Chapter 2: A plan in progress
Right after Banshee had reported about the strange structure that was simply called 'The Gate' Erebos had ordered his wyvern subordinate to stay out of sight and not risking to be detected instead of attacking the army below her. Basically she was ordered to work as a living video camera, always reporting what currently happened at The Gate. Once he and Khympholeia had finished their scouting mission, they returned to Vanguard's Loss he had ordered Helios to send additional Scouts to Banshee's assistance. Now he was observing the area within his throne room as Edo had casted [Crystal Monitor]. The spell had made a magic window appear that acted like the [Mirror of Remotive View], though Erebos didn't want to use that item right now as he still was not very familiar with it's controls. Also the [Mirror of Remotive View] could easily be destroyed and deceived. Using a magic caster siuch as Edo was easier and a safer scource of information. What he saw was a very interesting scenario.
The [Crystal Monitor] showed the situation from the bird perspective, but it was a little leaned to the side, so the dragon and his subordinates in the room saw what was going on. The Gate was indeed a large stone or marble gate, which looked like it was of ancient roman origin, save for the large blue stone in the middle of it's roof. It was big, though not big enough for Erebos to walk through it in his larger form. The fact that intrigued the dragon player the most was that the fact that the Gate seemed to be built into a mountain behind it like some sort of tunnel or entrance to a dungeon from YGGDRASIL, but the materials were very different from one another and it was pitch black inside of it. Even when the soldiers had begun their advance after a couple of hours to rest their troops from the long march it was still pitch black within the Gate and None of the soldiers seemed to bother to light up a torch or anything.
Speaking of the soldiers that the Empire had sent out, they looked quite disciplined. As a former soldier Erebos knew how people in his time were normally in such situations. Their bodies seemed to be well trained over years and the look in their eyes showed only joy for the upcoming battle. That was actually a major difference from what the dragon knew as most soldiers in his time were simply selected by their employer and got a gun and knife pried into their hands. There was no pleasure in killing and the thin threat of humanity that made most people hesitate in the moment in which they should pull the trigger. But these men were different. They might look stoic, but Erebos saw how excited they were for the bloodshed that would come.
It disgusted the dragon player. Sure he could kill without hesitation and he had no problem to order others to do so, but this look reminded him too much of his former employer for his liking. Far too much. Those rich pigs simply sat on their fat butts and never even touched a gun or have seen one with their own eyes. Instead they were far away when the bombs tore their soldiers into bloody chunks of flesh. He guessed that it was because the human soldiers at least were part of some kind of noble family like the one he had observed. Those were basically stuck up brats that never had to work for anything and lived without any troubles. And now they were thrown on a battlefield. Erebos wanted to laugh at the picture in his head of a modern brat of some rich douche being thrown into a battle before dying a horrible and painful death. His lips actually curled up into a smile at the thought.
However as he had observed these noble's children sought honor, fame and riches to most likely impress their parents, though they didn't have a clue of what war was about. There was no honor or glory, but only the fight for survival. He knew that better than any of these mutts.
After a few minutes the majority of the soldiers had walked through The Gate while a rest of the army remained as reinforcements if necessary. Erebos became slowly irritated at the fact that he wasn't able to see anything from the real battle on the other side of the Gate. And he had waited for hours now. However by every second that passed his curiousity grew. Slowly, but steadily the small part of him that wished to just jump up, cast [Gate] and walk through that Gate himself became stronger, however Erebos was anything but stupid. He had more than enough self-control to not do such a foolish thing. The nagging feeling of his own curiousity however was still present in the back of his head.
{Banshee, did you capture one of the lieutenants or generals already?} Erebos asked.
{I regretfully haven't yet Erebos sama. I shall immediately...}
{No.} Erebos cut her off. {The main purpose of this mission is to figure out what is going on with this gate and to provide reconnaissance without the Empire noticing. We have to wait for the soldiers to return from the other side and then to use a moment of unawareness to capture someone. Do you understand?} The black dragon said.
{Of course. Please forgive my lack of insight.} Banshee replied.
{It's fine. This is the first time that we are facing such a situation. However this doesn't mean you will not receive punishment for failing this easy mission. Failure will not be tolerated.} Erebos said. {Now continue your Mission. I look Forward to see the results of your work.} With that he terminated the line between him and Banshee as he looked over to Edo. "To capture a high ranked member of the military would be difficult if the Empire wouldn't be attacking right now. However in battle there is only chaos and only few people can keep a calm head in such situations. We use this chaos of the battle to simply kidnap someone from the returning soldiers and the officers on this side of The Gate to gain more Information. Through this we receive not only valuable Information about the Saderan Empire, but also what lies beyond that Gate without being noticed by either the Empire nor whatever they are fighting right now." Erebos said.
"Truly a magnificient plan. So that is why you deployed Banshee." Edo said nodding.
"Indeed. If a large black wyvern would just kidnap a soldier out of nowhere that would raise far to much Attention. A soldier that is lost in Action however is something that is in most cases not preventable. Therefore we use this as a disguise." Erebos said. "This gate will influence our further activities in this world. And it might even turn out to disturb them as well, however until we not know anything specific we need to keep a low profile. Until I order otherwise I need all of troops off Vanguard's Loss on high alert. If our presence in this world would become noticed by the Empire or any other force, we would face consequences that we might don't wish to face. Until know we still know so little about this world." Erebos said.
"Erebos-sama, what should we do if whatever is behind this Gate should pose a threat to your plans?" Edo asked in a slightly aggressive tone. The black dragon looked down the smaller hooded figure, while answering.
"We eliminate the threat before it becomes one of course." He stated in a cold tone. "But now is not the time to act hasty. For now we cannot use the Gate without being noticed and such a risky move such as sending an Expedition force over requires at least some careful planning and preparing for it first. We have no idea what is beyond the Gate. We don't know about it's orgins. The only thing that we know is that the Empire wanted for some reason to invade whatever is beyond it. For now we will observe the Situation." The dragon player explained as there was a knock on the door. "Enter." With that one of the succubus maids came inside the throne room. Her platinum blonde hair was combed into a nicely done comb as she approached the throne in her victorian maid uniform.
"Erebos-sama, Hades has arrived." She said.
"Very well. Send him in. You are dismissed." Erebos said with a slight wave of his hand to emphathise his words. The succubus bowed and left the room while the black dragon Hades walked into the room, before stopping in front of Erebos as he kneeled to him.
"You wanted to speak to me, Erebos-sama?" He asked.
"Indeed. As you know I want you to infiltrate the Empire's ranks for me since you are a dragonoid, however first we need to come up with a suitable backstory for you. That's something I've been working on." Erebos said as he reached into his inventory and pulled out a scroll. The piece of literature was quite big and thick almost like a tree trunk, but that was only because of the size regulation of YGGDRASIL items. He threw the scroll over to Hades, who caugth it effordlessly and began to read his script. After a moment he looked up and bowed towards Erebos again.
"Thank you Erebos-sama. That you would go through all of this just for such a lowly servant as me...I cannot express my gratitude in words." Hades said in awe. Erebos sweatdropped at this, but he had to confess he liked being the big boss of this dungeon.
"Raise your head Hades. We have much to do in order to make this operation work. And I expect you to do your very best Hades." Erebos said. Meanwhile his thoughts were circling around the mysterious Gate that had appeared in the southwest. 'Given how the Empire reacted on this phenomenon this must be a not very common event. And to send an invasion force right away without investigating the area before is just downright stupid. How foolish must this emperor to sent his troops through this Gate?' He thought slightly amused at the Situation, while his other half was disappointed and wanted to shake it's head. 'In any way, I will need to leave this task to Banshee and the reinforcements I sent her way. Mhmm given their normal speed they should be able to arrive at the Gate in the night so Banshee will be on her own for today.' Erebos thought to himself.
It wasn't like he was not convinced of Banshee's capabilities as a suitable candidate for this task or a lack of trust in her abilities as an assassin and spy, however he had to confess that he had his doubts. It was after all Banshee's first real assignment for such a mission as her abilities were actually created for the assault of invading YGGDRASIL players who would attack Tartarus. On second thought however he was convinced that he had nothing to worry about. The other NPCs had all acted like a well oiled machine until now and had done their duties flawlessly. As a soldier he could tell that even high level YGGDRASIL players with little real combat experience would have a hard time against these dragons. It was an advantage he enjoyed to have. He could imagine that fighting with his new body would be more difficult to mentally handle than using his Interface when he had been in YGGDRASIL. It made Erebos calm his mind a little and patiently wait for his scout to take care of the matter at hand.
'I guess meanwhile Spectra has already prepared his tools for the upcoming interogation. What could I do then? Delia is making gear, Helios is on cleaning duty, Hades is learning his script, Charon is on scouting mission and the other generals cannot be bothered with trivial matters. I guess I need to wait for Banshee to return. In the meantime I guess I can use that mirror again and watch the world a little to plan the next step. I wonder how far the capabilities of the mirror go.' Erebos thought to himself as he sat on the throne.
Meanwhile with Banshee
The large wyvern drew it's circles over the army that was assembled below her as she kept an eye on the target that she spotted in midst of the large column of men and demi human beings. The general or lieutenants she spotted wore slightly different armor and always kept their watchful eyes on the situation, however after an hour of stagnation even their patience and boredom won over the rational thoughts of the men.
The camp was a bit distanced from the Gate in order to prevent the camp to be attacked directly originating an ambush from the Gate itself. Tents and other things had been erected around Alnus Hill in order to maintain the army's needs of food, shelter and so on. Flying over the cap the wyvern noticed some of the high ranked militas straying a bit to far from the camp to dispose their wastes.
One of the humans for example stood there with his back to the camp as he urinates on a small patch of vegetation as he was unaware of the dragon like everyone else. Banshee saw her Chance immediately and dove in like a hawk. The imperial soldier had just enough time to pull up his loin cloth and readjust his belt as a pair of talons grabbed the man and lifted him up in the air.
"[Paralyse]." Banshee said, casting a low tier spell, that rendered her victim for the Close future immobile and without being able to move the man couldn't scream for help.
{Erebos-sama I've got one of the humans you asked for.} Banshee reported happily.
{Good bring him immediately to Spectra. We need this man's knowledge.} Erebos replied on the other end. Only a moment later a gate opened in mid air and Banshee threw the human inside, before the gate vanished.
{Should I capture more humans Erebos-sama?} She asked her master.
{Yes that would be benefictial for Tartarus, but don't kidnap too many. Otherwise the soldier will get suspicious. And make sure you remain hidden.} The black dragon said in a warning tone.
{Of course Erebos-sama. I'll do everything in my power to be of use for you.} She said as she went back to fly over the army's camp, looking for the next victim.
Meanwhile with Erebos
The black dragon ruler of Tartarus had gotten his [Mirror of Remotive View] out to observe the battle from another perspective. Though navigating with the mirror was rather hard, he did manage (even if he had to take quite far arcs around his destination instead of a straight line) to find the Gate on his mirror. Also the four dragon generals and Helios had joined Erebos as he wished to consult his next actions with them.
"Alright. It looks like everyone is here. My subjects and creations, I've summoned you here to discuss the recent actions that have occured. The Empire has launched an attack on an unknown region beyond this obviously magical Gate. These news are as unnerving as they are important and they need to not delayed." Erebos said making the dragons look at one another, exchanging looks like unspoken conversations as Erebos continued. "We don't know much about this Gate. We don't knew where it leads to nor how it came into being. However we cannot ignore the fact that the Empire has mobilized it's Forces to fight this unknown enemy. The result of this battle will determine the course that our actions will take of course." He said.
"Now I've not only summoned you here to just look at this battle that we cannot see. I wish to be updated about a not very urgent matter to say so." Erebos said. "As you know the key in sucess of a battle is not only strength, but also wits. And that includes to inform yourself about an enemy before instead of charging in blindly. However something I'm afraid to not know about is our own troop strength." He said.
"What do you wish us to do Erebos-sama?" Helios asked. "Give the order and we will crush the empire beneath our Talons." Erebos rose a Hand at this.
"Not yet Helios. First we need to know more. However what I ask you to do is to give me a full Report about all troops under our command. Each of you is a General, a leader of our troops on the battlefield. I wish to know what you lead, how many of them are there and how strong they are. With that we can plan future experiments as well." He said. All five Dragons bowed down in Response.
"YOUR WILL SHALL BE DONE OH GREAT CREATOR EREBOS-SAMA!" They said in unison. Erebos was slightly tacken aback by the once more upflaring devotion of his subordinates, before grinning inwardly.
"In that case we should have no problems." He said as he turned his attention back to the mirror. He noticed that now imperial soldiers stomred out of the Gate, looking like the devil himself was after them.
{Erebos-sama, I caught two more men as the soldiers started to retreat. They seem to be very scared. Should I bring a few to Tartarus as well?}
{Of course Banshee. Now you are allowed to take more of them, but remain unseen.} Erebos said.
{It shall be done.} Banshee replied as the connection was served. The panicked reactions of the men were not unnoticed by the other Dragons in the room, who chuckled slightly at their behaviour.
"Spineless Worms. They cower in the face of defeat despite being soldiers. Humans surely are pathetic creatures." Vulcanus said.
"True. Humans have hardly anymore use than to be labor and sometimes livestock for other creatures. I ask myself how they were able to survive this long." Kympholeia said.
"Perhaps they are not even worth to worship Erebos-sama." Gaia said.
"They were defeated and not many soldiers have come back. Their losses are high and this leaves them in state that would make it easy for any creature of Tartarus to kill them." Aeolus said.
"Then they truly are nothing but imbeciles. To lose so many soldiers would mean that they have lost the missing ones as a result of over-confidence. Their own pride got in their way and now they have lost so many of their own. Stupid apes. Even with their whole army they would be no true opponent against any of us at much less Erebos-sama" Helios muttered, but everyone heard him and nodded in agreement.
Meanwhile Erebos looked at the retreating army with interest and slight amusement. It was obvious to him that they were trained soldiers and had for their Standards probably the most advances gear to attack whatever was beyond this Gate, however the result was the same. The once much larger army had been reduced to this rather pathetic state with it's warriors' spirits broken and those that were not had no idea what was beyond the Gate. The dragon player had to agree with Helios. As far as he could see the empire didn't posed a threat to him or Tartarus at all, however hiding someone's claws was the key of a sucessful fight. He simply couldn't rule out that out there was something that was strong enough to become a threat.
Still he couldn't help, but look at the human army like at a bunch of ants. From what knowledge he had gathered so far the Empire was around this continent for several of centuries already. In this time it had basically done nothing, but spreading it's influence across this continent, leading to the current Situation with it's technological advancement and it's Relations with the smaller nations around it. And that was where Erebos saw the error.
The Empire had been too long the dominant force on Falmart without ever having to fear a true opponent that easily could defeat them. In their arrogance of being the strongest there is and could ever be, the Empire had sent it's Forces to the Gate and never even considered the possibiliy of losing. That was the reason why the Empire had failed so miserably. On Earth however that was a different story. Because the rich people, that never fought their conflicts themselves, always had to fear that their adverseries had somekind of hidden trump card in their sleeve. That was why spionage and sabotage were very common in their wars. Now it was debatable how far these two methods could be established with a nation like the Saderan Empire, but Erebos was sure that assassination, spying and stealing valuable Information and even technology were something these people were not unfamiliar with.
As the army kept retreating towards their comerades in the camp around Alnus Hill, Banshee had contacted her master and creator once more.
{Erebos-sama, I was able to catch a few more of the retreating soldiers. Should those other 16 people be enough?} She asked. Erebos was quite surprised to hear that. To capture 16 people without anyone noticing it in such a chaos like this was not a small feat at all. He grinned at this. His creation had just exceeded his expectations.
{Very good Banshee. That would be enough. Return to your Observation duty and come back here once the reinforcements have arrived.} He said.
{Of course Erebos-sama.} Banshee replied. Erebos mused to himself as a huge amount of pride swelled up in his chest.
'So that's what parents feel when their children made progress. Interesting. Wait did I just indirectly referred Banshee as my daughter?' He thought as he looked at the NPCs around him. The generals were still talking about what to do next while Edo stood at the sidelines and observed them and Erebos as if he was waiting for him to be called. Each of them was created by Erebos' hands. Their minds and bodies shaped after his ideas. And thus was Tartarus and the gear of each custom NPC inside of this dungeon. 'Well technically they don't have biological parents so there is only me. And from what this one guy told me gods did refer their creations mostly as their own children in the mythologies of Earth. Huh? And suddenly I have several children that are all easily older than myself. Quite interesting.' He thought. He then decided to smack his tail against the floor lightly, causing all chatter to die down immediately.
"When everyone has calmed down now I would like to say a thing or two about the next stage of our plan." Erebos said. The NPCs immediately kneeled down and bowed their heads.
"Please forgive us Erebos-sama. We shall not fail you again." Helios said in a completely devoted voice as if a crusader would pray to his god.
"Umu." Erebos nodded. "Now then, as you have been briefed already I need a full list of all forces of Tartarus in order to be able to plan our next move. Now I'd like the lists to be finished this evening so you won't have much time to finish it. I suggest you to start immediately. Oh and before I forget it." Erebos added. "All of you are needed to be present on a Meeting here tonight at midnight. Your presence is necessarry. You are dismissed now." Erebos said.
"Hai Erebos-sama!" The dragons said in unison before leaving the throne room. The player then turned to Edo.
"As for you Edo, I would need you to collect the lists of the generals in the evening before the meeting begins. If you need to report something, I'll be in my room." Erebos said as he stood up.
"Of course Erebos-sama." With that the last two occupants of the room left and headed into opposite directions. Erebos then walked through the hallways of the underground castle into his room. But not before contacting another of his creations.
"Charon, I believe I have a special job for you to do." He said with an evil glint in his eyes.
Sometime later at the 6th floor of Vanguard's Loss
Slowly opened the eyes of the man as he felt consciousness return to him. His eyelids were heavy and his limbs ached in protest to be moved in any kind of way. Still he lifted his head up slowly, as a stinging pain came from the back of his neck. His vision was still blurry and his mind tried to piece together what had happened, but slowly his vision got sharper until it was clear again.
He was in a large and dark room. The floor, the walls and the ceiling probably too were made of stone as the man couldn't see the ceiling, because of the darkness in the room. There were several glowing objects on the walls, but they were no lamps, candles or torches. There was no smell of smoke or the like. The strange objects were just glowing in a dimmed green light. The man presumed it to be some kind of magic artifact as he tried to move his arm, but after it had moved a little it was suddenly stopped.
Just then the man realised that his arms and legs were restrained by chains. Slightly panicking he looked around himself now. He wasn't hanging from a wall, but his arms and legs were still tied up with chains that he barely felt. Almost instantly jumping on his feet, he tried to pull the chains of his wrists and ankles, but it was useless. The chains, which were disappearing into holes the wall simply didn't budged. Despair took over his mind as he began to clung to his pride as a proud soldier of the Empire and shouted.
"Hey! Undo these chains right now! I'm a soldier of the emperor!" He shouted as he demanded his freedom. Just at this moment he heard several groans and even screams of fear and panic. Trying to pear through the darkness around him the imperial soldier could hear small sounds.
"What is this?!"
"Where are we?"
"What happened!"
"I'm the son of a duke! I demand an explanation!"
Then the man realised it. He wasn't the only capative inside this dark dungeon. However just as his hope flared up a little the lights became much brighter and the whole room was illuminated. The men groaned in protest at the sudden and drastic change of light intensity that penetrated their eyes as they looked up. What they saw made their blood run cold.
On tools, that had clearly the sole purpose of torture, were the corpses of some of their allies. A dead man was sitting on a chair with restrains to keep the victim in place. The lower arms and the legs had been removed and now laid in bloody pieces in front of the chair. A second corpse had been impaled on dozens of metal spikes on a bench. The blood had long turned dark and only the driping of a few drops once in a while joined the rest on the floor, where the liquid ran between the stone tiles into a simple vent.
Lastly there was the most terrifying thing in the entire room. On some kind of metal table laid another imperial man. His arms and legs seemed to have been removed as well as his entire stomach had been cut open, making entrails and ribs sticking out as the ribcage must have been opened. In the head stuck multiple needles and the head had many stiches on it, to close the once opened cuts. However what made this the most terrifying thing of them all was the face of the man. His eyelids hade been removed, alongside the lips and the skin on his cheeks, showing his teeth to the other prisoners. Tears ran down the man's face as he seemed look at the others. Then there was a twitch of the eye. It looked around and the stumps that once had been arms and legs moved as the restrains couldn't hold them anymore.
"He-help m-me..." He begged. Now that made everyone's skin crawl. The man on this table was still alive! A few of the soldiers couldn't take the stress and the horrible pictures any longer and threw up on the ground.
"Wha-What is this?"
"Did the enemy took us hostage?"
"I CAN'T ANYMORE! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!"
The reactions were all very similiar, yet they shared the same origins. Confusion, shock, fear and most importantly helplessness. Just then another voice joined the tormented prisoners.
"Oh finally awake I see." A voice in an unknown language said as the soldiers looked around, but found nothing. The skinned man on the operation table was squirming like a worm within a bird's beak, however in vain as he could no longer move or hope to escape. "Don't worry. I won't simply kill you right away. Instead it will be long and agonizing for you as you will cling to those last shreds of sanity that will remain. You will be of great use for-Erebos sama. I hope he will be pleased." The voice said as the speaker stepped into the light.
It was this moment, that the imperial soldiers truly knew the definition of despair.
Meanwhile
Erebos felt a shiver running down his spine as he looked around himself. He was in his room. Like the throne room it was a rather big room with a high ceiling to house his massive height if necessary, however he was currently in his human sized form, making it easier to navigate around. The furniture was exclusively made of many high level materials. Ebony wood and white alabaster colored the room along with an elegant red carpet and pictures of Erebos victories within YGGDRASIL. At the wall behind his desk was even a larger banner with his symbol on it. There was also a door to a seperated bed room with a massive bed that was large enough for him to sleep in, though until now the dragon player had not been able to enjoy much sleep as he was constantly working and making plans.
'Is someone talking about me? Nah, probably just my imagination.' He thought as he looked through the reports of his generals.
As his roleplay role of the 'Black Dragon Ruler' Erebos had mainly made the forces of his dungeon to dragons as well. Originally he thought about adding other reptilian races on a large scale as well, but then he had the idea to simply built his own dragon kingdom in form of this dungeon with the minority of other creatures to serve him. The most custom NPCs were dragons. Many (but no all) mercenary NPCs were dragons as well and some of the pets that he had aquired from one of the guild members were (can you guess it? Correct!) dragons as they were in the minority as custom NPCs, they were still the majority of Tartarus and the strongest force they had with the exception of Charon and Caitlyn. Other NPCs such as the succubus maids were created to be more like decoration and roleplay instead of being an attack of said demons, there were 4 of them right now in his room, waiting to be called to fullfil their master's desires.
The first one was tall and had long blonde hair that flowed down her back like a waterfall of golden silk. The second one was a bit shorter and wore glasses on her nose as her brown hair was tied up in a bun. The third one was about the same height as the second one, but she lacked the glasses and her grey hair was hanging in twintails down from her head. The fourth was about the same height as a 15 year old girl. She had shoulder long, dark blue hair and a child-like face. A bat-wing like head band sat on top of her head, adding more cuteness to the petite girl's natural charm.
What each of them, except the fourth one had in common was a curvy body that would drive any weak willed man crazy. Probably so crazy that all blood in their bodies would rush in the lower regions, causing the brain to simply suffocate at the lack of oxygen. The fourth one was simply adorable in her special way, but knowing that she was a succubus as well, she probably shared her colleagues' personality that was rather common among succbi and incubi. They also wore common french maid outfits that showed enough cleavage to draw the eyes of the onlookers to them.
While Erebos had to say that each of them was looking that easily out the women from Eath into shame, he tried his best to restrain his body to go into a certain kind of action with all willpower he could muster. It wasn't because he didn't want to or something, but he simply felt not ready to do THAT with any of them as the current situation was simply too unknown to do such a many variables were still unknown and the Gate incident had proven that even such an abnormal thing was possible.
The Gate was as interesting as it was a potential danger at the same time. He had no idea what was beyond it's borders and Spectra was not finished yet with the interogation of the captured men. Sighing he looked down at the lists again and a map of the closer environment. To be honest, the map was as useful as it was inaccurate. The proportions of the landscape and distances of the cities were not really matching and it was quite hard to read since he was still working on learning the saderan language. That really disgusted Erebos. He'd rather teach the locals how to speak japanese then to have to learn an entire new language. However he knew that knowledge was power as well. From what he knew, there had been only a very selected circles of people, that ahd been able to read and write in the past, giving such people power that they could use for their own advantage. Preachers and monks for example could say whatever they wanted even if in their holy books stood the opposite of it, because common people were not able to read back then. He may still had studies to do about this empire, but he was pretty sure that common people were not as taught as for example people with a lot of money. The most important fact for him however was that the amount of knowledge that would disappear when texts and books became unreadable without being translated, before the language become extinct, would be enormous and the chance was high that he might lose some of it that would really give him advantages in this world.
Looking at the lists he mainly found dragons of course and a few other creatures at his disposal. While he could think of them being used in a party to conquer dungeons in YGGDRASIL the transportation to this world had posed a problem to the former soldier's plans. He knew that the humans in this world were no match for the spawn monsters of YGGDRASIL, however this world was not only inhabitated by sentient humanoids. The dragon riders of the empire had proven that much already. However what about demihumans such as the orcs and goblins in the imperial army? Or even other heteromorphs like himself? For now he had not seen much demi-humans in this world and seeing them serving the empire either meant that they were too weak to defend themselves or that they were simply a minority in this world either in numbers or in power.
Still Erebos would be arrogant and ignorant if he took those soldiers and mercenaries as to picture the strengths and abilities of an entire species. There were always stronger and weaker individuals and some may had skills that others had not. However the dragon simply couldn't sit still in his underground fortress and bore himself to death until his scouts would have discovered the whole world. Exploration was his thing already! The matter that really bothered him was that he had no idea how strong some of his subordinates were until he would see them in action once.
That being said he tried to figure out how to clear this uncertainty of his up. He had already a few ideas, however those would require a certain amount of time, that he did not have. The 'Attack on the Gate' (got it?) had left the empire in crippled state. This was a dangerous time for the Empire and Erebos was sure that now any other power, that was aware of the recent events, was looking at the Saderan Empire like a predator at a defenseless prey animal. Erebos' soldier insitincts told him that now would be the perfect time to begin an attack on the Empire, however though his finger twitched slightly he controlled his bloodlust this time.
The militaric situation of the Empire was indeed ideal, however he still had not enough reason to attack the Empire in the open. No, what was needed in this situation was a cunning plan. And Erebos had a such plan already in motion. It just would take a bit more time. Just a few days and everything would hopefully fall into the right spaces of the puzzle. Instead he turned his head to the succubus maids, who immediately perked up under the black dragon's gaze.
"Is there anything you require Erebos-sama?" The blonde maid asked with a honey-sweet voice.
"Yes there would be something. I need to prepare something on the 4th floor of Vanguard's Loss in order to improve our defenses." Erebos said as he put an envelope in front of his desk. "This is a list of things that I require. Pass it over to Helios as he should be on the 1st floor. Also I need reports from Deliah and Spectra about the progress of their projects. Would three of you mind to do that?" Erebos asked. Immediately all four jumped up at this as they seemed to be overjoyed to have the chance to prove their usefulness.
"Of course Erebos-sama. We'll be right away." The blonde demon said bowing forward in respect. However due her clothes Erebos got a really could view on her cleavage, that almost looked like it was trying to break free from it's restrains. The dragon player who was all, but inexperienced in this kind of field, but tried his best to not stare at her or 'them'.
"I see." Erebos said as he handed the envelope over to the succubus, who grabbed it and was immediately storming out the room alongside the other two mature looking succubi, leaving the dragon with the loli succubus. 'This was officially weirder than my sudden attraction to rare metals.' Erebos thought as he looked at the succubus who seemed to now realize what had happened.
"UWAH! HOW COULD I HAVE LOST TO THEM?! I NEED TO...to..." The maid basically screamed, before becoming quitely as she realized that all tasks had been taken care of while she looked at Erebos. The dragon player sighed.
"You. Come here for a moment." The dragon said as he gestured the succubus to his desk. Her cheeks basically glowed in a rosy shade of red as she looked down herself. She was rather uncomfortable and looked down her fingers that fumbled around nervously. 'What's wrong with her? I didn't say she is about to be execute or something now did I?' The dragon sighed at this. "Take a seat." Erebos said gesturing to the chair.
"B-but Erebos-sama, that is too disrespectful..." The bluenette exclaimed as Erebos shot her a glare.
"And I think it is rather disrespectful to not follow the orders of your superior." The dragon said as the succubus shook in fear and sadness as she dropped on the chair and lowered her gaze in shame. The dragon swore he saw tears dwelling up in her eyes.
"I-I'm sorry Erebos-sama." She said.
"If you really are sorry then I'd like you to make up for this." Erebos said as he summoned a chess board on his desk. The item was rather a trash item that he had picked up somewhere and he had no use for it since he was alone in this dungeon, however it was perfect for this experiment. "Say are you aware of the rules of chess?" He said with a smile. The succubus looked at her master with confusion before shaking her head.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not." She said. Erebos nodded at this as he thought about this situation. The most of the succubus maids were basically mercenary monsters, that had been summoned to the dungeon's defense. Now the real name of these monsters was Succubus Valkyres, a type of demonic monsters above Level 30 to the borderline of 40, as their maid uniforms were basically decoration, which made it more pleasant to look at them instead of always seeing them patrol around the corridors of Loss with drawn weapons. Each of them could still fight within their maid clothes, however they did possess armor to fight as well. Their different appearance had been part of the game to not create a lot of identical looking NPCs (Such as the Nurse Joys from the Pokémon franchise. I can't be the only one who thinks of that being weird.).
Within YGGDRASIL existed skins to decorate NPCs to make them look differently such as a skin that could give a True Vampire, an high level undead and the final link of the vampric races' Evolution line, who normally possessed a lamprey or leech-like face and a simian like body, a human appearance. To aquire them was difficult if one missed the chance within the game and that normally aquired a lot of money. Erebos however had been at the right time at the right place as he got the skin by chance.
However there was something that Erebos did notice ever since he had been brought to this world. The mercenary system of YGGDRASIL had two simple purposes, that were on one Hand the defense of dungeons and on the other Hand the possibility to allow single Players to create groups. However there was a big drawback, that made custom NPCs much better companions than mercenary NPCs. The A.I. that used to control the behaviour of the monsters was the worst in normal spawn mobs, making them brainless cannon fodder with only limited possible commands. After that came mercenary NPCs and finally custom NPCs, that needed that much intelligence in order to coordinate their abilities and attack patterns and to make them matching a potential programming within the NPCs personality.
With that mercenary NPCs such as this succubus had only been able to fulfill a few more complex tasks. Now however this was no more the game that Erebos had known. And this demon was now more than just a NPC. She was an actually living and breathing being. A living demon with the mental capacity of an ordinary human being. And that made Erebos wonder about her capabilities. The dragon then grabbed one of the white pieces at his side of the board.
"The rules are simple. Both of us have these figures and the goal of this game is to take out this one piece. The king." Erebos said opening his palm to show the succubus the piece. The bluenette nodded. "Now this is basically a simulation game of a battle between two armies, but very simplified. It is a turn based startegy game, meaning that each of us can only do one move of our pieces at once. After a move is made the opponent has it's turn. Now their is one very important thing for you to know. Each of these pieces has the same strength though having different capabilities, meaning that you can strike down every piece of your opponent no matter if it is a pawn, a knight or even a king with every piece that you have as long as you don't break the rules."
"I see. So it isn't really realistic?" The succubus asked.
"Of course not, however it is despite being so simple a very good Simulation. Now then let's begin..." Erebos said as he began his game against his subordinate.
A few minutes later the three maids returned to see a rather unusual scene. Their master was sitting with their 'little sister' at the table and played chess. Erebos just made a last move and put one of his bishops so that he would be able to attack the king of the succubus in the next round.
"Checkmate." The dragon said. The succubus pouted slightly. It was more cute than irritating.
"Mou. Splendid Erebos-sama. I didn't thought about this." The bluenette said. Erebos shot her a look that said as much as 'Really?'. She had the chance to win several times, but she simply had no tactic and no plan how to get past his pieces. With the rematches she had been smarter and had learned how to lure Erebos into traps using her pawns, but even then she couldn't turn the tides to her favor.
Still he had confirmed something. The NPCs were able to improve, to learn and to adapt their fighting startegy to the situation they were facing. A smile crept it's way on his face.
"Very well. I thank you for your cooperation. You have just helped me a great deal." Erebos said. The demoness blushed cherry red at this as suddenly a pair of arms grabbed her from behind and pulled her backwards.
"What have you done with Erebos-sama?!" The green-haired maid yelled in envy as she shook the younger succubi around like a ragdoll.
"Please stop! I haven't done anything with Erebos-sama!" The bluenette whined as she was getting dizzy at this point. The other two maids shot the youngest among them a glare, before putting the reports in front of Erebos, who looked rather dumbfolded at the events in front of him.
"These are the reports you asked for Erebos-sama." They said as they looked at the chess board a couple of times, wondering what had happened.
"Thank you. This is a very important for our further plans." He said as he put the chess board and the pieces away. With a flash of light they disappeared in his inventory, leaving the space free for more work
"Is there anything else you need help with? We will fulfill all your orders to satisfy your desires. No matter what it is." The blonde said Shooting Erebos a look, that made the dragon quite uncomfortable.
'This is not counting as reverse rape yet, but it sure is sexual harrassment.' He thought as he waved her off, dismissing her unspoken offer. "Thank you, but it's alright. You can leave now. I'll need some time to sort things out here." Erebos said before turning to the reports of his torturer and construction droid. A little bit disappointed the four girls slumbed their shoulders and bowed, before leaving with the bluenette still being trapped in a noogie of the green-haired one. Browsing through the reports of the two he mentally sighed. 'Seems like I won't get much sleep tonight. Damn this is so boring.' He thought as he looked at the already 10 centimeter high piles of paper on his desk. 'I think I'll drop this on Edo later. For now I need to prepare for the meeting in a few hours.'
A couple of hours later
The ground level of Vanguard's Loss was completely restored within less than a day by te combined forces of all servants of the first floor of the dungeon. The stone tiles were clean, the broken wood furniture repaired and even the walls were restored as well. In front of the entrance of the dungeon hung now a large black banner with the red symbol of Erebos and Tartarus. Helios could say that he was proud of his work as he had dismissed his subordinates after receiving the letter of his master.
The time of the meeting drew closer as Hades arrived at the restored castle and gave an impressed whistle.
"You really did a fine job on this, considering how it looked before." He said. "Almost like the castle on the 6th floor.
"You flatter me Hades, however I wonder if Erebos-sama will like it. After all it maybe isn't the castle in the cave, but it still should be worthy for our master to walk through it." Helios said somewhat concerned. Not long after that the two dragons could feel how a third person came closer to the castle as the door opened, revealing Banshee.
"Oh hello Banshee I see you have arrived again." Hades said, shooting his subordinate a look. The black wyvern grumbled a little.
"Of course I did. Would you expect me to ignore an order of our creator Erebos-sama?" Banshee said in a kind of offended tone. Helios and Hades chuckled at this as they watched her react. The bond of the three could be described as that of siblings. The black dragon finally shook his head.
"I'd never dream of that. Now come, Erebos-sama is waiting in the throne room and Charon has already arrived." He said as the three of them walked of as fast as they could. Helios had no worries about guarding the Only a few minutes later the three dragons were flying to the castle's entrance where the succubus maids opened the reptiles the doors guided them to the throne room. A loud knock was enough to receive an "Enter." from Erebos and the three of them walked inside.
The entire throne room was occupied by several high ranked servants of Tartarus. Not only the generals that were at the sides of Erebos, but also the succubus maids, Caitlyn, Deliah, Edo and Charon. The three Newcomers went to the dullahan before bowing down as well. Erebos wordlessly looked at them, sitting on his large throne in his full height. It was a picture that made even the tallest of them pale in comparison to their creator who sat there like an olympic god, observing his creations. The black dragon opened his mouth and began the meeting.
"Servants of Tartarus. I've called forth this meeting of us to discuss the recent events that we had been able to follow so far. I've read all your reports and I'm content with them. You did well." Erebos said before turning to Helios. "And you as well Helios by repairing the ground level of our dungeon. I've received word from Edo already about your work and I've got to say that I'm satisfied with it. You did a good Job." Erebos said.
"I'm not worthy such praise Erebos-sama." He said, bowing his head down even further.
"Raise your head Helios." Erebos said, making the dragonoid look up again. "The same can also be told about you Charon. Your scouting missions make it a lot easier for us to get a grasp of our surroundings. I'd like to say my thanks for your effords as well." The player said. The undead bowed down at this.
"I only did as I was told to Erebos-sama. Your humble words on me are wasted. I live to serve you." Charon said. Erebos nodded at this in understanding manner before he returned with his gaze at the other occupants of the room.
"Now, let us move on to the reason I've called all of you here today, with the expectation of certain members. As all of you are aware by now, the Saderan Empire has launched an attack on the Gate and was defeated. Now their military strength is crippled it is time to begin with putting our plan into motion. For all of you who are not aware of it by now, I'll ellaborate now." Erebos said. "We have been transported to an unknown world without any clue about how or why we were summoned here. We don't know if it was a natural phenomenon of this world or perhaps a result of the end of YGGDRASIL. YGGDRASIL is gone, but we remain. And now we are here in an unknown world completely on our own. However I see this as a chance for not just myself, but Tartarus as a whole. Once I've conquered this dungeon far away from other people within Nidavenir in order to not be disturbed by others." Erebos said. "Now however the conditions have changed and with it we must adapt our strategies as well." The player added. The servants of Tartarus looked at one another at this point. "Now listen well as this will be the course of action that we are going to follow." The dragon player said. Every NPC basically hung at his lips at this point as they were very curious what their next orders were.
A couple of days later
The message of their sons having fallen in battle or going missing in action arrived a few days after the battle at Alnus Hill at the cities of the nobles. Immediately the concerned parents took what they needed and travelled to the capital Sadera to get answers about the whereabouts of their children. It was an understandable reaction given the circumstances that lead to this Event. At first the Empire had assembled all available soldiers in order to build an army that had consist almost all the Empire's forces. Questionable enough as well was the fact that in these letters the reason why the people should come at all wasn't stated at all, however with their loyalty and devotion to their Emperor Molt they could hardly refuse.
Meaning the nobles didn't even knew why their sons had died or what for except the Empire's glory. Humans were very social animals after all and naturally looked out for those that they called their friends and kin. Civilisation itself was based on this very fundamental concept as well. So it was understandable that the nobles had immediately taken what they needed and took their fastest carriages to go to the far away Sadera.
3 days after the battle at Alnus Hill had passed as the all nobles in the eastern part of the Empire had departed that actually sought to understand what had happened. Little could they have known that this was the last time they would see their lands like this.
On top of high walls stood a group of city guards at midnight, trying to peer through the darkness of the night with the little torches they had. However it was a rather useless efford. The darkness was as thick as the city's walls and the little torches were only the glowing of fireflies in comparison of a deep sea margin as the new moon night gave no light except for a few stars that managed to pear through the clouds above the ground.
"Damn, I wish I'd have gone with the nobles' brat. Than I'd at least not be stuck here." Whined one guard as he leaned on his spear. His eyelids were heavy and only the light of the torches kept him awake.
"Stop whining already and keep looking. I've heard bandits have raided a few of the villages not far away from here a few weeks ago. Damn scum." Another one barkes, smacking the first one on the back of the head as if he was trying to smack the tiredness out of the man.
"Huh? What was that for Paulus? I thought you'd understand this." The first guard asked.
"Will you two shut it for once?" A third guard butted in. "We are still on guarding duty and have a town to protect."
"Yeah, yeah I get it." The first guard said. "I think I just need some wine to come back to senses." The young man almost reached out for a certain wine pot as another hand grabbed the handle. Following the large hand and the attached arm up the three guards came face to face with the captain of the guard. All three men tensed up at this.
"If that's the case I'll just throw you into the next well!" He barked, making a few of the nearby guards flinch at the tone of the man. A bit further another pair of guards watched the senior berating the others about their sloppy display of guarding a city that would make their ancestors look in shame at them.
"Geez, that old Servius is a bit hard to the new recruits." One man said to the other.
"Well, he has to. Remember how we were back then? Two good for nothings, always looking for Trouble. I still feel the stings of that damn Servius." The other replied.
"And now look at us. Two proud guardsmen of this city. Isn't that bad, don't you think?" The first man replied.
"Sure is, but I hope for your sake, that you are not only saying that to the maidens of our lord to hit on them." The other replied, making his colleague frown.
"Well I hadn't luck with them yet, but it sure has it's perks for the other women." He replied, smiling slightly to himself.
"You are unbelievable."
"And you are too narrow minded."
Both men looked at one another as suddenly a guard ran past the two towards the captain. As he approached the man he skidded to an halt, almost falling to the ground and loosing his shoes. They couldn't see what the man was talking about, but given the body language it was nothing good. Once the courier affirmed his report with a nod, Servius pushed him out of his way as he began shouting orders.
"All men to their posts! We are-"
BOOM
A sudden thundering sound cut the captain off as the entire wall shook violently. The guards only watched in complete horror as a large fireballl rose up into the nightsky like a sun, followed by screams of the guards at the place where the explosion occured. The entire wall shook at this as the men struggled to keep their balance. A few of them planted their spears into the ground to not fall down. Some unfortunate souls however fell of the edge of the wall into the darkness below, where something tore the men apart. Only the sound of blood splattering on the ground and pained screams filled the night air at this. The other guards were terrified at this.
"GRROOAARR!" A thundering roar rang through the air, drawing all eyes up into the sky when a massive shadow flew over their heads. In the pitch black night they could see what it was, but the heavy beating of wings and the ferocious gaze that the creature held was enough to make some of the guards soil their undergarments. Flames suddenly licked out the jawline of the creature as it released a breath of bright orrange flames. In the moment that the flames escaped the creature's throat and set houses and streets alike ablaze, the light was enough for the guuards to see what their opponent was.
Two large wings set on the back of the quadroped reptile as it used the wall as a platform while starting numerous fires in the city. Despite the massive heat that the flames emitted a chill ran down the men's spines before the screams of the civilians tore them out their thoughts. Immediately the captain began to bark orders.
"ALL MEN GET DOWN THE WALL AND EVACUATE THE CIVILIANS! BOWMEN, SHOOT THAT DAMN DRAGON!" He said as he shook like a leave in the wind. The soldiers were like rooted to the ground, a feeling of primal fear kept them paralysed save for those that followed the instructions and shook the others out their stupor.
"Come on let's go!" A guard yelled over the screams and flames as he shook his friend, who nodded. But just as the second man wanted to make a move his body froze. He suddenly couldn't breath as well, rrendering him uselessly standing there confused. Unable to understand it his Vision suddenly tilted and fell as he could see not only his friend's terrifyied face, but his feet as well.
"How pathetic. If that is the best you can make of this sneak attack, then it will be more boring than I expected." An unknown, deep voice said as the men's vision turned black. The one that had spoken was Standing right behind the headless corpse of the guard. Light brown scales covered the body as a tail helped the body to balance. In it's clawed Hands it held two katanas with hooks at the tips' backside. Yellow eyes with slit pupils looked at the petrified man for a moment, before another slash of the Long weapons split the imperial soldier into from the right side of the waist to the left shoulder. A last outcry of pain escaped the man's throat, warning his colleagues about the reptilian attacker. The men of the empire had never seen such a creature before so they acted on instinct. They surrounded it and pointed their spears and swords at it.
"Kill it! Kill that lizard already! For the Empire!" One of the guards shouted. All men rushed at the lizardman at once, however only to be cut down by the longswords, that easily tore through wood, steel and flesh alike. With two simple slashes the men had lost their unprotected legs and their heads, making everyone of them hit in four different parts the ground. The lizardman sheated his swords before looking at teh destruction that the dragon had caused so far as it now was thrashing around the mansion of the noble.
"For the Supreme One." He said before charging back into the fight by leaping down the wall.
Meanwhile the city's streets were filled with people that had fled from the flames. Some had ran back into their burning homes to save anything that they deemed valuable enough to risk their lifes for it. Soldiers ran around to bring the civilians to a safer place. Children were crying and clinging to their mothers. The whole ciy was like a burning beehive. However in this burning chaos everyon noticed as the gate of the town was broken apart by a large scaled claw. Another pierced through the Wood as both claws now tore the gate apart revealing a large wingless dragon, which announced it's entrance with a mighty roar. The people of the city responded with cries of fear and panic as they ran away from the now arrived behemoth, while the soldiers ran towards it trying to push it back..
However that was not the one the people should have been afraid of. As soon as the wingless dragon had pushed it's large body through the gate a dozen armed lizardmen with staffs, swords and various weapons marched into the town. The dragon only remained at the gate to prevent anyone to leave the town again. Like on an invisible command the lizardmen warriors began to run towards the human soldiers. Their weapons broke apart like matches and not even a second later blood began to fly.
A tail whip broke a man's neck with a loud crack.
A war pick crushed he skull of another.
A naginata slit another man's throat, before impaling another one's chest.
A throwing knife embedded itself in another one's skull.
Meanwhile the mages among them fired bolts of lightning, ice, fire and poison at the defenders and civilians.
After only 5 minutes the defenders had realized that they stood no chance against this enemy. Panicking they tried to run, but icicles simply punched right through their armored back and produced again from their chests. The accuracy with which each attack hit was like that of a high professional sniper. When the last man fell the lizardmen with the two katanas arrived at the scene with blood stained swords.
"How's the situation?" He asked another lizardman warrior.
"The guards have been defeated. The cowards and civilians have fled to the center of the city." The other lizardman replied. The first one noticed slight cuts and a few of them were bleeding, but there were no heavy injuries or dead ones.
"I see. You know the orders. No witnesses." He said as the sounds of dozens of cries in pain and fear tore through the air accompanied with the sound of a flame hissing as it claimed it's victims. The lizardmen didn't care for that. They had only one mission and that was fulfilled now. Still not wanting to leave the end of this task to some havoc causing dragon the troop began to walk through the burning streets looking for survivors. In that moment a pair of lizardmen came to them as well, however they rode on small dragons which stood more like cats than lizards.
At the mansion the dragon that had arrived first at the city was crunching on the corpses of the now burnt to death humans. The stench of burnt flesh and smoke was heavy in the air, making it hard to breathe, however the dragon didn't care. In that moment the armored form of Helios descended upon the destroyed lawn and made his way towards the entrance of the mansion.
Meanwhile, not far away from the town stood Erebos next to Edo and Hades as he observed on 4 other locations the exact same picture. Burning and collapsing buildings, debris and dead people littering the ground as well as large pillars of thick black smoke rising up from the flames. What all these place had in common were that they were 1) led by a noble family and 2) were within a 200 km radius to the south of Tartarus new location. What may have seen to be a reckless move by the Player, that could blow his cover, however it was more like an experiment to Erebos that was necessary for his plan.
Flashback
"Now listen well as this will be the course of action that we are going to follow." The dragon player said. Every NPC basically hung at his lips at this point as they were very curious what their next orders were. "Within the short time that we have been here and thanks to the effords of Spectra, Charon and everyone else we've been able to collect a lot of Information about the Saderan Empire, which controls the territory we are currently in. If we were just a bunch of homeless creatures, we would either be forced out this nation's territory or to bow down to them. However not only is it a fact that Tartarus will never bow down without a fight, we've been able to also get to known a lot about the social structure of this nation. Edo if you please?" Erebos said as the hunched cloaked Person spoke up.
"The Saderan Empire or just the Empire, a templament of their foolishness and arrogance, is the most powerful nation on this continent called Falmart by the natives. It is a monarchy led by the current emperor, who has all power of the nation. Though there is a senate, it's power is limited and weaker compared to the emperor's own. Especially the people in the capital believe in the supremancy of mankind above all over races. From what we have gathered it is not uncommon for the commanding humans within the Empire to abuse their power even against members of other human races such as elves." Edo said." More importantly they tame small blue dragons for their aerial forces and see dragons in general as nothing, but mindless animals."
An uproar of protests rang through the throne room as several people saw that as an insult as well as a declaration of war. The air grew more and more tense as Erebos had enough and struck the ground with his axe.
"Silence!" The room fell silent within an instance. "I can understand your fury, but we cannot just destroy the Empire just because of that." The NPCs looked more or less shocked or at least suprised at their creator and master, before the black dragon continued. "That however doesn't mean that I'll tolerate such a behavior towards myself nor any of Tartarus' forces." He said as he struck the ground once more with the guild weapon. "Their insolence will be punished and it will be punished so hard that they wouldn't even dare to speak ever again in any kind of disrespect about our kin. I shall not tolerate being looked down upon by pathetic beings such as humans! They will never dare to step across their borders as we crush them slowly. Their arrogance will be their downfall." Erebos said as he rose the axe into the air, pointing above the NPCs as if he was giving an army the order to attack a place ahead. "From this day forward we consider the Saderan Empire as our current rival and enemy! We will not stop until we have brought it to their knees and crushed them nderneath our feet so they would never dare to rise up again. Anyone, who objects this decision may speak now."
Silence reigned the air within the throne room as all NPCs simply kneeled in acknowledgement of the new order.
"Erebos-sama, in your Name we shall destroy this filthy Nntion and burn it to the ground." Edo said.
"All hail the supreme being Erebos-sama!" The NPCs said in unison. Inwardly, Erebos laughed like a crazy maniac.
'This is the best, BEST thing, that ever could have happened to me. Ever.' He thought as he silenced the crowd by raising his hand. "In all honesty, I'm speechless. I'm truly moved by your devotion. I could not ask for better servants and I'm proud to call myself your master and creator." Erebos said as he sat down again. "Now to the plan. The easiest way to obtain our Goal would be to just go to Sadera and kill everyone who opposes us starting with the Emperor. However if we would simply burn down this entire Empire and kill everyone that is unfortunate to cross our path we would win nothing but a Smoking pile of ashes that we would have to rebuilt from scratch. And since we don't possess the rescources to do so we cannot do such a thing." Erebos said.
"Then what would be our plan, if I may ask Erebos-sama?" Banshee asked.
"Glad that you ask Banshee." Erebos said. "For our plan to work we need to infiltrate the empire's ranks as high as we can. By having an agent within the enemy's ranks we gain much more information and opportunities. An ordinary civilian would never have the privelige to ascend high up into the social structure, leaving us with only the nobles as a good kickstart. However, to disguise ourselves as nobles and go into the Empire won't be easy. Basically if we say a wrong name we will be discovered and if we say an existing name we will be questioned." Erebos said as the NPCs looked at one another to find a solution for this matter. "Which is why we must destroy this possibility." Erebos added. "Not far from our territory are a few rather unimportant noble households, that controls the settlements surrounding Vanguard's Loss' location. When we wipe this scum from the face of this planet and everyone that might endanger this plan, we will be able to get one of us into the Empire's lines, while the others work elsewhere." Erebos said.
"Then should we send our troops to this noble immediately?" Helios asked. Erebos shook his head.
"No. If we would strike now we would only get the attention of the Empire. We need to be more secretive about this." Erebos said. "Also I have a certain idea that I'd like to test. Are all of you Aware of the structure within Tartarus?"
"Of course Erebos-sama." Charon replied.
"Well care to Elaborate?" The black dragon asked, though it was more an order.
"Very well. As we all know, you, our creator, Erebos-sama stand above all else. After you come the four generals that are in charge for the main forces of Tartarus. Individuals such as Helios, Edo and myself are excluded from these as we act as moderators of the forces to ensure the functionality of Tartarus." Erebos nodded at this. "The Special ops Team under Hades is such a group as well. After the generals come appointed lieutenants and finally the common soldiers."
"Correct Charon. Now what can you tell me about the two lowest kinds of members in this dungeon?"
"They are spawn and mercenary monsters that are used as soldiers and therefore make the majority of our troops Erebos-sama." The dullahan replied.
"Once again correct." Erebos said turning to the other NPCs as well. "I'll be honest about this matter. Until now the spawn NPCs had the sole purpose of defending Loss against invaders. However now that we are in this new world I've my doubts..." He said as the mercenary NPCs like the succubus maids looked down at this in shame. "if that is the only thing we can use them for." The heads snapped up again as the dragon inwardly smirked. "I'm more than confident that each soldier of this dungeon is a match for anything this Saderan Empire will throw at us, however I'd like to put their abilities to a test. Helios." Erebos said looking at the armored dragonoid.
"Of course." Helios replied. "Tomorrow we will start preparing our troops for a test to determine their abilities. For that reason all generals are ordered to bring certain Monsters to the 2nd floor of Vanguard's Loss as well as a group of your troops as well. We will begin this operation in a few days so we got time to go through everything." Helios said.
"Very good." The player said. "Prepare your troops immediately. Deliah how is the status of our weaponary?"
"Almost 60% of all our troops can be equipped immeditaley with improved gear." Came the emotionless reply of the automaton.
"I see. Continue your work then and tell me when you are finished." Erebos said. "Now you all have heard our Goal. Now go and do your best to obtain it. Let us make Tartarus a Name that strikes fear into the hearts of everyone across this world." He said.
"ALL HAIL EREBOS-SAMA!"
Flashback ends
The dragon looked at the battles with satisfaction. Everything had gone according to his calculations. Once the nobles had left their towns, Erebos had ordered a few of his minions to follow them to ensure that they wouldn't notice that their towns were burning. All life within a large area had been destroyed and the only once who had witnessed it were the few survivors, that were now surrounded by troops of mercenary monsters. His minions would take anything valuable and not a single words about what had happened would leave this place.
Basically everything was of use for the dragon player as he still needed a lot more information about this world. He had multiple troops, that made sure nothing would leave the cities and even necromancers to create an force of undead cannon fooder from the corpses of the dead. Spectra would take care of the interogation of the captured people. The results of that sadist were quite pleasant for the player. He wondered how he had managed to get that much out of them. He also could need a bit of the treasures, that those nobles had stored within their homes. A bit more money within his treasure chamber would definitely not do any harm.
The best part of it was that his troops had managed to do all of this without any new gear nor were there any reports of heavy injuries and deaths among his troops. Each of the cities had been attacked by another general and another type of monsters. For example while Helios had attacked with these mainly reptilian forces, Vulcanus had used golems to siege his target and Aeolus had taken mostly flying creatures under his wings. It once more proved that the humanoid races of this world were no match for Erebos and his forces.
Though this was good for his confidence in his troops, he still could not exclude the existence of other, more powerful foes in this world. He had already ordered some of his own troops to create magic barriers around the cities to prevent unwanted observers to witness this battle. Still the heavy thoughts were pushed aside by the flames of the burning city below.
The player was chuckling at the thought of the nobles returning to see the destruction before being killed as well. Neither they nor the Saderan Empire would receive word about this. Those that were unfortunate enough to enter the newly conquered territory would simply vanish like those ships and planes in the bermuda triangle (Yes, even in the 22nd century mankind had still no accurate idea what was going on there). And when this Empire wants to collect taxes or something, well let's just say that Caitlyn can point out a very convincing argument to even the most stubborn person. Not that those tax collectors would return to Sadera and report the new owners' existence of these lands to the emperor. No, Erebos wanted to enjoy his victory more than a simple rush of his troops across this continent. He turned his head to the moon in the sky above him. He reached out for it before balling his Hand to a fist as if he was trying to grab and crush it to dust.
'I'll achieve something that no one else has ever done before me. No matter what this place, this whole world is now my playground. And I'll just topple those Little sand castles back into dust that the other children had left there.' He thought as he started laughing. "This is just too easy. I guess we will need to hold ourselves back next time."
"Erebos-sama." Charon said as he stood not far from the player on top of a skeletal dragon's back. "What should we do now?"
"Now?" Erebos asked before chuckling. "Now we wait." He said crossing his arms, while looking at the terrifying beauty of the now won battle.
It was the first victory of Tartarus against the Saderan Empire. And more would follow in the time afterwards. But not long too long after These Events a thrid faction would enter Erebos playground through the Gate. The dragon could only wait excited for them to make their move as well.
Finally! Erebos' character sheet is finished! Okay I wanted to put all of them up in this chapter, but damn it isn't easy to make new racial classes when even Kugane only has written ? in Sebas sheet. (He might change that in the future, but I'm not very confident about that.)
Name: Erebos
Epipeth: Dragon God, Dragon Lord of Demise
Race: Heteromorphic Race, Dragon
Residence: Vanguard's Loss
Karma: Negative 500 Extremely Evil
Class Build
Total Level
100
Racial Level
Elder Dragon (10)
Ancient Dragon (5)
Others (10)
Job Classes
Beast Lord (5)
Berserk (5)
Chaos (5)
Cursed Knight (5)
Minimum (5)
Single Strike (5)
Warlock (5)
Warlord (5)
World Champion (I don't know if this is a class with only 1 level or if the maximum is 5, so I'll go with 5)
Others (30)
Stats
HP: 130
MP: 90
Physical Attack: Beyond Limits
Physical Defense: 103
Agility: 76
Magical Attack: 86
Magical Defense: 84
Resistance: 71
Special: 80
Total: 720 +
(I hope I'll have finished them next time ;-;)
And finally done! That took so long to write I almost ran out of ideas. Thank you all for reading. I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Reign Supreme. Now put your opinions and suggestions in the reviews so I can improve the story. I'm also thinking about doing a timeskip of the three months that the JSDF needed to prepare for the counter attack on the Empire, however I also want to put a few good scenes within this time.
Actually I wanted to upload this yesterday already as a christmas present, however the family kept me rather busy. Now then I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! See you next time X3
(Note to everyone. That were still not all NPCs within Tartarus ranks. So don't think that it was already done with them.)