Disclaimer: I do not own Overlord I just like it

I don't know what to say in this author notes much like I don't know what to say in my three minute speed dates...I guess this one took a little more effort writing most of it on paper then typing it out...had to beta read it two times but now there's still mistakes...and I'm just glad I finished it so now I can take a nap. Thank you :)

I_I_I_I

Brain was in a dark horizonless void where the only thing he could hear and at some points see was the rippling on the water. His mind told him he wasn't truly alone—and so he sauntered through the harrowing darkness spending its time flipping around until he wandered to a man cladded in red armor. Brain could recognize him from his rear...short and balding brown hair with a few tiny neck hair above the cowl...it was Gazef.

"Gazef!"

Brain sprinted towards the familiar face. Right before he could even touch him he turned around—a hideous site to behold. Gazef's face was a skeleton; practically the same as Ainz's with the red eyes and yellow sclera's. He looked like him but he didn't sound like him.

"Brain..."

Brain trembled in fear. "G-Gazef? What happened to you?"

That question caused him to chortle with laughter. "I think you mean 'what happened' to us."

Brain heard footsteps sloshing towards him with raspy breathing noises. He turned around to see figures rueful of Brain with skeleton faces: Lockmeier, Marquis Boullope, Franzén, and Lundqvist.

"Why, Brain?" Lockmeier asked. "Why weren't you there to save me from those wailing monsters?"

"I-I..." Brain croaked.

A figure wearing armor making it hard to distinguish him ambled ahead of Gazef to speak.

"All your life winning was easy for you until you met Gazef Stronoff. You were vexed with him being better, joined bandits for fun, but now you're just a drunkard too dismally about the world. You slump in your room during the day so you can wander at night."

"Coward." Franzén uttered.

"Coward!" The other orichalcum ranked adventurer and Marquis Boullope exclaimed in unison.

An eerie mist veloped the ceiling that wasn't in the room a second ago. And while the skin on his arms were burning with a stinging sensation...all of the three frightfully became big with tentacle appendages flailing behind them—becoming the visage of the monsters that massacred an army of soldiers. In their god-like nightmarish forms looming with burning eyes of incandescent light, they taunted him.

"Coward! Coward! Coward!"

Brain, powerless to even be goaded into a fight, roared with pessimism!

Suddenly, in the black of an eye or pinch of an arm, he awoke with his head slumped on a box of clay. He was back in the caravan with the merchant's that could defend themselves better than he could.

The hooded one took the reigns while the red haired one was sharping her sword with a whetstone; and the road they traversed through leaves were Hunter Green. They were far away from the kingdom now.

"You had a nice nap?" The hooded one asked. Without waiting for an answer he continued, "Good. Then skritch yourself away."

The red haired lady jabbed him with her elbow.

"Hynrich's rudeness aside, we finished collecting all the materials for our village and ask if you would like to leave."

Brain ignored them reaching down for the hilt of his katana. He may feel too at peace to move, but he wasn't going to let anyone get close to him.

Hynrich was at his core a demi-human. He like all animals were not made to follow the orders lazy, licentious humans gave them—he liked Lord Dack which is why he follows his orders but with every other human...they deserve to be dirty with swollen legs and beefy arms for the laborious work they need to get done; instead of a pampered, gluttonous life of living in big castles and brushing their faces in a mirror.

He could forgive them—they were all too ostentatious to realize how little their accomplishments were—what he couldn't forgive was the history he had: humans killed his wife.

"Hynrich!" Brita exclaimed fluttering her arm and sticking out a finger. "Stop here, please!"

Hynrich grumbled being given an order by the wheat skinned human. He stopped the carriage. No sooner were they stacked on the road she jumped off her seat and scuttled into the forest. Before she ran off to wherever her outré mind was telling her to go she spun around and waved.

"You boys have fun along together."

That was condescending; and now she was embellishing her journey.

"I'll try not to be too long."

With that she was gone and it was the most relishing thing to happen to Hynrich on this trip. After several minutes spent sitting quietly alone with the brooding blue haired human suppose to be the pinnacle of swordsmanship, but Hynrich could give a mule's nostrils about him, the hobgoblin started speaking to him.

"You warned us not to venture out at night from the East of Carne Village...yet you happened to be there at the exact same time...why?"

Brain wasn't fully awake when Hynrich out of nowhere asked him that question; and a part of him didn't even know why. When he lost/humiliated by Shalltear he lost all his effervescence. Losing against Ainz by standing around watching Gazef be slaughtered—he never backed down from anything that challenged him since. The big hooded anomalous goblin wanted an answer though so an answer he would get: the drawled out one only a pitiable man could give.

"There are now times I close my eyes and see that eldlich's face. He wasn't a dishonorable person; he just never gave me a chance to prepare for his preternatural attack. My life was nothing but needling my superior sword style to all those blowhart noblemen sons and knights, but then Gazef and then Shalltear and now Ainz...all being a lot stronger than me...I just don't fear starting over and trying my best because I know someday I can show those monsters I'm not someone they can trifle with."

His explanation as a human was so farcical it almost made Hynrich want to laugh even if just a chuckle out, however, he needed time to himself before he could think about that—Brita was the means of getting what he wanted.

"Brain, I'm worried about Brita. She didn't say where she is going, what time she would be back, and in my humble opinion she doesn't know the mapping of this land." Hynrich tried not to chuckle when he faked what he wanted next. "Could you please find her? I'll stay and keep the cart spotlessly fettle."

Brain was under the impression his position here was as germane as his time helping bandits; respected where he could sloth around until he was entailed to do a job: slicing in expeditious maneuver through the arms and bodies of scrubs that didn't deserve it. Since he now didn't underestimate the power and wisdom of even total strangers...he stood up and jumped off—could feel it made his chain shirt jingle as he leapt.

He gripped his katana fluttering over his head as he trekked through the forest; safety precaution.

Hynrich started at him as he walked away, menacingly, before putting his large green finger to his chin.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Hynrich." This gentle voice was Shinirael's and it resounded with another voice, Silverbane's.

"Shinirael...sorry to check up on you...I just want to know how the exploring is going."

"It's going great. We are getting help from a very wise dragon named Sahaku whom I recently killed with Naberial Gamma but Lord Dack and Ainz Ooal Gown listened to my please to revive this mighty creature. He may not be much of a fighter but he is pretty good at helping us in our search."

"Have you found anything?" Hynrich asked.

"Yes. We found a lot. We found statues, we found treasure, items imbued with magic from lightning to poison, a ring so stylized I was thinking about giving it to Naberial, and we found a old tomb with scrolls that might—"

"Wait a goblin licking its eyeballs minute." Hynrich interrupted. "What reason do you have to give Naberial a ring. I thought in our team it was we only help our own members."

"True, true...but this isn't the reason I was going to give her a ring."

Hynrich couldn't believe what his ears were hearing; and from a fallen angel of all people.

"I want to ask her to marry me."

I_I_I_I

Brain didn't see any monstrosities or rogue bandits with his body in perfect stance God Flash followed by Sixfold Slash of Light every fifteen steps he took. He couldn't be too careful, however, after a half hour of walking he figured it would be better if he just called for her.

"Brita!"

"DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" Her voice shrieked through the forest.

Hearing her yell was enough to make Brain forget about being in the right stance and just run to save her. He reached a giant mound of rocks he was on top of before sliding down into a serene spring...the contents of Brita's urgent voice became clear.

Before him was a wheat-skinned former adventurer with every nook and cranny of her body, clothes sprawled around the water, dipped in the water. She saw Brain gazing at her in his dumbfounded way...her face blushed red.

"GET OUT!" She exclaimed.

"O-Okay..." For the first time since Gagaran flirted with him he fumbled with his words. However, he still had an objective he needed to keep. "Hynrich was wondering how much longer your going to—"

Brain was distracted by the loud cries coming from the forest. It was the sound of birds flocking away from something big and terrifying. Brain gazed towards the glades, Brita felt a mix of scared and embarrassed not sure if being attacked while in a pond was worse than feeling someone's cold breath on her neck while she was naked.

Then something large and heavy tumbled into the open space of the glades, so far away all Brain could see was it's silhouette. Even from far away it was big. Not as big as those bleating gargantuan monstrosities that killed one hundred thousand people at Katze Plains, but anything unnaturally large was a threat to humanity.

"You have to get out and get changed...no time to dry; please just wear your clothes in a soggy way."

If he didn't sound so urgent in his demand, Brita would have bonked him like she almost did Momon when he was a copper-ranked adventurer.

I_I_I_I

A soldier in plaid white armor with a yellow bird insignia howled in pain when two arrows nocked him in the chest—and for an excruciating few seconds he thought he would collapse and die like the two similar looking soldiers with helms sprawled under him, dead.

The only still standing had short blond hair, and hazel eyes. A head-pounding adrenaline rush filled his head as he pondered whether he should still stay around and fight or flee losing his valor as a knight. When a woman with short white hair, yellow eyes, clothes so black and low cut it covered every part except her neck, midriff, and had a few shapes patterned in her garter showing off her legs, and two small slit tears in her mouth sauntered up...he fled.

He ran without the aid of Flow Acceleration since he was only ept with healing spells and light magic—this caused his lungs to feel weighed and inhale in and out, but light on his feet because he was mostly running down a hill. And then—he came across a bridge over a riverfront.

Without a second thought he leaped under the bridge...his face glanced by something pointy. Through no small effort he stood back up on his feet and saw what got in his face: the face of someone else decapitated. His face was round with sideburns and a small hat over his hair. He heard of a self-proclaimed leprechaun that asked for tolls whenever someone made it to this bridge...and it seemed he was staring at him now.

His body, hunched over and sitting on the water. This was all too cruel for him to take. He would run through the river in the other direction from the body to get help, but when he turned around...the sadistic lady was waiting for him.

He tried surprising her with a quick chop of his arms for her neck that she blocked with long thin blades with gold handles. Then she kicked him in his knees! He hollered loud in agony before he fell on his now broken kneecaps.

He wanted a quick death, instead she tittered through her teeth with her malevolent smile.

Meanwhile, more of her fellow bandits sauntered up to her.

"Who are you?" He asked petrified.

"Fuh. Can't you tell?" She said with glee. "I'm a member of Black Typhon."

"Fabulist!" He snapped. "Black Typhon was disbanded five years ago by the great Perfurer—a member of the Thirteen Heroes!"

"And who told you that? Well, believe me or not your convoy will become ours and you will be lynched. Nice meeting you. Meo—"

The short lived euphoria coursing skimpily through her head was interrupted by the sound of trees stampeded asunder. What caused her her to flinch wasn't the snapping but the bloody abnormal cry of another soldier.

Her eyes were wild and her hair crackled to a frizzy when the soldier fell down leaving himself in a sprawled state. Four holes of tricking blood were incised around his right lidded eye.

Forgetting all about the knight in the heat of the moment who was standing solemnly also forgetting the troubles he was put through—they turned around to see a monster completely triangular in appearance.

It was a midnight blue mare with white speckles on its upper chest, red eyes sclera with only a small brown eye in its eye. It's nostrils flaring before spewing white smoke. And on its head were three orange horns protruding upward like pike's in a triangular formation.

The beast singlehandedly rammed into her comrades with more force than a skeleton dragons' swipe. Any moment as it drew closer with every takedown it would come for her.

"He's big. Good thing my brawn has never lost to any animal."

The one flaunting himself while showing bravo was Nil, and looking at him made her heart rise with a dissonance. Nil was a very big built man with a bowl cut blonde hair and a fuzzy blonde goatee covering his face from his chin to under his nostrils. His armor was pried open by his own muscular hands showing off his sinewy body not glistening with sweat from killing most of the soldiers protecting the convoy. His eyes were blue with a little green in them. And for footwear he wore knight boots with the tip ripped off giving his toes some room to wriggle with.

His body glowered with a multitude of flitting colors as he incanted different Martial Arts skills:

"Barbarian Durability! Fists of Leviathan! Heels of Axe!"

His giant body was outlined in a sinewy of emblazing aura. He was at arms' length with the beast before he pushed himself forward with accelerated speed and curved a right hook towards the beasts' facial structure. This fleeting action was countered by it disappearing before him and reappearing with a one hundred-eighty degree hoof thump!

He blocked the hoof...didn't stop its circular bone from tearing off his far right finger. When the fighter eased his arms down to his sides he was alerted to his missing finger. His face boiled with anger as he soon seethed.

"You abhorrent creature!"

He tensed his muscles and arms incanting another multitude of martial arts:

"Speed of Arion! Flow of Chimera! Sight of Polyphemus! Helm of Mandrake!"

When he was done his eyes pupils were replaced by a ghostly yellow sclera, his knuckles were imbued blue, and his head was standing with a five-finger root like a sunflower only transparent and with creepy tendrils instead of roots.

He pressed in, tightened his fists back, prepared to punch...

"Triiennegh!"

The tricorned mare leapt off the ground before the brawlers' vengeance could be delivered. Seeing this he leapt after it. He was soon swinging hook after hook in a flurry of precise blows!

His enhancements were a match for even the Thirteen Heroes, but against just one mare out of nowhere they weren't even fazing it. He repeated his punches with unrelenting conviction until they were both on the ground. His Marital Art enhancements wore off, a face the picture of terror and despair etched all over his face.

The creature lashed out, weaved a hoof he blocked—losing a finger next to the one he already lost. His sinewy body was a picture of herculean efforts and many battles he toiled in just to grow—the mare managed to tear off a finger a second, only taking seven to tear off all eight—now his fingerless hands made him look as intimidating as a glove filled up with water.

Now, the beast embraced him in a hug that left him sweaty and vibrating in cowering fear.

"Anyone...heal me...please!"

Keeping his eyes away from the beast clearly playing with him—hasn't even plucked his head from his neck yet—he saw how awry the battlefield had become. All their mages, assassins, and warriors were all a flowerbed of dead bodies!

Just when he closed his eyes to accept his fate, the beast released him and hurtled away.

"Brain, over there!"