dungeon raids like Kumonga, the arachnid horror, a rather weak raid boss, that Umbra had slain a few years ago. Perplexed from the recent events Umbra started to walk off. The flock of neopteron's however followed her. Umbra increased her speed and ran away so fast that even the wasp and beetle like neopterons had to give up there chase. Recovering from speeding off Umbra looked around her environment. She was at the beach she had woke up yesterday. Memories dweeled up inside her, so she went to a log, which must have been here a for long time, and sat down. She looked at the dark ocean, which looked now pitch back, as she thought back about everything.

Her old home on the strong polluted Earth in Japan, her family and friends, her childhood and school time, her entire life...Now it all seemed like a distant dream now. A dream she had dreamed a whole lifetime already. She had come to YGGDRASIL to escape her daily life of countless papers of work she had to work up and to have fun. And now she really had escaped her old life without intending to do so. It was kinda absurd, but except of her memories on her human self, everything she had and everything she was, now came from this very game. Like the game had been reality and the life had been nothing, but work. Then however Umbra's Train of thoughts and the calmness of the waves was disturbed.

SPLASH

Something had shot out the water. Umbra's eyes could see clearly despite that it was cloudy and dark. On the beach crawled a human sized iguana towards her. Well it wasn't an Iguana, but it had a strong resemblance to one in her opinion. As the creature made seal like sounds it jumped towards her, trying to crush her under it's weight. Umbra jumped out the way and grabbed her greatsword.

"Time to put this little one on a test." Umbra said as she charged at the ludroth and swung the greatsword in a vertical slash. Crimson blood splashed everywhere in a short distance, but strangely the ludroth was still alive. The sword had left a Long cut at the neck. Umbra quickly swung the sword in a horizontal strike. The ludroth gave a last whimpering Sound, before it died. Umbra put the corpse into her inventory, making it disappear in the void, as suddenly more of the smaller leviathans appeared out of the water. All of them crawled towards her in an aggressive manner like they would try to avenge their fallen comrade. Umbra got into a stance so that she could deliver the first blow as soon as one was close.

"Come on." she said. The Ludroths charged at her. The first one jumped at Umbra, but was dodged with a sidestep, before swinging her sword at it. Again the Leviathan survived despite the fact that a human definately would be dead now. A second one spit some Kind of water at her, making her fall on her rear in suprise. Umbra quickly got up again and charged back into battle. She skittered over the wet sand floor and swung the greatsword in a wide arc. This time however she used more strength, which resulted in a more powerful slash. The blade entered through the left side of the chest of the first ludroth and left throught the right shoulder. The second ludroth was simply decaptiated. The last of the three seemed to understand to not mess with her and withdrew into the ocean. "It's odd. Despite the fact that I never used a greatswrod before I knew how to use it. Was that the effect of the Weapon Master Job Class?" Umbra asked herself. She then put the dead bodies into her inventory to carve out what was usable for later. "Hope that doesn't disturb the Food chain too much." she said to herself before walking back to the village. When she was in Area 3 of the hunting ground, she got her knife and carved the ludroths out. Blood stained the water of the stream and Umbra's armor. Slowly she shed the leviathans from everything they had until only bloody bones were left. She then left the reamins to be eaten by a scavenger. She however didn't noticed how the eyes of a more vicious predator followed her.

At the next morning in Moga Village

"Sayo? Sayo. Wake up." Aisha's voice tore Umbra out her dreams.

"Just 5 more minutes." Umbra mumbled as she wrapped the blanket tighter around her body. She had a rough night and wanted to spend more time in her little cocoon which was her blanket. Aisha then started to pull at the blanket, but Umbra didn't move an inch.

"Come on Sayo. You still have much work to do today." Aisha said. Umbra sighed and let go. However Aisha was still pulling, so she fell backwards on her back on the wooden floor. "Ouch!" she yelped. Umbralooked at the grounded guild sweetheart.

"Oh sorry Aisha. I was just (yawn) a bit up too long yesterday." she said. Aisha then threw the blanket over Umbra and crossed her arms.

"If you want to become a hunter, then you will need more then a pair of strong arms to hunt." Aisha said. "Why are you sleeping in your armor?!" Aisha exclaimed after seeing the crimson clad woman. Umbra laughed at that.

"You grow wary around yourself when you are somewhere you have never been before. Also it's not a big deal to sleep in my armor." Umbra waved her off. 'Also I already have another pair of arms. That should be enough.' When Aisha left she simply got out of the bed and went outside after a few minutes. She had her sword strapped to her back as she noticed the blacksmith talking with the chief outside. Umbra walked over to them making them stop talking and looking at her. "Am I interrupting something?" she asked.

"No. Actually we want to ask you to do something." the chief said.

"What is it?" Umbra asked.

"It's about the base camp. You know that it is destroyed don't you?" the chief said. Umbra nodded. "We need iron and some rescources to get it repaired. That's why you need to go into the forest and get those for us." the chief said.

"And what kind of rescources do you need?" Umbra asked with an raised eyebrow.

"Iron Ore." replied the blacksmith. "In Area 4 is a cave, where you can find the ore. Here take this." the old wyverian then pulled out a well crafted pickaxe. Umbra grabbed the pickaxe and strapped it on her back. "With that you can harvest the ore."

"Thank you." Umbra said with a smile as she turned to the chief. "What about other rescources?"

"For those you just have to take care of a few Jaggi, but be careful. They bite." the chief said.

"I know." replied Umbra, before she walked off into the forest.

A few minutes later

"GRYAGH!" another Jaggi yelped in pain as the greatsword hit the small bird wyvern. In fact it cleaved the small monster in two. Since Umbra was physically superior to any human or seaman she had seen so far, her body was able to wield the greatsword with such ease like it was a feather. A 1.9 metre Long, bladed feather made of metal, meant to slay Monsters with. Umbra basically murdered every single jaggi that tried to attack her. After a few minutes they started to turn tail on the Vermin Lady. Instead she stripped every bird wyvern of everything it had. Skin, teeth, claws, frills, everything. As she counted 10 of the small wyverns on the ground she noticed the entrance to a cave. Umbra took a look on her map and saw that this was the entrance to area 4.

"Well I still have to get the iron, don't I?" she thought to herself.

She entered the cave. It was pitch black inside and only the little torch in her hand provided light. She walked through the cave's tunnels as she found a good spot to mine. With one swing however her pickaxe had punched a spiderweb of cracks over the entire cave wall. She then punched the cracks and the outer layer of the cave wall collapsed. The metal ores were easily identified by the different colors from the usual grey rocks, which the cave was mostly made off. After picking everything up she walkedfurther into the cave and found again the cocoons of the Bnahabras.

'Perhaps it would be good to have a specimen to investigate these creatures further.' Umbra thought to herself. "[Middle Tier Insect Summon: Mantis Nymph]." As she casted the spell she expected a glyph to appear with an adult insect. The result however was something really disturbing. Next to an fertilized and still intact egg appeared a single worm like creature. It looked like a caterpillar, but somehow it had a pair of strong mandibles, a few hook like legs and had no visible eyes. It dug itself head first in the egg and then there was silence. Suprisingly it didn't create a hole in the egg, it simply slipped through the hardened membrane of the egg. After a few seconds Umbra observed how the egg shook and grew in size. It grew and grew, until it was as big as an average man. Umbra could only hold her breath. The egg cracked open and revealed an adult Mantis Nymph. The female insect then simply stayed where it was, giving Umbra the time to examine it. Big green compound eyes looked down at her as the nymph was streaching her six appendages. She had three fingered clawed hands and sharp mandibles. Short horn like antenna sat on top of her head and on her back sat 2 pairs of large green wings floded over the abdomen. Her most eyecatching trait however was the 2nd pair of arms she had. The upper pair of arms were two blade like mantis claws, which even longer than the lower pair of arms, when fully outstreached. Umbra also noted that this Mantis Nymph had a red-pinkish carapace like the Bnaharas. She wasn't really sure how to talk with the newborn insect, but yet again the summon took the first turn in their first conversation.

"You summoned me, my queen. How can I serve you?" the mantis asked. Umbra once again looked dumbstruck at her own summon.

'How did she learn to speak? She just hatched! Dammit video game logic?!' she cursed mentally. "Could you come down here first? I'd like to be on the same Level as you are when we are talking with each other." Umbra said. The mantis streached her limbs and began to walk along the wall. Her wings had yet to unfold, so she had to climb down the wall. Umbra looked at her feet with two digits. According to the game lore of YGGDRASIL and where These monsters had spawned in Vanaheim, Mantis Nymphs were normally green in color or brighter colors to imitate flowers and leaves like the now extinct orchid mantis to suprise their prey. That and their high intelligence made them even stronger foes then most other insectiods. This summoned Mantis Nymph for example was around level 60. As for what Umbra knew from her books mantises were no social insects, that meant that they only came together when mating and then for the females to devour their mates. Sexual cannibalism wasn't uncommon among insects, but that wasn't important now. What mattered that this creature would also eat her own cousins in order to survive. Umbra studied the insect a bit closer. Her figure reminded her a bit of Aisha, but it was difficult to see any similarity between the human girl and this insectoid monster. Umbra asked herself if the carapace had something to do with the egg. There were not many neopteron monsters or monsters, that were invertebrates to begin with, since this world seemed to be dominated by wyverns. Then the summon was finally standing in front of her creator. "Alright then. I guess we will be leaving this place. Follow me." Umbra said. The Mantis Nymph complied. After they had left area 4 behind Umbra stood in front of the waterfall at area 3 and pointed into the forest behind it. "I need you to stay away from the people that inhabitate this island. Don't go close to them and avoid them by any means. Don't let them see you. Don't let them notice that you are there at all. Am I understood?" Umbra said.

"Of course my queen." the Mantis Nymph bowed. "But what about you?" she asked.

"I'll get back to the village. It would be weird if I disappear from one day to another." Umbra said. "Also scout the island for me a little. If something should happen give me a [Message]. Now go." With that the Mantis Nymph streached her green, translucent wings and flew into the forest and Umbra continued to hunt.

Back in Moga Village

It had become evening as Umbra returned to the village. The sun was setting at the horizon and dyed the water and sky in a warm orange-yellow light, while the first satrs popped up in the east. The blacksmith examined the iron ore Umbra had brought him when he nooded to himself.

"That's pretty good quality for an amateur like you." he admitted. Umbra had to resist the urge to simply punch this old man through the village, but she just nodded.

"You think you could upgrade this sword?" Umbra asked. Actually Umbra had used [All Appraisal Magic Item] at the sword, but sadly it was not very strong. If the YGGDRASIL meassures would still apply, then this sword would be a Low Class Item, which was even inferior to most others. Of course she wouldn't have expected a Relic Class Item, but given how tough these monsters were, when Umbra didn't used too much strength, the damage output of the greatsword was a bit unsatisfying for the Level 100 Player.

"Sure thing miss, but though you have the iron ore to do that my services are not for free." the wyverian replied.

'This old miser...' Umbra thought, but just nodded. She could sell some of the items she had gathered in the forest by the woman at the port. The YGGDRASIL player then walked off to Aisha, who smiled at her.

"Well done Umbra." Aisha said cheerfully. "With the base camp repaired, you can accept quests on the island. Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow and you can get started." she said.

"Well that's something isn't it?" Umbra smiled back at Aisha. "Say Aisha there had been hunters here before, right? What happened to them." Aisha frowned.

"We don't really know. Hunters come and go whenever they please and take Jobs all over the world. It'sonly normal for them to not stay atthe same place for a long time." she said with a rather melancholic expression.

'Seems like she has or had a friend among the hunters.' Umbra thought, when the chief came walking over.

"Well you sure have a talent to hunt Sayo. Still, you have to learn how to hunt in the water." he said. Umbra tilted her head sideways.

"Hunting underwater? Sorry buddy, but I don't have gills or fins on my body." Umbra deadpanned. The chief laughed at this.

"Well you don't need to if you want to hunt there. Just hold your breath down there and everything should be fine." he said. Umbra however kept looking at the chief like he had grown a second head.

'Just hold your breath? Are those guys crazy?! I can't even hold my breath for 1 minute on land and they expect me to do this underwater. Have all humans in this world so strong lungs, that they don't end up drowning?' Umbra thought as she realized something. 'Wait are those guys expecting me to kill this Lagiacrus underwater? I tought waiting for it to rest on the beach and putting some traps was the plan. (Sigh) It can't be helped. I already agreed on that.' Umbra thought. As she went back to her hut. Tomorrow had just gotten much longer. There was however something that bothered her.

She still felt her connection to the Mantis Nymph. That wasn't something bad, but it should have disappeared already like an hour ago or so. 'What the hell is going on?' She inwardly shouted at herself. She decided to contact her. "Mantis can you hear me?" she said with [Message].

"I can what is it Umbra-sama?" the insect replied on the other side.

'SHE REALLY ISN'T GONE YET?!' Umbra thought. "Nothing I just wanted to know what you have been doing this day."Umbra replied.

"I've scouted the Island as you told me milady. After sometime I became hungry so I killed a small reptilian creature in the forest." the mantis replied.

"What, an aptonoth?" Umbra asked. 'She Needs to eat?'

"What's an aptonoth, Umbra-sama?" the summon asked.

'Right she doesn't know how all the creatures are called yet.' Umbra thought understanding. "Aptonpths are reptilian herbivores that are in gray and black coloration with crests on top of their heads and a spiked tail." Umbra replied.

"Yes one of those." the mantis replied.

"Alright then. Contact me if something should happen." Umbra said.

"Understood milady." the mantis replied, when Umbra terminated the Connection. From her hut she could see how the sun slowly drowned in the ocean.

With that she began writting in her diary again.

Entry #2

Date: 25th April 2136

Seriously, this is getting weirder by any second now. First I find this village and now I'm supposed to become a monster hunter, because they have Problems with something causing earthquakes. Not that I'm complaining, but that's basically what I've been doing the whole time in YGGDRASIL. Also I have no idea what might be the reason for the earthquakes. The Island has no active volcano as far as I can see. If it really is a monster's doing. I need to be very careful.
Still I would never have thought that become a Monster hunter meant so much paperwork. There is so much to learn about the animals also referred as monsters for reasons I don't understand. This feels almost like back home already.
Yesterday something weird happened. Those neopterons or insectoid monsters climbed up my body like I was some kind of obstacle. That was the weirdest thing ever. I'm not some goddamn tree, insects can drink sap from! But when I ordered them to leave me be, they climbed down. I guess this needs more investigation on other invertebrate monsters.
Oh right. I found a little settlement at the coast, Moga Village. The people here are called sea people. I guess that they are a human race, however more aquatic, though not as much as merman. They live from what nature provides them with and only interfere with the local ecosystem as much as they have to. Finally some humanoids that are not as greedy as mankind back home.
Still, I wasn't able to find any other YGGDRASIL players on the island, which probably makes me the only one around here. For now that is, because that could change anytime. Also they could have landed at another part of this world. From what I was able to read, this world is quite an unexplored and big place. Surely there is someone out there.
Another thing. It could be that I infected an Bnahabra cocoon with the larvea of a Mantis Nymph, which I wanted to summon. It was like a slip wasp laying eggs inside a caterpillar or, in this case, a chrysalid. I cannot explain it any better, but it seems that my summons stay in this world because it wasn't simply summoned, but 'born' a real living being. Perhaps I shouldn't have done that. After all the newborn is a sentient being and I don't even have an idea how to move around in this world myself. Also she doens't know anything but to follow orders yet, so she's basicalllya overgrown child with only me to guide her. Is that how it feels to have a child? Taking care of a child would be a bad decision. The easiest thing would be to kill her, but I'm not that heartless. At best I find a safe spot to settle down with her. Somewhere, where no hunters or explorers go. Perhaps another island like this one. Yes that sounds like a good idea.

Cho Ishikawa

Meanwhile elsewhere at Moga Island

Red glowing eyes were fixed on the prey. It had stalked it for a short time and now it was cornered. With a leap it stood in front of it and swiped it away with it's razor sharp claws. The small prey animal had no chance to even squeal for help as it was smashed against the rocky wall. The predator simply walked over, with no other predator around it had no reason to hurry. And even if it had to, it was not a weak opponent to be looked down at. So far other predators on this pwart of this island were weak like the Great Jaggi or the Azuros, but experience had taught this creature, that other bigger and stronger predators sometimes came to this group of islands. It simply grabbed the corpse with it's jaws, before crunching the bones between it's sharp teeth. Then it turned around and leapt away.

When it climbed up a hill it saw the burning lights of the village down in the little lagoon. There was a lot of prey. Cornered. Defenseless. Ready to be killed.
Still it remembered the strange hunter that had appeared yesterday. Somehow it felt...dangerous. No that couldn't be right. It was like all the others just a weak thing protected by a hard shell and wielding a blade made of rocks and claws. A shell could be broken and claws grew dull if not sharped. Still...it wasn't sure if it was the right decision to attack with this hunter around. Shaking the doubts out it's head, it snuck closer to the fence that protected the village, but then was noticed the setting sun. Slowly it crept backwards into the deep and dark forest. It would just wait for the nightfall.

But even this creature didn't knew that it was watched as well. On a tree in a safe distance sat the Mantis Nymph Umbra had summoned earlier this day. Her unmoving eyes kept looking at the creature as it was ready to pounce at the fence and tear it down with it's weigth. Even a newborn creature knew that this creature was a predator and currently it was posing a threat to her creator. Still by the looks of it this creature was probably as strong as herself, perhaps even stronger.

"Umbra-sama we have a problem." she said via [Message] to her master.

Seems like some things are getting tougher for the Vermin Lord faster then expected. Just what is this predator, that even would dare to attack Umbra? Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it and that I could pike your interest for the next chapter. Please write your opinions and suggestions in the reviews and and I'll see what I can do for you.

So let's answer some questions from the reviews. Well first I didn't really planned to put Ainz in this story since they are 'worlds apart'. Sure it would be interesting how these two would react on one another's presence in a world like this, but I still don't really know how I could make this happen. After all the whole point of this fanfic is basically, that YGGDRASIL players were not just transported to the New World we know from Overlord, but other worlds as well. The second question is already answered with this question, well partly since the Gigginox isn't really a invertebrate, but more of a gecko, though it looks kinda like a leech or a lamprey.

Now to the rating of weapons and armors in Monster Hunter. Items in that game have a rarity level, but not something like Low and Middle Class. Still we could say that most weapons from Monster Hunter with rarity 1-2 are not that great.

So here is a little list to compare rarity ranking from Monster Hunter with the class ranking from YGGDRASIL:

Low: Rarity 1, 2, 3 and 4

Middle: Rarity 5, 6 and 7

High: Rarity 8 and 9

Top: Rarity 10

Legacy: doesn't exist

Relic: doesn't exist

Legendary: doesn't exist

Divine: doesn't exist

This might be underating some weapons, but this is only a provisional rating and I think that we can all say that some weapons in Monster Hunter like the weapons made from the materials of Elder Dragons and similiar powerful creatures have quite interesting item texts like the Fatalis equipment possessing it's users, making them lose control and become mindless killing machines or the Ukanlos Armor allowing so much control of the environment on a smaller scale of the overranked spell [Creation]. Also I didn't put the Dragonator or the Equal Dragon Weapon in there, because they are very powerful, but the Dragonator isn't a weapon, that could actually be wielded (unless you are a creature of the size of a Lao Shan Lung or similiar creatures, like Gargantua for example) and the Equal Dragon Weapons were living organisms like Koro and Susanoo in Akame ga Kill!, so it were biological weapons, that operated without a pilot or 'wielder'.

I don't have a ranking for every single species of monster in this world yet, because of several reasons like being unable to fully judge the strength of a monster with some one from Overlord. Surely I would say that even Gazeff would easily cut down an Azuros, but would have a hard time when facing something like a Tigrex or a even a Rathalos, but someonelike Narberal Gamma should have less problems with this type of monster, though I would say that she has little to no chance to defeat a monster like the Deviljho, especially when it gets hungry and Naberal doesn't fly the whole time.

As for the summon in this chapter, I had to improvise. Summons from YGGDRASIL normally have only a limited life span, before disappearing without a trace. Momonga could solve this, because well undead need a corpse to be created. To make however a living organism like her insects stay, something was needed to bind them to the world. The only thing that came in my mind was to let them hatch from an already living egg like some kinds of wasps are laying their eggs inside caterpillars and pupas.

see you next time again. Have a nice day and to all fellow hunters: Good hunt.