Chapter 1: Exploration

Erebos still sat on his throne as he pondered what he should do now. He had been a strategist both in-game and in reality. That had been necesarry to ensure his survival on the battlefield and with it his progresses in YGGDRASIL, because a player lost 5 levels when killed. Still right now he was in a complete unknown situation and didn't even knew if it was real to begin with. Still his experiences in battle had taught him to always be sceptical and careful. He looked at his dragon generals and Charon as he spoke up.

"We are in an unknown area and have no idea what could wait for us behind the next corner. We don't know if any of Tartarus' enemies have been brought here as well or if we were the only ones. Both options are as positive in one matter as they are negative in another. Anyway, to prevent our presence to become known to the inhabitants of this world we should for now keep a low profile and wait until we can step out into the open." Erebos said.

"Erebos-sama, how should we do this?" Khympoleia asked. "With the Vanguard's Loss being a ruin we are no easy to hide."

"That is true however we have already a good disguise." Erebos said. "Vanguard's Loss is a ruin. There is no denying in it, however since we are inside a forest and Close to a mountain range we are already well hidden. However, from above we are still quite visible due the size of Vanguard's Loss." Erebos said.

"Erebos-sama, what if we hide Vanguard's Loss by using illusions and magic?" Asked Vulcanus.

"A good idea Vulcanus, however can we cover a larger area constantly with illusions? The amount of MP that would be necesarry from the spellcasters would also be quite high." Erebos said.

"Please allow me to offer a solution for this issue Erebos-sama." Charon said.

"Very well. Say what you have to." Erebos said.

"Thank you. If we use magic items to generate a thick mist and set up a net of detection spells, Vanguard's Loss would be much better disguised." Charon said. The dragon generals thought about it before nodding in Agreement. Erebos then nodded.

"Very well. In that case we will set up such a secured area around the ruins." He said. "Now then, we should move on to the next step. We still lack information about this world. We have no idea what lives in this world or anything related to it's lands. Under normal circumstances I'd just go out and look around by myself to figure out what is where, however the circumstances are far from ordinary. Also we need to keep our presence unknown from potential enemies, meaning contact with sentient lifeforms should be prevented for now, since we don't know how they would react to a dragon or any other creature that lives within Vanguard's Loss." Erebos said, before turning to one of his generals. "Aeolus, you have skills as an illusionist that allow you to be a bit stealthy. Also you can provide allies with buffs such as invisibility. You will make sure that not a single soul will notice us when we provide reconnaisance. After a crude look over the world we should be able to say what lives here and if we have an agent we can sent out." Erebos said.

"Understood Erebos-sama." Aeolus said.

"Very good. Now just for the unlikely case that an intruder enters Vanguard's Loss. You should know it by now, but I'll say it loud so you won't forget it. Each and every sentient, living being that dares to enter Vanguard's Loss without permission is to be eliminated before informations can reach a potential enemy force. After getting informations from them they should be killed right away. I don't know how you do it, as long as it can be done. Cleaved in two, stabbed in the back, shot in the head, sliced open, gutted alive... I don't care. Unless I give the order to not attack or to leave someone alone in this dungeon, Vanguard's Loss will not be tarnished by an outsider." Erebos said. "I want to know when an invader is inside and who and what it is. Then I decide about how to deal with it. Am I understood?" He asked.

"YES EREBOS-SAMA." The five NPCs said in unison. Erebos sighed in relief.

"Very well. Now that this is taken care of, I'll now go into my working room. Charon, I want you to inform the other servants of Vanguard's Loss about my orders. After that take a few of the monsters to secure the area above and tell me what you brought up to the surface. Since we are inside a forest we should have already a good camouflage in this region, however I want to make sure that this fortress' location remains unknown to those that shouldn't know it. The generals can now return to their posts in the dungeon. Tell your subordinates about my orders as well and be ready to summoned if I need your assisstance. You are dismissed." Erebos said. The NPCs walked out the door as Erebos stayed a little longer in the room. 'With the area secured from the ground and the air the ruins should be well hidden for now. However I cannot simply sit idly by until tomorrow. Speaking of which I somehow don't feel that tired. How strange. Normally I sleep not that much due my job, but now I lead a bunch of powerful, inhuman creatures that I created myself and I'm not tired the slightest. Doesn't matter. I better test out the [Mirrow of Remotive View] to see what is further away from this forest.' Erebos thought as he stood up from his throne and walked to his quarters.

A bit later at the entrance of Vanguard's Loss

Caitlyn was still looking for anyone who could try to spy on the ruins as she heard the footsteps of several persons behind her. She turned around to see Charon with a few other creatures behind him. One of them was bulky and hunched over, but a cloak covered all it's features. The other creatures behind the two were spawn monsters of the dungeon. There were 3 types of NPCs in YGGDRASIL. The first one were monsters that the dungeon spawned automatically. When one of them was destroyed the dungeon simply spawned a new one after a certain amount of time. However spawn NPCs never were stronger than Level 30, meaning that spawn NPCs couldn't be used to defend a dungeon alone against the attacks of YGGDRASIL players. The second type were mercenary NPCs. These monsters were also spawned by the dungeon however they required Special items to be summoned and it cost YGGDRASIL gold to summon and respawn them. Making to many mercenary NPCs can easily exhaust a guild's Gold reserves. The third type were Custom NPCs. These NPCs were created by YGGDRASIL Players. Custom NPCs could have multiple functions. The primary one was to guard a dungeon and helping the player to defend it. Other NPCs were created for the sake of roleplaying or were just made as decorations for the dungeon. Some of the monsters behind Charon and the other robed figure were looking like lizards with 8 pairs of legs. Basilisks were not very strong monsters in YGGDRASIL, but were capable of fending off most unexperienced warriors with their hard scales and venomous attacks. Also they had an ability known as [Pertrifying Gaze], that paralysed enemies. But the basilisks were not the only creatures that the two had brought with them. Behind them were also other low level monsters to observe the area around Vanguard's Loss. They were brought up to the surface to secure the area to be Tartarus' eyes, ears, fangs and claws. However before the force could move out Caitlyn stood in their way.

"No one is allowed to leave Vanguard's Loss without Erebos-sama's permission." She stated without any emotion in her voice.

"Erebos-sama has given us new orders. We are sent secure an area of the forest to make sure no intruders or spies will enter without us noticing it. Also we will deploy illusion items to cover our area to prevent others to find this place from above. Those are Erebos-sama's orders." Charon said. Caitlyn looked at the dullahan for a moment before she stepped out of the group's way as she new that neither of their masters creations would ever betray him. Charon nodded at her before he and the group headed out of the gate. Immediately the forces of Tartarus began their work.

A few days later

It has been now 4 days ever since the ruins of Vanguard's Loss had suddenly been transported from Nidavellir in the DMMORPG YGGDRASIL to a completely unknown location. The dragon player had already wanted to leave before, however is servants and NPCs had insited to scout the area around Vanguard's Loss first, which turned out to be a giant forest of more than 40 kilometers in diameter in the south and west, while a mountain range stetched itself from northwest to the south east, forming a U around the forest. In that time Erebos wasn't just laying back and sleeping, but actually trying to make sense of the whole situation. Also the last days provided him with enough time to see how much the dungeon had changed since it had ome into this world. Except the fact that the monsers and NPCs were now alive not much had changed, but that change alone provided him with a large Group of workers he could use as he saw fit. Mostly he however had tried to observe the area from Vanguard's Loss. But the time for staying inside the walls of the castle were over.

Curently, Erebos was standing at the entrance of the ruins as he looked up into the thick fog, that made it impossible for him to see the blue sky above. It kind of reminded him about the smog back on Earth, but that was now in the past. He turned around and saw a NPC he had created. Aeolus was floating in the air as his serpentine body was hovering in mid-air, while his wings were simply spread to keep it up. Because the legs were rather short at the serpentine dragon Aeolus had to depend on his wings for mobility.

"Are you ready?" Erebos asked as he spread his own wings.

"Always Erebos-sama." The serpentine dragon said bowing his head in respect.

"Good." Erebos said. "I've already taken a look at our surroundings and even away from this forest. It seems like there are settlements there, still we must be very careful. That's why I asked you to accompany me today. With your abilities as an illusionist we should be able to explore the area without drawing to much attention to ourselves." Erebos said as he took flight followed by his subordinate. Both dragons rose up into the sky and broke through the white fog. Erebos almost stopped as he saw the clear blue sky. He was already shell shocked when he saw it through the [Mirror of Remotive View]. As someone who only knew the sky as a thick black mass with the sun only coming out once in a month at best it was a foreign and slightly uncomfortable sight to behold. The more he was suprised when he saw what laid beyond this forest.

Flashback

2 days earlier

[Mirror of Remotive View] was a very handy item and belonged to the most basic items a guild should have. The mirror was like a webcam, but instead putting a camera somewhere and watching through it by using a computer the player could simply use the mirror like a touch screen to look what was outside of the guild base. However the mirror had the critical drawback that it could easily be tricked by using Magic and even a weak atak could destroy it. That's why guilds in YGGDRASIL had this item in a larger number.

Still there was one thing that bugged Erebos out.

"How the hell is this Thing working? I don't get it!" He said frustrated as he made movements with his hands. Originally he had thought to simply use the mirror like a touch screen of a tablet, however with his sharp claws that was probably not a good idea. It got worse when he tried to zoom in at the forest he was in. Instead of making the forest larger, the picture suddenly was thrown sideways as if he had swung his hand to a side. "What the heck is this shit?!" He cursed as he tried to calm himself. "Okay... very carefully now..." He said to himself as he slowly made a tapping motion with his finger. The picture now was only moving slightly. Erebos repeated that tapping motion again. Now the mirror suddenly turned black. For a moment Erebos simply sat on his throne. In the next he flipped the mirror over. "I DON'T GET IT?!" He yelled, before he picked the mirror up again and turned it on as he tried to figure out how he could make it do what he wanted.

Another hour passed until Erebos had finally managed to make something like a mental list of commands and what they did. He was now moving away from the forest and mountains as he saw town a couple of Kilometers away from the forests edge.

"Now that's interesting." He said as he made the mirror zoom in. Erebos now saw a town like he had in YGGDRASIL. The buildings were made of Wood and Stone, while a large wall made of stone was surrounding the city. In it's midst was a large manor as if some kind of rich bastard lived there. In comparison to the fantastic landscapes of YGGDRASIL this town was like a backwater place however. The architecture was not medieval and looked even older and simplier. The people in the streets moved up and down as Erebos saw men in armor heading out to the walls and stood on guard. Women and children walked around and merchants sold wares. However there was something that displeased Erebos. Most of these people were humans. Only a few individuals were not humans, but humanoid species and they seemed to be in a worse condition as the humans as they wore mostly rags and didn't look very healthy. Erebos then zoomed out the town as he searched for other settlements.

Flashback Ends

Erebos had directed Charon to go into one into the villages he had found nearby to this town in the south to gather informations while Erebos would travel with Aeolus straight to the southwest to explore the area more. Meanwhile Gaia was ordered to send her minions into different directions to gather more informations and if necessarry to eliminate potential threats to Tartarus.

"I see." Aeolus said. "[Invisibility]." He said as Erebos and Aeolus seemed to disappear from the naked eye, but the player could still see the other dragon perfectly clear.

"Good this should be enough for now." Erebos said as he pointed into the distance. "I think the two deserve some praise don't you think so Aeolus. I felt multiple Magic barriers and illusions working together. With this it shouldn'tbe able to come even close to Loss." Erebos said.

"They certainly did their Task well. Perhaps you should speak to them later." Aeolus said. Erebos nodded.

"Very well. Now come. Let's see what's behind this horizon." He said before flying towards the direction he had pointed at, Aeolus was following closely behind. Both dragons flew high in the sky as Erebos looked down on the world like on ants. He watched down as the mountains flew beneath him into the distance and were replaced with forests and grasslands. 'So let's see how fast I can go with this new body.' Erebos thought as he accelerated. His avatar was not primary built for agility, but he sure was faster than on the ground. The world beneath him would have been a blur if he flew deeper, but in this height the landscape only passed by as he flapped his wings once in a while. After flying over the land for an hour or so, Erebos stopped and looked around to figure out were they were. He was now above the middle of a great plain, which seemed to streach itself from one horizon to the other. Aeolus arrived behind his creator, ready to engage any enemy that they could face.

"Is something the matter Erebos-sama?" He asked.

"No. I'm just trying to get a better picture of this place." Erebos replied. "We have been flying over this area for quite some time now. At the next settlement we will try to get informations about this place." He said as Aeolus and he continued to fly. After a minute or two Erebos saw a village not far from their position. "Ara? What do we have there? Let's take a closer look." Erebos said as the other dragon simply nodded. Both flew a bit lower and closer to the village. Just a dozen meters above the village the two dragons hovered in mid-air as they observed what seemed to be a normal day. The village was almost a town by it's size but it wasn't surrounded by high walls but a simple fence. Men and women alike worked on large fields of wheat to harvest it later as they were clad in rather poor clothes. In the streets a few children also seemed to be in the streets playing around, while others helped their parents. Erebos felt a little jealous at this sight. Apparantly this children had a good childhood and given how carefree they ran around they had no idea of the terrors of the real life. 'Damn I wish had such a childhood.' Erebos thought as he mentioned Aeolus to go as both of them flew away from the settlement.

"Erebos-sama? You are flying very fast." Aeolus said as he flew next to Erebos. The dragon player immediately slowed down a little to make it easier for Aeolus to catch up though it was unnecessarry. Aeolus was created after the model of the wind element. His body was no good on land or in the water. His purpose was to fly and support other NPCs from above. As a general he was also a bit smart so he was able to judge an situation even when he was higher a kilometer above the ground.

"I'm just disturbed by the fact that I couldn't understand the native language." Erebos said.

"Should I wipe them out Erebos-sama?" Naga asked. the question suprised the other dragon a little, but he brushed it off. He actually considered this idea for a moment before dismissing it.

"No. That would have no use for us at all. Also would that change our current situation to the better in any case? No it wouldn't. We will look for another village and see if we can gain some information there with the translator items." Erebos said.

"I see." Aeolus replied as he and Erebos said flew further into the west.

Meanwhile with Charon

The hooded dullahan was walking through the streets of a small city not far from the forest in which now the Vanguard's Loss stood. Despite the fact that the people here went into the forest to produce wood and sell it, no one had seen the ruins yet as they were deep inside the forests multiple kilometers away from this place. The huts were simply made out of wood and stone as the town was apparantly not very rich. Next to the human population, Charon saw also other humanoid species. After talking with a local villager Charon had to learn that he didn't spoke nor understood the local language. In YGGDRASIL the most languages were simply automatically translated, but here this was a different story. Therefore Erebos had bestowed his scouts with translation items, but advised them to only use them if necesarry. Seeing that this was indeed the case Charon said his goodbyes to the villager before using the item on himself and talking with another villager. Through this he managed to collect informations about a lot of things. As he couldn't learn more he sattled his horse and rode to the next village.

The horse of course was no simple animal as it was commonly found in this world. It was amount from YGGDRASIL that was summoned through an item. An ordinary horse would most likely run away if Charon would just come close to such an animal.

After a few kilometers however Charon noticed a few other riders following him. At first he had not paid them any mind as they simply could have travelled in the same direction, however he could feel their Looks in his back as if they were trying to Strip him. It were two of them and both of them looked like scum. They wore dirty leather armor and carried short swords at their belts. Their faces looked rough and a predatory glint was present in their eyes. After a while as Charon wanted to go further on the road one of the riders actually forced him to change his course as he was brought to a small forest. The riders came closer.

"Well look what comes into our forest?" One of them said.

"Now that's blunt, isn't it? Didn't anyone tell you to not go into other people's homes?" The second asked. Charon ignored their comments as he simply kept riding. Suddenly, a net was thrown from the bushes into the air in hope to catch the rider, but Charon's riding skills and inhuman abilities were advantages that couldn't simply be outsmarted. He let go of the reigns of his Mounts making it slow down as if a car was doing a full out break.

"What the-" A rider said but t was too late as Charon grabbed the reigns of their horses and threw them Forward. The Mounts that weighted much more than adult men were thrown into the net with their riders like ragdolls as they tumbled whining and screaming to the ground. The horses kicked around trying to free themselves from the net, but only managed to entangle their legs only further into the net and hit their former riders, who could only scream in pain. Charon didn't care for their screams. The only thing they were was loud and pathetic. Meanwhile a lot more robbers came out the bushes with daggers, swords and clubs. As they were drawing closer to him, Charon was not even looking at them. They chuckled confident, that they could overpower Charon with their superior numbers.

"When you consider your lifes worth something, you should not attack." Charon said, but earned only confused Looks and laughter from the bandits.

"That guy's crazy. He thinks he can take on all of us. Let's Show that idiot what he gets from that." A bandit yelled as the entire gang charged at Charon with battlecries. Charon just let them come.

Meanwhile with Erebos

The dragon player and his creation/companion Aeolus were flying along a river they had found in the northwest and now flew along the the river. Because people normally settle at and along such bodies of water and given the technological level that he had seen the people possess in this world, Erebos was sure that sooner or later they would find a settlement as long as they followed the river further into the west. However both dragons flew higher in intervals to restore the deceiving spells to prevent drawing more than necessarry attention to themselves. Though, Erebos had no idea how much MP Aeolus had left. The Serpentine Dragon had unlike Erebos not the possibility to change his size. However just after the last restoration of this spell the draconic duo found a large town built right at the river.

"We are going down there Aeolus." Erebos said as both of them slowly came closer to the ground. The town was rather lively for some reason that the dragons didn't knew. However since they had used translator items they completely understood what the people said. Some merchants were praising their goods, while elsewhere people were bickering about something irrelevant. However than the dragons put their eyes on a mansion close to the center. While they drew closer they saw a balcony where a well clothed man was sitting as he was served by a group of maids. This picture alone pissed Erebos off to no end, as he remembered how he had to work and put his life on the line for some ass that never had to work himself, but he tried to not blow his and Aeolus' cover by emitting killing intent. Erebos had already experienced that his Body and his passive abilities mostly reated on direct commands, but also his mood.

"Darling." A woman's voice came through the building as the maids made way for a woman with blue robes around her body which looked a lot better than the usual clothes of the citizens they had seen so far and golden jewelry in form of a necklace with several gems, rings at her fingers and earings, which Erebos somehow gave the feeling that they will sooner or later rip her earlobes off. All in all it looked like this Family wasn't missing anything and lived in their wealth while some of the people in the town not even had a roof over their heads. That really reminded Erebos about he had grown up. "Do you think it was right to sent our dear Decius in this battle? He never had much talent with a sword." The woman said. The man in his chair groaned at this in annoyance.

"You know how the order is, woman. The Empire has ordered all soldiers that can fight to the front. Don't worry about our boy too much. He will return with honor and pride. I've been in the imperial army as well and so did my father and his father before him. Because of these two great men we can live like we do now. For that our son can be grateful and show it by fighting those barbarians." The man said. Erebos found this whole topic most interesting and would have liked to hear more, but the woman left her husband and retreated back inside the mansion, ending the conversation. He looked at his creation and used [Message] to speak to him without talking.

{We have heard enough Aeolus. Come now. We should go back to Vanguard's Loss and hear what the others have found out.} He said to him as both dragons took flight and flew above the clouds. Out of the range of observing eyes both dragons appeared again as an oval portal opened in mid-air. Both dragons flew through it and suddenly found themselves in a massive desert. This was the 2nd floor of Vanguard's Loss and the floor Aeolus was created to protect. In the middle of this desert stood a creature, but much like Charon, it was wrapped in robes making it impossible to see the features of this creature. It was a short and hunched creature as if it was an old man with back problems. "Thank you. Now go back to the 5th floor. I apologize for removing you from your post." Erebos said. The robed figure however instead of replying bowed it's head, before using [Gate] again and vanishing from the 2nd floor.

"Erebos-sama, shouldn't we have stayed longer to gather more informations?" Aeolus asked.

"Perhaps that would have been a better decision. However I didn't want to overuse your MP reserves. If we would have been attacked by someone strong you could have died and dead you cannot serve." Erebos said. Aeolus bowed his head at this.

"I'm moved by your words Erebos-sama. I shall serve you until the end of my days has come." The serpentine dragon said. Erebos tilted his head though he felt quite satisfied with this answer.

"My lord I ask you a question Aeolus?" Erebos asked.

"Of course Erebos-sama. I shall answer your questions to the best of my abilities." Aeolus said. Erebos swallowed at this and clenched his Hands into fists.

"What do you think about me?" Erebos asked.

"You are the greatest being beneath the sky. An absolute being of power that can crush it's opponents in a beat of an eye and cannot be defied. A creature that even suprasses the gods." Aeolus said. Erebos sweatdropped at this.

'Isn't that farfetched now?' He thought. "I see...I shall return to my quarters. Please report if anything happens. Also when the scouts are back I want the generals and the other high ranked members to hear what we have found out. That includes your subordinates as well. After all you are the leader of Tartarus' aerial forces. I'll send each of you a message when the time has come." Erebos said before he took flight and used another shaft to disappear deep underneath the sand of the desert.

Aeolus looked after Erebos for a moment before turning around and flying off to inform his subordinates as well.

Later

Blood stained the grass and trees in the forest and dripped down the trunks, branches and leaves, forming crimson pools on the ground and turning the ground into a wet mud where it had already soaked into it. In midst this red land a robed figure readjusted it's hood. Charon simply got back on his horse which stood on top of half a dozen dead bodies, so terribly disfigured that one couldn't tell anymore what they had been before.

"Annoying insects." The dullahan muttered as he mounted his horse again and rode beside a few crippled bandits he had left alive and tied together with a rope on purpose. In the next moment a gate appeared and the hunchbacked robed figure appeared again.

"Edo." Charon greeted the robed person.

"Mmhh..." Edo hummed as it stalked closer to the terrified and half dead men.

"Just bring them to someone to interogate them. After that we'll just dispose them." Charon simply said. Edo nodded before a clawed hand grabbed the tied up bandits and threw them without much efford into the gate. Edo then turned to Charon.

"It seems like something is troubling you." Edo said with the voice of an old man.

"You must have become senile Edo. Nothing could disturb me from fulfilling Erebos-sama's orders. However you seem to be concerned about something." Charon said.

"This situation is very disturbing indeed. We will be tested in many ways. We must believe in Erebos-sama more than ever. Also it will be troublesome to understand this new place." Edo said with concern in his voice.

"I see, but do not worry. The faith of those that were created by the Supreme One cannot be shattered or shaken." Charon said as he took off to the next settlement.

"I hope so for you as well." Edo said before disappearing from the forest. After an hour on the horses back he arrived in a small village. Left and right stood simple huts of stone and wood as the headless rider was slowly rode through the town, ignoring the mutters of the people that passed him by. The town looked not very rich, but so had the last village he had been. Charon already guessed that the majority of the people of this country, whatever it was called, didn't had much. Not that the undead cared for such a thing. All that matters was that his master and creator Erebos stood above all else and was not to be harmed in anyway by any creature. The undead finally arrived at the hut of the chief of the village who looked startled at him. It was an older man around the late 40s with dark brown hair and brown eyes.

"Who are you? What are you doing in my house?!" He exclaimed as he moved to the fire place to grab one of the however Charon simply appeared in front of the chief and grabbed him by the throat. "Release me!"

"Wrong answer." Charon said as he applied more pressure on the man's neck, slowly forcing him to his knees. Slowly Charon brought the man's head closer to the fire. "You will answer my questions now and no harm will be done on you. Should you however resist I'll simply burn the answers out of you." The cloaked dullahan said. "Now then. Shall we start?" He said as the man beneath him could only look in horror at him. This was going to be a very long interogation.

Meanwhile

Erebos sat on his throne as in front of him Edo stood as he had informed his master about the captured human bandits.

"I see. In that case we should start to interogate them as soon as possible. We still have no idea what is out there. I assume you have brought them already to Spectra." Erebos asked.

"I have indeed Erebos-sama." Edo said bowing his head. The black dragon mused as he stood up from his throne.

"Come. Let us talk as we walk." Erebos said as he mentioned Edo to follow him as he shrunk back to a size of about 2 meters. "This first task will be finished soon Edo. I believe that you are aware of that. Therefore we will have to prepare for the next steps already." Erebos said as both master and servant walked through the hallways of the fortress.

"As expected of Erebos-sama. Always thinking one step ahead." Edo said.

"It is only normal to do so. We have to consider all different kinds of Events that could happen and prepare for each possibility. The future is not written and even something as insignificant as the beat of a butterfly's wing can change the future." Erebos said. "I plan to perhaps even mobilise our stealth Forces as well to gain more Information about this world."

"Mhmm indeed a wise decision. But we should work too hasty, if you permit me to say." Edo said, bowing deeply to the dragon.

"Permission granted though you are one of my counselours." Erebos said. Originally he had created Edo for the sake of roleplaying as an advisor, while only bestowing him with Little supportive magical abilities. "In any case Edo, Tartarus will be ready for combat." Erebos said as he arrived at a door. As it opened Erebos looked into a room that was filled with weapons of all shapes and sizes. Katanas, warhammers, daggers, Whips, scythes, gauntlets, axes, bows, spears, crossbows, rifles and many others were put into fitting stands in a large room. But also armors of various designs and quality were resting here. It was the perhaps second biggest room in the entire 6th floor of Tartarus the armory. Further away Erebos heard the sound of a welder as Edo looked around the weapons like a pet that just had come to the new owner's home.

At the end of the long hallway Erebos finally saw the one responcible for the noise. It was a young woman with a black apron in front of her chest and a welder in her hands as she worked on a maze. Heavy boots and gloves covered her appendages as she stopped working and inspected her work. Short brown hair fell down her neck as two blue cybernetic eyes looked at the weapon with a emotionless look. The only thing that oved on her face were the target marks in her eyes that seemed to analyse the weapon.

"I see you are working as always Deliah." Erebos said. She was like Caitlyn an automaton, though her speciality wasn't to shredder enemies into pieces before they knew it, but to make items and equipment. For the dragon player the release of the automaton race made him immediately want to make such a blacksmith as machines mostly worked more accurate than living creatures. Deliah looked around, before she walked over to Erebos and Edo and kneeled to Erebos.

"My creator. It's an honor to have you here in my humble Workshop. What can this one do to serve you?" Cindy asked. Erebos almost fell over at this.

'Humble? Do you have any idea what a humble Workshop is? To get all your Equipment together one would have to beat up at least 10 gods of craftsmanship.' He thought, before replying. "Be at ease Deliah. I have merely come to observe your progress with this project. Tell me, do you think you have enough raw materials?" Erebos asked.

"I believe the materials should be enough my creator, however I do not think that the quality of the items might be suitable." She said. Now the dragon rose a brow at this, but said nothng about it, leaving it for now.

"Very well. We will discuss this to a later time. For now proceed with your work as planned. Should you request anything to complete this task do not hesitate to tell me." Erebos said.

"Your kindness is too much for this undeserving servant. I shall return to it immediately." Deliah said as she stood up before bowing one last time to Erebos and Edo, before walking back into the back of the armory. Erebos then turned around and left the room with Edo.

"Erebos-sama? May I ask about this project of yours? What purpose does it serve?" Edo asked.

"You'll see when the time comes. Also we should discuss how we can gain even more informations than by just using Charon and the others as scouts when he returns from his information gathering. For now let's just think about something else." Erebos said.

"Such as what Erebos-sama?"

"Something that will cool our minds down for a little. Constant stress will do no good on us. You are dismissed for now. Should something happen I'm in my quarters for a while. Speak with Spectra and summarise what he has found out already." Erebos said.

"Your wish is my order, Erebos-sama." Said Edo before walking around a corner as Erebos walked back to his quarters.

'God this is so tiring!' He mentally groaned as he walked down the hall. 'First I thought it would be useful to have all this power, but now I spent almost the entire time with making plans for the future. Alright calm down Erebos. You know that this is necesarry. You were annoyed by it whenever you planned a heist and now you are too, but don't let it out on your servants.' He thought. Erebos might not be the most educated person, but even he knew that many monarchs in the past fell victim of their own abuse of power. Though he doubted that his own creations would attack him in a revolt, he wasn't fully convinced that they wouldn't either, though so far they did everything he had said. Sighing mentally to himself he arrived back in his quarters and began to think about each and every NPC in Tartarus and what they had to do now. Then he used [Message].

"Hades. Come to the throne room when Charon returns. And bring the others of the stealth troops with you as well." He said.

Later

After the interogation and whipping the memories of the village chief Charon travelled back to Vanguard's Loss, while making sure no one followed him. Night had fallen over the land as clouds hid the moon and stars. Now the land was completely shrouded in darkness as Charon simply could navigate through this almost complete darkness without any problems. He made his horse disappear as he entered the forest and walked back. The woods creaked and snapped beneath his boots as he walked through the Woods. He reached the fog that covered the area around Vanguard's Loss without an incident. At the gates of the ruins waited already the automaton Caitlyn. The two NPCs didn't talked with one another if it wasn't necessarry. It wasn't like they didn't like one another, but they were behaving like professionals. Charon simply entered the ruins and made his way to the 5th floor to report to his master what he had found out. As he arrived in the throne room Erebos looked down at him with a group of other dragons in the room. The generals were present like last time but there were more individuals in the room.

One was an individual in purple full body armor with wings sprouting from the back and standing about 5 meters tall. In the hand it held a gray trident. The jagged and spiked armor even covered the wings completey as blue eyes peered out the helmet. His name was Helios and he was the guardian of the 1rst Floor of Vanguard's Loss. The next creature was a wyvern with black scales and armor with a bone design, that made the creature look only more savage as two horns grew backwards on the back of the head. This was Banshee. The third creature was a dragon as well, but this creature was more an european dragon though it had eight limbs counting the wings as well. Curved horns pointed upwards, a pair of horns grew at the sides of it's mouth and sharp fangs at the upper jaw made him look like a spawn from the depths of hell. Muscular arms and legs were proofs for a large physical strength. The four bat like wings were slimmer than those of most dragons, but they were still big enough to allow this creature to fly. A blade sat at the end of the tail. All three of them were part of a division, which was under Erebos' direct command and served as guerilla warfare unit.

Charon looked back at his master Erebos who sat patiently on his thrown and looked down at him. In front of the dragon player, the undead bowed his head again in respect and awe.

"I see you have returned Charon. Now please tell us what you have to found out." Erebos said.

"Yes Erebos-sama. When I first tried to communicate with the humans that inhabit this world it was impossible to understand one another. They speak an entirely different language. So I used the translation item you have bestowed me with and collect more informations from another scource." Charon said as he stood up. "First, we are on a continent called Falmart. The most of this continent is controlled by a nation that calls itself the Saderan Empire, but it mostly is referred by the people as The Empire. It's current ruler is called Molt Sol Augustus. Vanguard's Loss has been transported into the eastern region of the Empire while the imperial capital Sadera apparantly is located far away in the west."

"I see." Erebos said as he thought about it. "Please continue."

"Of course. The next thing I've found out is that the empire seems to pay with various coins of gold, silver and copper. Our gold is therefore not suitable to be used for any kind of trading." Charon said as he pulled out a small pouch which clicked as the metal coins shifted against one another inside of the pouch.

"Where did you get that money Charon-san?" Asked Vulcanus.

"I happened to be encountered by a group of bandits on my way. A few have been brought here to be interogated by Spectra."

"Yes. Spectra had came here once to deliver the informations gathered from the bandits. You did the right thing to bring them here Charon. If such individuals keep lurking around the area it might happen that they could find Vanguard's Loss without knowing what it is and get the wrong ideas. Anyway something I'd like to know is the people's opinion about dragons." Erebos said.

"Dragons are seen as simple minded beasts in this realm Erebos-sama. The empire seems to tame dragons as flying calvary. Next to that bigger dragons seem to be indeed savage animals of great destructive power for the people of this world." Charon said. The most dragons in the room were growling or hissing quitely as the dullahan's words reached their ears. To call a creature as strong and prideful as a simple animal was more than just a simple insult. Erebos himself was acually clutching his fists as well to not give in into his rage that burned like a vulcano in him.

"I see. Still, this wasn't everything you found out did you?" Erebos asked.

"No. As it seems the Saderan Empire has several smaller nations in the south of it as it's vassals. Still several soldiers have been ordered to assemble in the west to start some kind of attack, but the people I asked didn't knew what the target was." Charon said. Erebos thought about this.

'So the empire is currently at war with someone I guess. Mhmm. This could be of benefit for us. Everyone knows that predators always aim for weak and sick animals. So should they get crippled in this war enough they wouldn't be a problem for us at all.' He thought. "Charon have you heard of something about the population of the empire?" He asked.

"I did Erebos-sama, but how is that important?" Charon asked.

"I want to check on something. So can you tell me something about the different races of this empire?" Erebos asked.

"Well I wasn't able to bring much to light, however from what I can tell from the people I questioned and the settlements I've seen so far humans seem to make the majority of this nation's population." Charon said. "Though this is but a little area inside this empire that seems to hold control of the majority of this continent. Next to humans other races exist alongside them, which are simply labeled as so called 'nonhumans'. Due our lack of knowledge we cannot exactly tell now how many different kinds of creatures live underbeath this banner and what they are, but given the fact that I've encountered elves on my journey they should also be a race that is declared as nonhuman." The undead said. Erebos almost chuckled in irony at this.

'No matter where or when people really can be racist, can't they? Even though elves are an human race as well.' He thought as he remembered all the player killers he had turned into ashes. 'A good times.' "I see Charon. If this army is heading somewhere we should perhaps look for ourselves where these people are heading. However, we still don't know enough yet. Making a lot of sound in an unknown deep forest will only lure predators to us, which we actually seek to avoid. For now we should keep our low profile and focus on scouting the area, while gathering more informations." Erebos said. "Banshee, you can move around without being detected especially at night. Your camouflage is even better than that of Aeolus'. I want you to follow the empire's forces and provide Tartarus with Information. Make sure to not be detected." He said as the wyvern bowed her head.

"I'll be like a shadow. They won't notice me Erebos-sama." Banshee said.

"Umu." Erebos nodded. "Hades. You are one of the dragonoids in Tartarus' forces. When the time comes I want you to blend in the human society of the empire to infiltrate their ranks. For now you will help the others by collecting more informations to make you blend in better. Though I doubt that the empire has something like a network with a list of all registered civilians of it, a randomly appearing person out of nowhere will be suspicious. If you can report something out of interest for us, don't hesitate to share it with us." He said. The dragon kneeled and bowed his head deeper than before.

"I'll do as you wish Erebos-sama." Hades replied. Erebos turned to Helios.

"Helios, your main task for now is to keep Vanguard's Loss save from any intruders alongside Caitlyn. Also you will supervise the reparations of the castle." Erebos said.

"Reparations? Was the castle damaged by anyone?" Helios asked. Erebos almost facepalmed at this, but kept his cool.

"Vanguard's Loss is a castle ruin, which had been destroyed Long before I even conquered it for Tartarus." He said. "Back in Nidavellir I didn't had the time to do it, but now things are different. The surface level of Vanguard's Loss needs a serious cleaning job. Everywhere is destroyed inventory, that doesn't need to be there nor has it any use. You will supervise the maids and workers to do their job as well as helping them since you are far stronger than them." Erebos said. Helios kneeled to his master at this.

"As you wish." Helios said. A silent snicker rang through the hall as Banshee was holding her laugh back.

"Changing your weapon from a trident to a mop? Now this is just rich." She snickered.

"Shut your trap. Unlike an incomplete dragon like you I shall carry out Erebos' will without any hesitatio. No matter what it is. Even if it kills me I shall gladly lay down my life for his glory." Helios said.

"Even if it means to lose your face, honor and pride?" Banshee said, ignoring Helios' insult completely.

"Why you-"

"ENOUGH!" Erebos roared as the ground shook at his roar. Waves of energy were radiated by the massive black dragon as he glared down at the two bickering subordinates. "Banshee, Helios, you have been given your tasks. So start as soon as possible. The saderan forces have most likely already reached Sadera and will currently be briefing their assault strategy. You better fly as fast as you can if you don't want to be left behind." Erebos said. The wyvern quickly retreated and headed for the exit of the dungeon at this. "And as four you Helios, I created each an every one of you. None of you is incomplete as you all have a specific task to fulfill here in Tartarus. Am I understood?" The black dragon asked. 'Though I couldn't give all of the NPCs a level of 100. So technically they are incomplete.' He thought.

"Of course Erebos-sama." Helios said.

"Very well. Now then since this has been all for now you are dismissed. Generals, keep on standby as your services could be needed in the future. You are dismissed." Erebos said. The people left the room slowly and made their way back to their appointed tasks as Erebos sighed in relief. "This is so tiring my nerves. Still, this whole situation remains a big mystery. Did really no other player made it here. Well I'll know soon enough. In any case, I should perhaps pay Sadera a visit later." He thought loud as he chuckled evilly to himself. "Hades can go there once the plan is set into motion. For now it will be enough to figure out how to explore this world without making my presence known to this place. But first I really could use some relax now." Erebos said as he stood up and walked out the room to head towards his quarters. As he walked through the hallways he suddenly noticed something flying around him at the height of his eyes.

Taking a closer look he saw a group of beautiful women with bat wings coming from their backs as they wore different types of maid uniforms. 'Ah right the succubus maids. I haven't given them any attention yet now didn't I? Wow though I created each custom NPC here and made the new Settings for the spawning of both mercenary and spawn npcs I really am losing track here.' He thought. The women were respectful enough for Erebos to simply bow, when they were not addressed and flew to the sides of the hallway to make way for the massive dragon. 'I guess I'll have to think again about how to use the NPCs later.' He thought as he stepped into his quarters.

At the next day

In the morning Banshee flew over the plains of the western empire. Her body was invisible for any creature without the necesarry detection skills. She had flown the entire night and wasn't tired as she looked down at the assemblance of people beneath her on the ground. A force of thousands of soldiers has been assembled. Their movements were coordinated and precise, proving that it was a military unit instead of unorganised barbarians. The majority of people in this force were humans while other creatures such as orcs and goblins, which were in the front of the force. While the humans were wearing steel armor, held bows, lances, spears and swords and some even rode horses and wyverns, the demihumans were mostly clad in less protective, more savage armor like leather tunics and using weapons like hammers, clubs and axes. It had been easy to find the army in the night. Such a big group of people were not just leaving traces left and right, but also walked through the night with torches lit and smelled quite strong.

For Banshee alone it would be easy to kill these forces and add them to Tartarus as undead, but she decided against it though the sight of these dragon riders was really irritating her. How dare such primitive creatures to latch themselves on dragons like ticks and made them do what they wanted? 'These vermin and their audacity...' She thought as she shifted her attention to the direction the army was heading. They had left the area around Sadera already when the wyvern had found them and now they were marching forward without taking a break. It had been like this for hours already. For now Banshee could only be Patient and follow them from a safe distance without getting noticed.

Elsewhere

Erebos was currently flying over the plains beyond the forest in the southwest of Vanguard's Loss as he investigated the area with Kympholeia. Flying high above the land making it almost impossible to see him for the naked eye he could already see something like the ocean from his position. Still his mind was somewhere far in the west from this place.

When he heard that Banshee had found and persued the army now he had prdered her to not engage the forces now involve herself in the upcoming battle in any kind of way as he didn't wanted the empire to get any suspicions. So instead of risking his subordinate he ordered her to stay out of it and to perhaps kidnap someone when she thought it was a good idea. If she would get her hands (claws, talons?) on a high ranked military member such as acommander or even a general they could squezze every last bit of valueable information out of that person. Erebos knew how much his torturers loved their job. After all he made them to do so.

However the destination of the army would presumably be reached tommorrow so Erebos had enough time to think about a few things. For now Charon, Hades, Kympholeia, Aeolus and himself were scouting the area in the close vicinity and looking for more informations. Meanwhile he was working on a cover story or rahter stories for his subordinates that would Infiltrate the empire. It was like doing an heist back where he came from. When preparations were poorly the whole operation was doomed to fail. It did happen a couple of times in his past, but he never got he probably would be rotting in a prison cell right now.

Luckily he wasn't. Still the black dragon wasn't content with their current strategy to gather information, though there was no alternative. To randomly ask villagers and people for informations, before wiping their memories clean from the conversation and/or torture and heal them of course afterwards, while scouting the area from above without having the chance to just walk around alone. It just was still like he was in some kind of cage like an animal.

Erebos sighed at this. His subordinates were all inhuman and only few of them possessed the ability to shapeshift. So he couldn't cover a large area with agents right now. Until he could find an opportunity to reveal himself to this world he had to play the waiting game. It had it's upsides though.

First, he could use the time to calmly observe and plan his next steps. As long as he didn't knew what this Saderan Empire was capable off, though Banshee said that most soldiers in the giant army she persued were between Level 11 and 16, which was in YGGDRASIL meassures less than the strength of most low level monsters, he couldn't risk to walk into a trap that could be easily avoided.

Secondly, he could use this time to play a little around with his creations. Now Erebos wasn't like someone who would simply let his perversation get the better of him when creating a character. If he would have done that he probably would have made all of his NPCs female and they would be stuck to him by now like chewing gum to a shoe. That of course wasn't the case. Vanguard's Loss was guarded by a force of strong custom and mercenary NPCs that was structured like an army. Erebos guessed that it was due his time in the military of his world. Sometimes he had wondered if he should've instead played an ego shooter or a strategy who knows where he would be right now if he actually did that.

In any case, the generals were in command of the lower lieutenants and commanders while he on top of the hierachy stood above all. Spawn NPCs that were generated by the dungeon had little to no intelligence, making them equal to foot soldiers without a personality. No Feelings that could get in the way at all. No fear, no denial, no complains, no mercy. Once given an order by an higher ranked NPC they would fulfill the order or die trying. It wasn't like their lifes mattered at all. They were simply reborn by the dungeon and it didn't cost Tartarus any gold.

Gold, however, was a critical isseu right now. Erebos had collected a lot of money by raiding dungeons and guild bases, killing bosses and finishing high ranked quests alike. Though he had to put a lot of his fortunate into the defensives of his home he still had quite a lot of it in his treasury. The thought of a dragon guarding it's treasury brought memories back from an dungeon raid that he had done long ago. It was almost too stereotypical. That aside gold wasn't gold anymore, at least as a currency. The gold coins from YGGDRASIL were larger, heavier and simply much better in quality as the coins in this empire seemed to made by hand. Now Erebos wasn't a master mind in chemistry, but according to Charon's informations there were three kinds of coins in this nation. Suwanis were made of gold as were so called sinkus, which were more common, but worth less with a proportion to the former of about 1:5. Then came silver denaris and copper sorudas. To make Things easier in RPGs there were no kinds of coins with less than value of 1, which was mostly gold.

The problem for Erebos was the fact that with this world not being an RPG like YGGDRASIL it would be very difficult should Tartarus lose a lot of it's money due mercenary NPC resurrection, custom NPC resurrection or just spending the money on the local market. Earlier this day he had seen how one of his monsters, a basilisk, had dragged back a dead wolf to eat it. Therefore Erebos had forbidden to bring any kind of YGGDRASIL gold outside of Vanguard's Loss.

Also if a coin would fall in the hands of another YGGDRASIL player, whose presence he had not completely ruled out yet, it would be like a big, colurful shining neon sign with the imprint 'FELLOW YGGDRASIL PLAYER HERE'. The last thing he would need right now was some kind of roleplayer who saw his chance to play the hero right now. Only because he was a World Champion didn't mean he was unvunerable at all.

"Are you alright Erebos-sama?" Kympholeia asked as she flew next to him.

"Yes. I'm fine." Erebos replied as he looked down to a small town at the sea that he was seeing.

"Erebos-sama, why do we have to hide from these pathetic insects when we could simple dominate them with a beat of our wings?" She asked.

"Because humans are not as weak as they seem to be." Erebos replied. Kympholeia looked at him rather confused as Erebos decided to explain it to her. "You could say that living creatures have specific talents like for example being very fast or having deadly weapons. Humans and most other humanoid races do not have such talents. Normally such an inability of such things would have doomed them to extinction. But it didn't, because they were clever enough to figure out ow to survive. What they lack in strength durability and stamina, they compensate with tools and strategy. They are still pathetic in comparison to us as we are powerful and immortal, but they still managed to survive despite being so weak and that is truly a great achievement. Still, if necesarry we will test them once more." Erebos said as he glared down at the city, which was now much closer to the two dragons.

"Of course Erebos-sama. All sentient creatures shall bow to you, Supreme One. And those who don't shall perish!" Kympholeia said the last part with an huge amount of venom in her voice. Erebos rose an eyebrow at this.

"Supreme One?" He asked.

"W-Well, for us, who have been created by your unparalled power and infinite wisdom, you are indeed a god, no a supreme being. Not to mention your experiences in killing deities and such creatures." The ice dragon said as Erebos had to take a double take at this point.

'Now now. You are quite overestimating myself. But if they really think like that about me I guess I'll have to be a good leader like back home.' Erebos thought. "I see. Though you might be a bit overdoing it." He said.

"Such humble words from the Supreme One." Kympholeia said quitely, but Erebos still heard her.

'What the...' His thoughts were cut off by a familiar ringing sound of a [Message] incoming.

{Erebos-sama.} Edo said on the other side of the connection. {Charon has brought a map of this world to us as well as a lot of prisoners. Apparantly local bandits and criminals.}

{Very well Edo. Give Charon my thanks for his deeds. For now we continue as planned.}

{Understood.} Edo replied before terminating the connecting. Erebos turned to Kympholeia who was awaiting his orders. "We'll look along the coast for any other settlements, before we go back. Keep an eye open for any kind of incoming opponents." Erebos said.

"Of course Erebos-sama." Kympholeia said as both dragons flew along the coast. In that moment another [Message] came in.

{Erebos-sama.} It was Banshee. {I have found the target of the imperial army.}

{Very well. No one did see you or did they?} Erebos asked.

{No, but...} Came Banshee's reply. Now Erebos was confused.

'In what direction is this going?' He thought. {Okay what's the matter Banshee?} What she replied confused the dragon player more than anything so far.

{The target of the army isn't a city or a village. It is a gate.} The wyvern said.

Duh-duh-duh! And it is (drumrolls)... cliffhanger! Sorry. I couldn't help myself.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Reign Supreme.

First of to make the timeskip a bit more understandable for you, here's a little explanation.

Erebos arrived at the same time as the Gate in this world. Given a map of Falmart that I found on the wiki of this seriers, we can say that Alnus and Sadera are about 470 kilometers away from one another. When the Gate appeared the information of had first to be received by a group of soldiers, which would have to sent the message as fast as they could to the capital by using something like a falcon or even a dragon rider, what still would need an entire day to reach Sadera. In the meantime the scouts would have to kidnap Noriko and her friend as it is stated that she went missing a few days before the Ginza Incident to act according to the series' events. Also I don't know how such a giant thing like a giant ancient stone gate could get unnoticed for so long in a shopping district of such a large modern city like Tokyo, but who knows? Probably people though it was part of some kind of event of the doujin sale.

Also even when Molt had received the message of the Gate's appearance on Alnus Hill at the same day, he still would have needed a bit of time to assemble his forces, which had been approximately more than 100'000 people at this time and lead them to the Gate. And let's be honest here, 470 kilometers in the time of the Roman Empire were quite a long distance (it still is by human standards, but not anymore that much with modern vehicles like cars, though it still would take hours to get there) and let's not forget that this is a straight line between both locations and obstacles on the way that force such a force to take a different route than a just straight line through the Empire. We have seen this multiple times in the anime, that most roads that are broad enough for a wagon or even an humvee to drive through are not solid roads made of stone, but simply paths of dirt, which can also hinder the advancement of troops, than we can say that the way from Sadera through the Empire to the holy grounds of Alnus Hill is not only a very long, but also not the easiest way.

Now as for the lack of character sheets, I apologize deeply for this. I simply haven't finished them yet and that's actually quite depressing for me beause I normally make those before I publish the story at all. I hope I can finish them all when the next chapter comes out. Not to speak of the number of new characters in the ranks of Tartarus.

Also, because I had been asked this in Reaper of a New World before, here's the Location of Vanguard's Loss. First, look at the map of the entire continent Falmart. Then you go to the east of the territory that is held by the JSDF. There is a giant forest that has a mountain range as a borderline to the grasslands that once belonged to the Warrior Bunnies. Inside that forest is Vanguard's Loss now.

In any case, how do you think the story should continue? We sure have a lot of time to kill when the counter attack on the Saderan Empire happens 3 months after the Ginza Incident. Write me your opinions and suggestions in the reviews or PM me. Constructive replies are always appreciated.

Also at this point I want to tell you, that unfortunately my holidays are over and that now university strikes back. I've been working on a lot of next chapters for my other stories this summer and I really want to continue writing them. However real life doesn't makes things easier for me. Meaning I'll have again little to no time writing and have to focus on studying. I hope I can upload all the different chapters that I've been working on within november., because I originally intended to update all my stories at the same time, but that mostly doesn't work. After that I'll have to look how I got time.

I hope I see you next time again. Have a nice day ;)