Hi there, ShadowFlex here!
For a long, long time now, I've tried to find a story I would want to write... and here it is! Yes, finally. If you have read some of my past works (which are now deleted, but you might remember some of them) then you ought to know that, let's be honest, I don't bother writing past one or two chapters. That is because I eventually come to see them as pointless and uninteresting – work I cannot stand reading. Most of those stories were about Ainz, and as time goes by, I've begun to dislike that guy (please don't hate me for that, those are merely my personal feelings), and realized that I was writing an unnecessarily more powerful protagonist than was necessary.
Anyway, here I am! I've returned from the underworld to present you a story I actually want to keep writing (though it will probably be short, and will take long and inconsistent updates), about a decently powerful OC protagonist!
Oh, and yes... The Platinum Dragon Lord's armor and floating weaponry served as a big inspiration for the character's design and base abilities, but his powers will work differently, and more powerful. Also, the characters in this fic will be as strong as I guess them to be, since I see the character feats in the original Overlord series (LN, Manga, Anime) as somewhat inconsistent.
ENJOY!
Chapter 1: Beginning
Clad in a set of platinum-colored full-body armor that resembled a humanoid dragon standing upright, he stepped out of the shadow cast by a lone tree standing on an empty plain of grass. He took a few steps forward, and then took a closer look at the world around him.
Ahead, far into the distance, a vast sea disturbed the full moon's reflection with its waves. Above it, a fresh breeze gently pushed the clouds away, revealing a dark sky filled with countless glistering stars.
A soft wind blew through the plain's grass and agitated the leaves of the tree standing beside him, as well as the vast forest that stood some distance behind him.
"No matter how I look at it, this is somewhere else..."
This was neither the icy mountain he had spent his final moments of the game at, and neither was it the empty living room of his apartment.
He felt his head spinning. This was because the situation at hand was a worrying one. He took a step back and leaned against the sole tree standing beside him. Calmly, he decided to think back on the last moments before he suddenly "appeared" in this place, and what he had discovered thus far.
"So... YGGDRASIL's end of operations was supposed to take place at exactly this midnight, which was... some ten minutes ago? Yes, I should've been forcibly logged out of the game at that time, but I'm still Igno Vilhedia, my avatar. Also, my HUD is gone. And neither can I contact the GM. To make things worse, I cannot log out or access my control console."
He had tried using all of the game's functions that came to mind in order to deal with this unknown situation, but to no avail. Nothing worked.
It was as if he were removed from the system.
"...It would be fine if it was just that, but it would seem this is not YGGDRASIL at all. No, this place ought to be something else entirely."
The character Igno Vilhedia and the world of YGGDRASIL used to be nothing more than data composed of 1s and 0s, but now he felt his body, and the world around him, as if they were real.
He straightened his back, and then sniffed the air. He could pick up the scent of sea and vegetation. It was something one could not do in YGGDRASIL, nor in the real world, which was an over-polluted place filled with dark sky and toxic air.
His five senses were also sharper, he felt.
"Another world, is it...?"
It was unbelievable, but the weight of this reality pushed heavily on his shoulders, to the point he could no longer deny its signs.
"Well, that's one way to shatter someone's world view, I guess."
He thought sarcastically, and then shook his head in resignation. If this was indeed his new reality, then he ought to confirm his new body's capabilities first, and from there plan his next course of action.
"Hah... An experiment it is then."
And whether his surprising degree of calmness in the face of his present circumstances worried him or not? Well, that no longer mattered, now did it?
.
.
.
With a flash of blue light, a floating shield-like hammer of platinum color – same as his armor – appeared besides him. It was a weapon oversized for humans, and its appearance screamed form-over-function. Also, it emitted a faint blue light.
"Go."
With a mental command, Igno sent it flying forward with incredible speeds. It took less than an instant for said weapon to reach its target – a small hill some hundred meters away – and blow it away with a loud explosion that picked up a massive cloud of dirt and vegetation. As said cloud slowly settled, a deep crater became visible in the place where that hill had once been.
"Amazing...!"
Igno could not help but praise such a display of power, and shuddered with excitement for what more he could've done had he not held back.
Once the hammer had accomplished its task, with a flash of blue light, Igno had it return to his inventory – a pocket dimension of unlimited storage space – where the rest of his items and weaponry remained.
"So, my skills work... what about my physical ability?"
In YGGDRASIL, Igno Vilhedia had reached the level cap – level 100 – as a human warrior that fought using floating weaponry – a Telumancer. However, he was not just a human, but a Dragonblood Human, a race of humans that held draconic blood in their veins – according to fluff, at least.
Though difficult to attain, that race granted a rather impressive increase in players' overall stats when compared to other humanoid races. Combined with his powerful job classes and his strongest [World Champion] class – a class which only nine players could get, – Igno had very impressive physical abilities. At least, so it had been in the game.
"If my weapons are capable of such destruction, I wonder what a punch from this body could do."
And find this out he will. While severely holding back, that is.
"Take..."
He pulled back his fist, preparing to punch the ground beneath his feet, and swung down with great force.
"—this!"
The armored fist connected, and the earth exploded loudly. As a deep crater formed in the ground and the earth around it cracked even further, the shockwave of this blow spread far and wide.
Once Igno came to recognize the crater his fist had created, all he could utter was a single awe-filled word.
"—Awesome."
.
.
.
"Shit!"
Merely a moment later, once Igno had collected himself enough, did he realize just what he had done.
"I don't even know what brought me to this other world or what sort of place this is, yet here I am destroying everything!"
That was enough to make his mind fall into a sort of combat mode – something he had picked up in YGGDRASIL – and begin taking the appropriate measures for the situation at hand.
He reached his hand out – and a black tear in fabric of space-time swallowed it up. This was the same as YGGDRASIL, his inventory.
"Where... –Got it!"
He retrieved his hand from his inventory, and the black tear vanished soon after. Also, his armored hand that had been empty mere moments ago now held a greyish scroll in its grasp.
"Perfect Unknowable."
Once he uttered the name of the spell sealed within this scroll, the said item rolled itself open and burned to nothingness in a flash of blue flame.
YGGDRASIL's magic system was called Tier Magic, and the spells its users could cast ranked from the weakest 1st tier to the strongest 10th tier. The spell he just cast was a high-tier one, and it made its users invisible – to all five senses – baring the use of some special spell or ability.
"Next is..."
Though no enemies were to be spotted, it did not mean someone powerful did not own this land and wouldn't come in response to Igno destroying it, seeking either compensation or blood. He ought to leave before something like that happens, especially when he lacks any information on this world and its levels of power... or if it has any power or sentient life forms to begin with.
As if to respond to his thoughts, Igno's armor began to emit a faint blue light, and in the next instant he took to the skies. This was not the armor's ability, but his own.
The skill he just activated allowed him to telekinetically command any weapon he had previously formed a bond with. And though not exactly a weapon, his [Form Weapon Bond] skill worked on armors as well. The total number of weapons he could form a bond with was ten, but the number of weapons he could control at a time was five.
And though not exactly a [Fly] spell, this way of flying allowed Igno to move much faster than that method ever could. This could be seen in how quickly he reached the sky just now, a kilometer or two above the ground.
Having reached his current height in an instant, Igno came to a slow halt. Now floating in place, he saw no enemies nearby, and so allowed himself to relax a bit.
He turned his gaze towards the horizon, where the earth and sky seemed to clash with one another.
"Amazing... it's like a game, but real. It's like my world, but before we nuked the hell out of it."
He could not help but smile at this wonderous sight. He felt like he was in a fairytale of sorts.
"...Now that I think about it, did [Perfect Unknowable] even activate properly?"
He could not help but wonder this. He could still see himself, after all. There was no indication that he was invisible.
"Huh... I don't know why, but I feel like it will be fine. Dammit, isn't this really bad? I don't feel like myself anymore. What's with this confidence? Also, I feel like I'm calmer than I should be, considering the circumstances."
A small chuckle escaped his lips in response to this. He had gone from merely playing a game to going to another world as the character he had played that game as. This was beyond ridiculous. Borderline impossible, in fact.
"But seriously... should I even go back? I mean, I don't even know how I got here in the first place, or if going back is even possible. But, if it is... should I? I would definitely do so if I had anyone waiting for me there, but I've got no one. I live alone, I have no friends or family – hell, I don't even have a girlfriend! All I do is eat, sleep, and work. What worth does a life like that have?"
A moment of silence passed.
"I..."
He looked at his hands, and then turned to the sky. A toxic world of loneliness or a beautiful world of unknown dangers, which one to choose?
"—No. Is there even a need to think on this? Though it could be dangerous, at least it has stars."
Yes, the stars.
"My father loved the stars... I love the stars. "Even if the world disappoints you, the stars won't", is what he used to say. I still recall the comfort they gave me in times of need, and the heartache I felt when I could no longer spot a single one. Perhaps that is why I feel at such ease right now...? The stars here are as beautiful as those I admired as a child, though the constellations are all wrong... Haha!"
Yes. There was no need to think on this. The world where it's stars could still be seen, that is the world he should chose.
"I'm staying. Whatever danger there may be, bring it on!"
In the next instant, Igno flew towards the horizon. The speed of his departure was like that of a shooting star. All that remained in this place where his future was decided was the echoes of his laughter.
Ah, if only he knew what he was getting himself into...
.
.
.
Several dozen kilometers from Igno Vilhedia, in a dark cave found deep beneath a massive mountain that seemed to reach beyond the skies, a being of colossal size opened its eyes as it woke from a week-long slumber.
"...It has happened at last."
A deep but majestic voice. As expected of a being others would call a dragon.
With size comparable to a small mountain, and scales of the color of the earth, this dragon that resembled a piece of ancient art was known in this world as the Mountainous Dragon Lord, Hyurtob Kveiyglas.
It was a powerful being, and was one of those ancient existences that stood at the apex of this world – a True Dragon Lord.
As such, he naturally possessed a special power that only the likes of True Dragon Lords could wield – Wild Magic. Using it, he had successfully developed the [Soul-Detecting Barrier] spell. It had a radius spanning several hundred kilometers, and though he could increase the range of this spell even further, the energy cost required to do so was tremendously high.
He had developed this barrier with the intention of detecting other True Dragon Lords or any dangerous alien beings ahead of time, and prepare to face them accordingly. In particular, said dangerous aliens were known by some as Players of YGGDRASIL, the so-called natural enemies of Hyurtob and his kin.
Just now, mere minutes after midnight, one such being had suddenly "appeared" in the area covered by the [Soul-Detecting Barrier]. The soul of that being practically screamed "alien", so it was undoubtedly a Player.
"My subject, can you hear me?"
There was no need to ask, but Hyurtob did so anyway.
Nearly two centuries ago, when the Dragon Lord had come to this mountain – the Divaleiro's Peak, now renamed Hyurtob's Peak – he had encountered a city built upon dozens of floating islands surrounding it, which were inhabited by various demi-human and heteromorphic beings who lived peacefully there. On a whim, Hyurtob had taken over that place with his absolute might, and claimed himself as their Mountain God. That place was known as the Sky City, and its inhabitants called themselves the Sky People.
The person he just contacted through a telepathic-link type Wild Magic spell was the highest-ranked person of that place, the Birdman High Priest, Urka Nol Archlit. That person was responsible for informing Hyurtob of the happenings of the Sky City and its surrounding lands, as well as entertaining Hyurtob's every whim – usually, that would entail worship in the form of weekly animal sacrifices.
"—! ...My lord!?"
"It is time, my subject. The lingering filth have once again dared to step on my sacred lands. By the looks of things, only one such filth has come this time around, and is currently heading your way. Once it arrives, bring it to me."
"...Has that time finally come? In that case, worry not, my lord. We have prepared for this day accordingly. I will have capable people monitor the area for that filthy being's arrival. Once it's here, I'll be sure to send him to you myself!"
Hearing those words, the image of him standing over a corpse of a Player of YGGDRASIL, those he and his kin called "filth", formed in his mind, and for a moment refused to leave. That was because the thought of slaying those alien creatures excited him greatly.
However, though arrogant he may be, he was definitely not expecting it to be an easy fight. It was because the filth were very powerful. So powerful, in fact, that merely eight of them and their nearly-as-powerful servants had killed off most of the True Dragon Lords some two centuries ago in an all-out war for the ownership of this world.
"That's right, my subject. Lure the filth to me so that I could devour it, so that I could grow stronger. And then, when it is done, I'll be sure to have you rewarded for your efforts."
"Ah, how generous you are, my lord! It shall be done!"
And just like that, Hyurtob cancelled the telepathic connection.
"Yes... Soon, I will slay the filth, and grow much stronger that I am now. So strong, that even that bastard Magvaleiro will have no choice but to bow before me."
.
.
.
On the highest – third – floor of a tall tower-like temple made of stone, a brown-feathered Birdman – wearing a white robe adorned with golden edges and linings – sat stiffly by the desk in his slightly cramped office.
This was Urka Nol Archlit, the High Priest of the Sky City. He had just finished conversing with the Mountain God, Hyurtob Kveiyglas.
"So that day is nearing, huh?"
The High Priest sat alone in the office; a burnt corpse was placed next to him on the desk. He took a glance at the knife he had in his talon, the one he had used to swiftly kill the animal before burning it. Warm blood still coated that blade.
The corpse in question was a sacrifice the Mountain God demanded of the Sky People every first day of the week. A waste of an animal, the High Priest secretly thought. However, in this moment, such thoughts were definitely not on his mind.
"Yes, that day is near..."
And then, terrifyingly swiftly having gone from calm to a burst of fury, he impaled the burnt corpse with the knife in his grasp. There was a revenge-thirsty expression painted all over that avian face of his.
"Soon we'll be free of you, false God..."
As Hyurtob had recalled, he had indeed taken over the Sky City and its people with force. He had also throned himself as their God with force. And though nearly two centuries have passed since the start of his rule, the hatred the Sky People silently kept in their hearts has never wavered. In fact, it has only grown stronger.
Unfortunately, this centuries-long time of forced servitude to a God they did not even believe in was not something they could escape. After all, Hyurtob was a True Dragon Lord, a being that stood at the apex of this world, and could singlehandedly annihilate the Sky City and its people with ease.
Escaping his grasp without his notice was impossible, even more so without angering him to the point of getting themselves killed.
And when all hope of freedom seemed to grow fainter with each passing year, a Player of YGGDRASIL, of whose existence the ancient and highly advanced civilization of the Sky People were somewhat knowledgeable of, suddenly arrived.
Hope has been reignited.
The High Priest cast a spell. It was a low-tier spell that allowed a call-like contact to be established between two people, and allowed conversation from afar. It was similar to the spell which Hyurtob had used, but far more inefficient in comparison.
However, it would do well for what he needed to do.
"[Message]."
After a moment, the spell connected.
"Yes, Urka?"
"Udrek, my dearest friend. Though I would usually send a messenger to you, the task at hand is of greatest importance, and so I contact you like this instead. Unfortunately, the time is tight, so a short explanation will have to do. – "Player"."
In response to those friendly yet serious words, momentary silence followed. Eventually, the person on the other side, Udrek Mar Fulkesh, the second-highest ranked person of the Sky City, responded with seriousness to match.
"..."Player", is it? I see. In that case, as planned, I will inform sir Ha'tai, who guards the peak."
"Yes, please do so."
Another moment of silence passed.
"Urka... will "that" item be used? I regret to say this, but I fear... Ahem! Are you sure it will even work on the Player?"
The item in question had the power to teleport any single being it targets straight to Hyurtob's layer, but if it was used on a Player – a being on par, if not greater than Hyurtob – would it even work? It was something the Mountain God had never bothered to inform the High Priest about, only that it should be used should a Player ever come here.
"It... It will be fine, Udrek. For the sake of the old times, have some faith in me, will you?"
This was the first time this evening that the High Priest allowed himself to smile. It was a tired smile, one that held no confidence.
"...Of course. Knowing you, even if it doesn't, you will find a way to make it work, won't you? Like in the old times, I know you can do it."
"Yes, I will. In any case, the time is tight, and the arrival of the Player is possible at any moment. I estimate tomorrow to be the deadline, but it could be in this very moment. Be ready, and good luck, my friend."
"Yes, and to you too."
He cancelled the spell, and the connection was broken.
"Now that that's done with... Ah, I've wasted too much time."
Breathing a soft sigh, the High Priest rose from his seat and moved for the door with all due haste.
The freedom of his people, it was not something he could afford to be lax about.