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CHAPTER I
(The High Lords of Yggdrasil)
YGGDRASIL was the ground breaking game of the century, a DMMORPG which offers gamers a whole lot of new gaming experience. And for almost 11 years it remains the undisputed DMMORPG in the gaming industry.
But tonight, it will come to an end.
"Why does it have to end?"
A being in the throne spoke in a low and deep voice.
This being is a shadow-like existence with an edgy appearance but without the lower parts of the body, he is floating above the ground with his lower half being that of a small tornado swirling with thick dark smoke.
This is of course just a game avatar whose face is that of a demonic being with two massive horns and many smaller horns protruding on its head and back, with fiery eyes and mouth, and sharp claws. However, he isn't made of flesh but of misty darkness as he was an entity known as Fiend Lord.
He is wearing a helmet, full plate body armour complete with arm guards and gauntlets whose touch and feel were dark, edgy and sharp.
This avatar of absolute darkness and malice is known by his friends and enemies in the game as Nivek Rellim.
A Fiend Lord is a heteromorphic race classified as demons and the ultimate class change of the Fiend. They are formless with the ability to possess or take over a body and are invulnerable to physical damage and most magical damage.
[AN: Can he be really classified as heteromorphic or just demons, are they the same?]
Normally they are low stat race among the heteromorphic race and are extremely weak against attack of holy attribute, with limited equipment for them to equip and is very hard to balance their build. So to counter their weakness, they possess a body. This body is either an NPC, a monster, or artificially created in the game. And this body becomes their main battle weapon as they receive the stats of that body which is enhanced with their own stats and that they could equip it with various items.
In the game, Fiends are very tricky to kill; first, they need to destroy the vessel, and then, they have to use every holy attack in their arsenal because most attack won't work on Fiends and they tend to escape after their vessel's gets destroyed. They are quite an accomplished escape artist.
But there are lot of ways to become powerful in the game, like what this player did and he became powerful in his own right even without a body, he can battle with a high mid-tier player to a standstill.
"Haahh… 2 more minutes and were done. I wonder if the new game is as good as this."
He said, his voice is low and deep with the sound that reverberates on his throat, this is of course an enhance voice modulator which he customized.
He looked at the 33 flags with different crest hanged in the high ceiling of the massive hall which represents the members of his guild – The High Lords of Yggdrasil. The guild was one of the freshest guilds to be founded with only 2 years in the making. However, they quickly reach the top ranking in 6 months of its founding, as the founding members was one of the big spenders in the game, a prerequisite of their guild.
The guild had managed to conquer a unique dungeon, a dimensional dungeon – Helmurus. They had spent a lot of money just to expand it to become the largest guild base in the server. However, their base was one of the hardest bases to defend, as it was nothing but an open space in the dimensional world, all the enemy should do is to press into the center and capture their castle.
The dark castle of Aegremont is the main and the last stronghold of the guild located at the center of Helmurus. Aegremont is a massive triangular single structure with the height of 3,275 ft. and a base area of 14,640 m2 which is made entirely of unsullied iron surrounded by a barren land. The sky on top of it is nothing but endless cloud of storm as if the sun never set its radiance in the desolate land.
[AN: Look for Azkaban in Harry Potter.]
Being open to all sides of attack, it is a nightmare to defend the stronghold; however, there are some advantages given to the defenders such as: 32% increase in overall defences, 11% increase in attack, fast spawning and stronger POP's, and etc.; and disadvantage to the attacker such as: -15% decrease in defence, -6% decrease in attack, etc.
Since it was impossible to defend in all areas of the place, the guild focus its defence in Aegremont. And when other guilds commence an attack, it becomes a massive clash of the two forces, with the defenders greatly outnumbers the attacker who had an army of low level POP's to deplete the attackers strength. The sight of it was spectacular, worthy to be called as boss raid.
But before the attacker reaches Aegremont castle, a number of NPC's specializes in guerrilla warfare are set up to strip the enemy forces and a number of traps laid in key areas which slows their advancing and deplete them of their strength.
And when they do, they have to siege Aegremont's 3 layers of powerful force field, which will take a small invading force quite a time to destroy the barrier before the engagement begins. And then, they still have to infiltrate the castle with many more traps which await them.
So far this kind of strategy managed to withstand countless assault of mid-size invading force without suffering much loss. However, a certain feat by the guild Ainz Ooal Gown which proved their guild base to be the strongest and when they failed to accomplish the very same feat had an impact on the members of the guild. Later on, they re-planned their defences and added a lot into their defences which further strengthened their base using real cash, but so far, there is only a party of 920 high level players that had invaded them, the biggest party so far to challenge them until the closing of the server came.
"Dammit! We still never got a chance to show our new form of defences. Our goal to replace the record set by that guild is no more, now that the game has come to an end. Just great! We spent money for nothing!"
Then silence came. He once again looked at the time, its 00:00:53 before the server shutdown.
He leaned back on his throne. Although, he doesn't have a lower body, he was still able to comfortably sit on his throne.
He founded the guild and had put a lot of time, effort and resources to make their guild a legend in the game and make a name that will mark in the history of the game. Although, their method was a bit 'unfair' as they use real cash to become strong making other players spiteful of them; however, they simply brush it off saying, it is in their advantage so they are much oblige to use it (money).
But now, his companions were nowhere by his side and as the guilds' founder it was a bit sad. Nevertheless, he never blamed them, as real life awaits them outside the game which he simply lacks.
His real name is Kevin Miller, 34 years old and a small time businessman and investor as he came from a rich family. However, living in the world is a little bit depressing as he frequently gets into a fight with his father of things his father wants him to do and he hates it. He never liked to be told of what is to do and someone to decide for him, added with his business which brought him all forms of stress that had tormented him for years now. He didn't have his own family either, so he is living practically for himself which he admitted to be dull.
However, he found an oasis inside the game which is very helpful in venting out his frustration in life – PK'ing. He found that it is very effective in relieving frustration and stress by killing other players in the game which is why he is one of the most dangerous PK players which most players avoided at all cause or lose their precious items. He will kill anyone in his way as long as he is confident in killing them, and most that suffers are the low levelled and low-tier players. He was labelled as The Mad Player, Death Eater, The Reaper, The Taker, and The Soul Stealer; although the later names were a bit of an exaggeration since The Mad Player is what suits him.
He closed his eyes and mentally begins to countdown.
10…
9…
8…
7…
6…
5…
4…
3…
2…
1…
0…
0…
0…
Hmm… I am going to sleep… is my client supposed to call me tomorrow? It is tomorrow or the next day? Ahh… I forgot… I'll think of it tomorrow.
15 minutes had passed.
Wait a minute. What is this strange feeling? It's odd. (Gulp) Wait! I somehow… somehow I can't feel my tongue! Where is my tongue! My tongue!
Kevin immediately got up and he noticed that he was still in the guilds throne room.
"Wait… what happened to the shutdown?"
"Is something that matter, Lord Supreme Rellim?"
An old deep voice came from his left side and an old looking man with a stern face, pale skin, long silky white beard, crooked nose, and sharp eyes but without pupils is standing nearby. The old man is wearing dark and extravagant long robe of high quality. He looks human but Kevin knows that it is a High Undead Wizard, a level 100 Custom NPC of the guild with the job of overseeing the guild.
His name is Malik.
He is slightly bending his body towards him, which is a form of courtesy and respect given only to the master of this place, one of the Supreme Being and the highest of them all – Nivek Rellim.
Keh! Did he just spoke?
Surprise of the incident, he pondered for the things that bothered him. He observed the NPC which is in front of him.
How is this possible? How can he do those things? His skin looks so real! His mouth, eyes, muscle movements… everything… looks real! What the hell is going on?
What the… its 00:01:33!
What happened?
The shutdown! I supposed to be ejected from the game! But what happened.
Better call the technical support team, the GM!
Oh no… What happened to the UI, I can't access the UI. What is happening?
I need you now GM! What should I do? Please make it work!
Although, in the inside he is panicking; but on the outside, he still looks very calm and extremely threatening as ever.
"Is something's wrong milord?"
"Ah… No… I… Ehm… there are things that crossed my mind."
The old undead remain still.
"I-I was bothered." He admitted.
"What is it milord, gave this servant your command and I shall eradicate any threat in your eternal rule." He spoke slowly in 'I-will-do-as-you-command' manner which one can see that he is true to his word – indeed, he will do such thing when ordered.
What is he saying? Is he serious?
He pondered for a moment to answer most of his question.
Hold on a minute, there are several of them which posed greater danger to me. Wah! If they really gained sentience, then they might attack me. It is possible!
This is bad… No, this is really bad!
I need to do something, before everything will get out of hand. There are a lot of uncertainties which proceeded this time, so I must be careful.
Even if his mind is overwhelmed by anxiety, he managed to compose himself as though it is very natural like it was him and not some form of in-game avatar.
"I want you to re-evaluate our current situation and assemble the guardians. In 3 hours' time, I will meet you and everyone here."
"Yes milord, I shall make haste."
"But, make sure our defences remains intact even if it is unguarded by the guardians."
"Yes milord, it shall be done."
After that the overseer proceeded to carry his commands.
Meanwhile, he headed to his secret chamber.
"I must prepare for the worse."
