Blah blah blah Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game or DMMORPG called Yggdrasil blah blah blah incredibly popular in Japan, yet, after a 12 year run it's being shut down. Why? Because Yggdrasil II: DMMORPG HARDER has come out and stole away all the players.
Or someone actually noticed folks were disappearing while playing.
(Okay, I just made that up.)
She is: OVERLORD
One
The huge meeting hall was quiet as Herohero logged off.. Once meant to house over 41 members, it was now empty and quiet. Then there was a flicker, and another figure appeared. She was a tall, beautiful woman with red hair, but there was an aura of death about her. Yet despite that, she had a warm smile.
"Kobaashi-san!" Momonga smiled.
"Yo," Kobayashi smiled.
Kobayashi was a odd duck, even for a member of Ainz Ooal Gown. A programmer she worked incredibly long hours, yet had also cared out time to join the guild on quests and in guarding the tomb. She was also only technically a 'monster type' but like Touch Me, was accepted by the members. She was also the only player Momonga knew who used their real name as a player identity...
"It's good to see you," Momonga added warmly.
"Sad that it's under these circumstances," Kobayashi noted, the undead Valkyrie type sitting across from him.
"Here to look over the maids one more time?" Momonga teased mildly.
"Of course," the unabashed maid fan agreed.
"So... YOU were the player who kept saying 'Maids for Great Justice?'" Momonga asked her mildly.
Kobayashi nodded, "Pretty much. So, Momonga, are you staying until the shutdown?"
Momonga had in fact planned on doing just that. Still... speaking aloud he mused, "I dunno... I have work tomorrow."
"I could stay if you want," Kobayashi offered.
Momonga looked over at her in surprise, then smiled. "Oh, THANK YOU Kobayashi-san!" he said.
"It's all right," Kobayashi said. She waved a arm casually, "I wanted to visit awhile anyway." Seriously she added, "It's been good playing alongside you, Momonga."
"You too," Momonga agreed as he called up a screen and fiddled with something, then he logged out.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
As Momonga vanished, Kobayashi blinked, noting a new icon had appeared on her personal screen. 'Guild Leader?' she blinked, realizing Momonga had appointed her the job before logging out. 'Not that I wanted the job, but it's only going to be a few more minutes...,' she mused.
As she walked to the door Kobayashi passed by the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, the legendary weapon only carried by the guild leader. 'Oh, why not...' she decided. She put her 'Legendary Spear of Death' into storage, then pulled the weapon from the wall. A huge number of 'buffs;' kicked in, indicating how powerful the weapon was.
As Kobayashi left the meeting hall, she came upon the elite maid corps, the Pleiades. "SO COOL!" she breathed out.
The maids, and Sebas, didn't react of course. They just stood on standby. Each of the maids were beautiful women, but also each was really a powerful monster with devestating attack power. Truely, they were the greatest of maids. And they were costumed so well too! Each wore a variation of maid uniform, from western style to sexy maid to kimono-like. Lovely.
And Sebas, the butler. But enough about him.
"It's too bad no enemies ever got this deep into the Tomb," Kobayashi noted, "it would have been awesome to see you in battle."
For a moment Kobayashi was tempted to use the staff to order the Pleiades around, but decided not. With the game ending, she felt it was more fitting to leave them to their duties. Instead she walked off, heading towards the throne room.
'I wish I had more time before shutdown,' Kobayashi mused, 'I'd like to see some of the regular maids, too.' The maids of the Great Tomb had been created by expert designers, and even the most generic NPC was charming. Sometimes Kobayashi would just log in and hang around just to get her 'maid fix'...
After somewhat warily opening the doors to the throne room (a member of Ainz Ooal Gown once booby trapped them) Kobayashi advanced to the throne, passing by banners hung with everyone's names. Beside the throne stood another women, both stunningly beautiful and disturbingly un-earthly.
Albedo had flawless skin and midnight black hair, and a womanly bust that frankly annoyed the less endowed Kobayashi. She was also the leader of the Floor Guardian NPCs, and was one of the most powerful beings in Nazarick. She would pass for a gorgeous human, other than the rams' horns and the wings emerging from her lower back.
"What were her commands again...?" Kobayashi muttered as she opened up Albedo's character screen. "Ack. So much..." she muttered, remembering Albedo had been made by one of the more detail obsessed members of the guild.
Albedo did the 'questioning head tilt' that she was programmed to do as a standby mode.
"Bitch?!" Kobayashi blinked.
Ugh. She knew Albedo's creator was a fan of character's appearance contradicting their personality, but really? That was just too much.
Kobayashi gestured with the Guild Leader's Staff, accessing Albedo's character information. Normally you'd need a editing tool, but this let her do that. She erased the 'bitch' line, then frowned.
'Should I edit something else in?' Kobayashi wondered, then shook her head. 'No, removing something is already a bit disrespectful to my guild mate. Leave it alone.'
She closed the window, then Kobayashi sat back on the throne. There were a bit more than a minute to shutdown. As soon as that hit she needed to get to bed... she had work tomorrow too. Mind you, she might check if any of her other friends were online, but other than that. Bed.
11:59:44
11:59:50
11:59:59
12:00:00
12:00:03
"What?" Kobayashi said aloud, realizing she was still logged in. The shut down was supposed to happen at midnight. Did something happen to delay it? She attempted to contact a GM... and blinked as nothing happened. "Huh?" she muttered.
Fundamentally annoyed Kobayashi tried to log out. Only to not have that come up too. "WHY CAN'T I LOG OUT?" the undead Valkyrie demanded.
"Is something wrong, Mistress?" Albedo asked.
Kobayashi blinked, stunned. Albedo, head of the NPCs, had just TALKED to her?! Without prompting?
"Mistress?" Albedo repeated, looking at her curiously.
Kobayashi took a moment to process this. The NPCs weren't able to do unscripted conversations. Period. Plus, even in this VR the characters mouths didn't move. And her 'concerned' look was beyond what the character modelling software could manage.
'Which means... either I'm hallucinating from all the booze I drink, or I'm in the game. Somehow.' Kobayashi thought.
Albedo daringly climbed up on the podium beside Kobayashi. The woman looked honestly concerned as she continued, "Mistress? Are you unwell?"
'God, she even SMELLS good,' Kobayashi found herself noting. Then felt a chill as she remembered you couldn't smell in the game too. Something had gone very very weird on her.
Shaking it off Kobayashi cleared her throat, "I'm fine, Albedo." Struck by sudden inspiration she asked, "Albedo, has anything seemed strange to you lately?"
Albedo looked adorably confused. "Strange?" she echoed. "Well, the Great Ones gradually disappeared, leaving just you and Lord Momonga. And now I feel he has gone as well."
'I hadn't thought the NPCs would be aware of that...,' Kobayashi mused.
"But we still have you, the glorious one who stands above all the Great Ones, who will lead us," Albedo purred.
Kobayashi felt a faint chill at the pure adoration on her face.
'Wait a minute,' Kobayashi thought, 'if this has changed... what else has?' Making a quick decision she said "Wait here. I'll be back."
"What...?" Albedo started.
With a flicker, Kobayashi activated the teleport ring she wore.
(It was odd. She could FEEL the abilities and powers she had as a character. Even without a keyboard she could sense her powers, how to access them and how much mana she had to power them. It was instinctive, if a bit weird.)
The Great Tomb should have been in a marsh. A creepy, overgrown place that was hard to reach. Bogs, quicksand, and other natural traps surrounded it, making passage difficult. A dark, gloomy, and altogether unpleasant place.
Instead... grasslands. Stretching off into the distance all around. And as Kobayashi looked up, she was stunned by a star field you could never see in the lights of a city. And, worryingly, the stars were in patterns that were completely unrecognizable.
"I don't think we're in Kansas any more...," Kobayashi muttered.
To be continued...
Notes: Some minor divergences so far. Will shift more as we get to episode 2 of the anime. Still figuring out bits. I don't plan to have Kobayashi have the 'emotion damping' Momonga had, so that'll be a issue. She's also not going to react to stuff like he did, so things will diverge a LOT in short order.
Update: This was ORIGINALLY posted as a Overlord/Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid fusion. After some thought, I have decided to remove the 'Dragon Maid' bits, mostly, as it's been becoming a more 'serious' fic. Thank you for reading...