*****Chapter 3: New Day in a New World*****

AN: Well, good news: this story is still going! Bad news: I have no idea when the next chapter will drop! Work is being a pain lately, but eh, what else is new. Anywho, back to the chapter…

Yana slowly opened her eyes, wincing as a stream of light blared into her retinas.

Ow… What the hell? I've never seen the sun this bright in the morning. She thought, furrowing her brow; then froze as she processed what she was seeing in front of her. Wait… The servers shut down last night. Did I fall asleep just before they went offline while I was hooked up?

Blinking as she observed the dining pavilion, mostly unoccupied, she sighed in irritation.

Probably some kind of bug caused by staying online when the servers shut down, she decided and reached up to take off her AR headset. Something to talk to the devs about when I meet with them.

Her fingers poked her in the face, and Yana froze.

Waiiiiiiit…

She clenched her hand and then touched her face again, feeling nothing blocking it.

Blinking rapidly, Yana stood and slowly touched one of her arms with the other. Normally this wouldn't be anything special, you could do it in any modern game, but the fact that she was actually touching her arm, and could feel it…

Mind going into overdrive, Yana slowly began to look around the town. The reinforced palisade wall was still up, the two dozen or so men at arms manning the wall patrolled the walkways; each holding their spears, shields, and bows with near mechanical precision.

The various citizens walked about and chatted as if nothing was wrong; but Yana could see that things were different.

As much effort she may have put into making each of the three hundred civilians that occupied her town different and unique, they were still NPC's and had set patterns that they could not deviate from. And they were definitely deviating now.

A breeze blew through the town, and Yana shivered; her face draining of color as she realized that she had felt that brush of wind.

She looked down at herself and braced against her 'throne'.

In keeping with the Rome theme, she wore a simple chiton that ended just above her knees, and was far too breezy downstairs for comfort; nor were the wide openings on the sides comfortable, never mind the fact that it was sleeveless. Her armor was a deceptively simple looking chestplate, along with greaves and gauntlets, all made from the prismatic ore star silver, making them glisten almost hypnotically in the morning light; while a dark brown wyrm leather cape was hooked to her back. The final piece of regalia she wore was a simple gold tiara; Yana didn't even remember where she picked it up from, just that she'd never removed it from her character since finding it because of how good it looked on her.

Her favorite weapon was propped up against her throne within arm's reach: a Divine tier bow that she'd made years earlier, named Sudden Sunrise because of the magical explosions it created with each shot. Her guild weapon was also a bow, but she kept that locked away in the vault for special occasions, or particularly aggressive PVPers.

While looking over her current outfit, she noticed something.

My hair… I had blonde hair… But now it's reddish-brown instead, she realized, then looked back down at her body. I'm tanner than I was, and… more well endowed in my chest.

She flushed slightly in embarrassment upon that particular realization; her smaller size having always been a sore point for her in school. Teenagers were merciless, little Yana had learned back then.

She wiggled her toes, noting that she was wearing sandals as opposed to shoes now, and proceeded to collapse back onto her throne.

I… I'm in Yggdrasil. She realized.

I'm stuck in a video game.

…

After spending about five minutes internally panicking and freaking out, Yana forced herself to calm down when a soldier approached her throne; his helmet tucked into the crook of his elbow, looking a little uncertain as he approached, doubtlessly noting her pale appearance.

That's Centurion Gaius, Yana recalled, straightening her posture. Maybe I can get some answers… Assuming he's as I remember programming him. Loyal, cold, but good hearted.

Gaius inclined his head and snapped his heels together, and Yana noted with some jealousy that he was wearing pants and had hobnail boots on; as well as having more complete armor, shining a silvery color like her own, although it still looked Roman because of how she'd designed it.

"My Lady," he said. "I hope this morning finds you well."

"It uh… could be better, Gaius." Yana replied, mustering what confidence she had, and had to fight back a sigh of relief as she realized that her voice was still the same at least. "What do you have to report?" she asked.

Gaius frowned slightly, the older man still looking a mixture of uncertain and concerned, before he seemed to settle his shoulders. "Just the usual, Lady Rodina," was his response, which nearly made her frown; it was her gamer tag after all, not her actual name. "We do, however, suspect that a group of bandits may be approaching from the north. The scouts report that they are heading straight for us, and are all armed and armored; though thankfully, their equipment was noted as subpar from what was seen."

Yana nodded, and stood from her throne, though internally she wanted to scream and shake the man while demanding to know what 'the usual' was.

Instead, she kept herself composed, drawing on her experience as a streamer to keep the entertainment going even as hecklers and haters bombarded her with hate donations.

Thinking fast, she came up with what she wanted to respond with. "I see. Thank you for informing me; I'll decide how to deal with them before long. Now then, recite all the news for me if you would please, Gaius." She said, followed by walking over to a table and grabbing a flagon of wine and a goblet; pouring herself a drink. "Routine and all."

Gaius blinked, "All of it, My Lady? Normally you'd like to get this all out of the way as quickly as possible before going off on a patrol with your wolves." He stated simply, resting his hands on the pommel of his sword; tilting his head in confusion.

Yana sighed and shook her head, taking a sip and fighting down a wince at how strong the wine was. My God! I'm Russian, and this is strong wine, even for me! She thought, struggling not to cough as she set the goblet down.

"All of it, Gaius. I'm… feeling a little off this morning, and perhaps hearing the more boring news might help me take my mind off it." She stated. "How's the wife and children, by the way?"

Gaius seemed to sense the deflection, which made Yana mentally chastise herself for having been reliant on him to still act like an NPC as opposed to a real person; but he chose not to comment on it. She'd have to remember such details like that in the future.

Instead he smiled and inclined his head, "All are well, thank you Lady Rodina. I'm sure they would appreciate your concern over their well being."

Yana smiled in reply, "Make sure they do." She said, "Now then, the news."

It took awhile for him to relay it, and from that news she was able to get some context; though nowhere near enough for her to have any actionable intel. It didn't help that her 'fief' was really small and pretty insignificant, by Yggdrasil standards at least.

Romula as it was known was one of those 'not anywhere important, but the crossroads to everywhere important' kind of places. Because of who she was, any player that stopped for a visit didn't normally cause trouble, seeing as no one wanted to be the one caught live on stream bullying a relatively popular celebrity. A number of her fans would log in to rip them apart whenever they did, through sheer numbers if nothing else.

Her town of two hundred NPCs – people now, she had to remind herself – was where most of the population resided; with about a hundred more acting as the guards and scouts. Gaius was by far the most powerful among them, a fully equipped level 100 NPC, but she still had two other max level NPCs, one that led the scouts and one guarding her treasury, with the remaining guild levels divided between the remainder of her troops. The pop mobs, pre-equipped mercenary NPCs bought with gold coins that took the shape of unnamed human guards in her case, were present as with any respectable guild base, and they added another several hundred to her fighting force, even without spawning in more using the treasury.

Hers was far from the strongest guild base in the game when she first acquired it, though the size of the area it covered was in the upper strata to be sure: it was a previously haunted village and nearby farmland that used to be infested with all manner of ghosts and undead. And while it was exposed to the air, it still had an impressive wall around the border, as well as a decent sized lake that was directly above a cave system which used to house the dungeon boss, and was now her treasury.

After a minute of digesting the information given to her by her most powerful former NPC, she dismissed Gaius to his duties and left the pavilion in an even worse mood than when she had gone to sleep. To say the man was detailed about the goings-on of her village would be putting it mildly, which only further served to pound home that all this was now real.

When all else failed, her wolves had never failed to cheer her up.

Yana fought down a squeal of excitement as she approached the 'wolf pen', and ten giant mounds of fluff all shot to their feet and excitedly rushed towards her. Eight of them were regular sized wolves, but two of them were giants; easily the size of horses, and given how there was a saddle that seemed to be adapted for them, Yana knew exactly who it was for.

"Hey Rema." She whispered, scratching the female direwolf under the chin and neck, smiling as the massive beast groaned and thumped her hind leg on the ground. "I'm… really happy to see you."

She sniffed and felt a single tear drift down her face.

No! Don't do that now. Not in public where others can see you! she ordered herself. Focus on fluffballs! Think about how they're real now. Think about how I can ride one.

Rema seemed to sense her distress regardless, and whined loudly before licking the tear from Yana's face; and the former Russian streamer couldn't help but laugh. "Puppers like you alway make things better." She chuckled, scratching one of the smaller wolves behind the ear.

Now the question for me is… what next?

Ainz moved his hands back and forth, feeling a little self conscious as he grumbled and griped in his head; knowing that Sebas was standing behind him, watching the overlord struggle with the Mirror of Remote Viewing as it floated in front of him.

I already figured out how to use this damned thing to look at things close by, now I just need to figure out how to use the extended view. He thought to himself, scowling internally… or externally, he wasn't really sure since he couldn't exactly emote with a skull for a face.

Finally, he heard a soft beeping sound from said mirror, and the overhead view of the continent became much more zoomed in. To be honest, he was surprised it actually let him view the entire continent, as it could never go that far out back in Yggdrasil, but the item description did say it was 'capable of viewing an entire world in the right hands'. Whether or not his hands happened to be the 'right' ones remained to be seen.

There we go, he thought with no small amount of satisfaction. Now let's see if I can find something else that might be interesting. Afterall, it led me to Carne and the warrior captain already.

"If I may be so bold my Lord, what is it you are searching for?" Sebas asked, sounding a little hesitant.

Ainz hummed and didn't bother looking away from the mirror. "At the moment? I am attempting to scout the other far away kingdoms to see what they may hold; and to see if they could potentially pose a threat to us."

Sure, that sounded like a good enough excuse, right?

"I see. Do you require my assistance, Lord Ainz?"

He thought for a moment, not giving any physical indication of an answer. Eventually though, he arrived at a response. "Very well, Sebas. Two sets of eyes are better than one, and perhaps you may see something I do not."

"I would never think to place myself on the same level as you, Lord Ainz, though I am grateful for your kind words," the ever stoic butler replied, before moving to stand closer to Ainz so as to properly see the mirror.

"One observation I have made already," Ainz said, briefly glancing at Sebas as he did, "is that this world is definitely one I have never seen before. The geography is completely foreign to what I'm familiar with."

"I see. If even one as knowledgeable as yourself doesn't recognize it, then truly Nazarick must be in a new world entirely."

"Indeed," was all Ainz could say, moving the map's view around the continent as best he could.

Let's see… if Nazarick is where it was originally centered on, then that would mean this small spot here is Carne, and going off of the village chief's map, the area next to it is Re-Estize, while that area over to the east… has to be the Empire. What about further south though?

'Scrolling' down with a gesture, Ainz noted a number of cities and towns in the region directly to the south, remembering the map called that area the Slane Theocracy. It was positioned next to a massive lake which drew his eye for a moment, but he figured he could just look it over later.

Looking further and further south, he eventually ended up in a desert, even being able to see what must have been a sandstorm over a portion of it. Oddly, the storm was shaped in almost a perfect circle, but he couldn't say if that was normal or not, so instead he kept going south.

His viewing was interrupted as Sebas spoke up, drawing his attention. "There, my Lord."

Following where he indicated, Ainz zoomed in on the spot.

Huh. A crater? That can't be natural. Wait…

Zooming in further, Ainz found himself confused and interested at what he saw. The crater itself, while at first nothing out of the ordinary, slowly started becoming more and more strange the longer he examined it. He wasn't an expert on such things by any stretch of the imagination, but even he knew that most craters tended to have something in the middle of them. On top of that, this one was in the desert; if any real amount of time had passed, it would have long since been swallowed by the sand. Instead, it looked relatively fresh.

If that still wasn't enough to tip him off, then the massive swathes of cracked glass carved into the crater certainly did it: all originating from the center, and looking far too clean to be anything but intentional. Did a person make them? A monster maybe? It took a massive amount of energy to create that much glass, and most high tier lightning and fire spells were certainly capable of it. The only questions that remained were who, what, and why?

"What's this?" Ainz said, spotting something interesting on the crater's edge. "It looks like something walked out while it was still hot, judging by the impressions in the glass. Something large. But what?"

"A dragon perhaps, my Lord?" Sebas suggested.

"It's certainly possible," he allowed, the pieces starting to click together in his head. "But why would a dragon walk out of a crater it most likely made, instead of just flying?"

"I regret that I am unable to provide an answer."

"Then speculate. You were the one to spot the crater after all."

Sebas bowed deeply at that. "As you command, my Lord." The man then stared at the image for a long moment, stroking his beard in thought. "If I may," he gestured towards the mirror.

"Certainly," Ainz allowed, leaning back so as to let Sebas have more access to the magical device. To tell the truth, he was curious as to what the butler came up with; it would certainly shed some light on the NPC's personality after turning into a sentient being.

Pointing to the area in question, Sebas began. "If it is a dragon, then there's a chance this crater was made after it impacted the terrain. And judging by the size of the crater, the force of this impact was quite extreme. This, combined with the freshly made glass and the detail noticed by your excellent vision, Lord Ainz, creates the image of the dragon having been engaged in combat, and being forced into landing rapidly, perhaps due to a severe wound. Any more than this is unknown to one as inexperienced at tracking as myself."

Well, that all makes sense, and given the fact this world does indeed have dragons according to the Chief, it wouldn't be too farfetched to think they would fight each other. At least, assuming that's what happened here. A territorial match maybe? If so, I'm surprised a single crater is the only visible damage from it.

"All excellent conclusions, Sebas. I am impressed." Ainz said, completely genuine.

"You honor me, my Lord. I am merely providing what little insight I have. Demiurge, Aura, or perhaps Cocytus would undoubtedly be of more use here than I, given their various skills and knowledge."

"Perhaps, but your input is valued nonetheless." Thinking for a bit, Ainz continued. "This crater makes me curious, though, and I desire to find out who or what truly caused it. Contact Demiurge: let him know I have a mission for one of his shadow demons."

"At once, Lord Ainz," Sebas responded with a bow, after which Ainz dismissed him to carry out the task of tracking down the tomb's resident demon lord.

Phew. Finally, some time to myself. He thought with an audible sigh, glad to at last have a moment to simply be. Even if I never actually get tired, it can be draining to play the part of a supreme ruler all the time.

Looking back at the image the mirror displayed, he hummed in thought.

Still, this little mystery has me wondering… if dragons are in this world, what are the odds of other monsters from Yggdrasil being here? Or worse, the bosses? Even a field boss could be a party wipe if you weren't careful, never mind the raid bosses.

One particular field boss came to mind that had gotten remarkably close to killing several of his old guildmates, but thankfully, that was only a one-off, and they learned their lesson after that: don't piss off random bosses for no reason. Though even now, Peroroncino's antics at the time still gave him a good chuckle before his emotions were forcefully smothered.

Ah well. So maybe that experience wasn't all bad. Still… it wouldn't hurt to come up with a few Nightmare scenarios just in case.

With that in mind, he decided to go through Nazarick's old records in his spare time, to find the info the guild had stored on every boss they'd ever encountered. He wasn't going to make a contingency plan for all of them – Yggdrasil had far too many bosses for that – but the more dangerous ones were certainly doable, and given his newfound situation, along with the now living NPCs, it was potentially necessary.

After all, no smart player ever died from over preparing. Though while he was far from the best player in the guild for combat, he could say with relative confidence that he was Ainz Ooal Gown's leader for a reason; and he refused to let anything harm his friends' creations if he had any say in the matter. Whether it be gods or devils, he'd do his damndest to protect what they left behind, or go down trying.

Of that, he was certain.

"Ooooaahh!" yawning, Fuyuki slowly felt himself waking up, his mattress proving to be less comfortable than normal today as he felt some tightness in his back and neck. Disappointed by that, he grumbled and opened his eyes a crack, careful not to fully open them in fear the light from his window would blind him.

It took barely a second for his mind to register what he was seeing, and he shot awake as a result. The hell?! A forest!? My apartment isn't equipped with wall holos!

As he got up, he noticed something decidedly unusual about his 'mattress'. Mainly, that it now consisted of a massive, ripped up patch of grass, the occasional leaf or branch mixed in. On top of that, a groove had been carved through several dozen meters of terrain like something had crash-landed, with him at the end of it; a few trees had even been uprooted entirely, laying off to the side of the groove. All this combined led him to only one possible conclusion.

Wait… am I still logged in? But that can't be right. I can feel the grass!

Blinking, he realized something.

Grass. The only time I've ever seen actual, living grass was in that greenhouse I visited when I was a kid. I thought it had gone extinct out in the wild, at least in Japan…

This thought in mind, he paused and just breathed it all in. And all at once, the sensations around him practically slammed into his senses: the smells, the sights, the breeze, the birds in the trees, running water not far away.

It overwhelmed him in a way nothing had before.

Living in the arcologies he'd had to wear a gas mask just to go outside like everyone else, and even inside the only things he could smell was the stale but – if he was lucky – clean air, his own sweat from having worked all day, or the cheap air fresheners that he'd occasionally buy; his other senses being similarly muted.

That he was now experiencing such raw nature… he almost wanted to cry.

"Is… is this real?" he gasped out, and as if to answer him, a leaf lazily drifted down in front of his face. Being more gentle than he thought possible, he put a hand under it and caught the leaf, not paying attention to anything else, simply staring at it in fascination. A few seconds later, a gust of wind went through the forest, blowing the leaf out of his hand, and he watched, mesmerized, as it floated between the trees, seemingly dancing in the wind.

In that one moment, all thoughts of what he'd been doing before he "woke up" or how he got where he was, were forgotten, as he was sucked into an almost childish curiosity at the world around him.

"I wonder if… no, it couldn't… but…" he muttered quietly, before glancing down at his hands. While his dark tan palms and fingers were exposed, there were scarlet colored metal vambraces covering his arms, and as he moved them they gave off a flame-like glow in the cracks between plating, confirming what he already knew.

Realizing this, he couldn't help himself. He laughed. "Ahahaha! Ahhhh… I don't care if this is a dream." He took another deep breath, gleefully inhaling the cleanest air he'd ever had the privilege of breathing, imprinting this moment in his memories. "I'm going to enjoy it. And if there is a god, and this is their reward… then I'll be sure to protect and enjoy this paradise."

It seemed like the words themselves were all he needed, as a goal settled in his mind, which he now noticed was running a mile a minute. It was fine. He had plenty of things to think about after all. For one: now that he was paying attention, just what in the hell happened that ended up with his landing in the forest like a meteorite? More still, how did he sleep through it?

What was the last thing I was doing… ah yes. Having one last duel against the Nightmare! But… that can't be right. If I'm here, wouldn't she have followed me too? Neither of us like giving up on a good fight.

While he thought, he didn't even notice or care how he seemed to just know something like that about the Nightmare. He'd fought her so many times that during their "boxing sessions" between real fights, he could probably guess whether she'd start with a jab, left hook, an uppercut, leg sweep, roundhouse kick, or any other move.

It never occurred to him that for years now he'd been getting what were effectively MMA lessons from an NPC.

All he knew was that he enjoyed learning how to counter all her moves, even as she did the same to him, and they'd continue this little dance until either they died or they were interrupted; which always ended in the person or thing that did so regretting their decision soon after.

Suppose it doesn't matter ultimately. I'm here and she's not, so I'll just have to explore on my own. Pity though… I was hoping to finish that duel.

Sighing, he thought about how exactly he'd explore his surroundings. Then he had an idea: flight! He wasn't a mage by trade, but any high level player worth a damn, even if they were a warrior or rogue class, would always have some basic transport spells, or abilities and items that could mimic them. This in mind, he slipped on a winged amulet he had in a pouch for just such an occasion, briefly wondering if his inventory still existed, and without a moment's pause, simply began to float upward.

The fact it directly responded to his desire to do so told him how his various abilities now worked, and he took advantage of it to add some extra speed, going from simply floating to flying, as he zoomed out of the treetops for several seconds, stopping once he guessed he had enough altitude.

Sure enough, he now had a bird's eye view of the area for miles around. Something he noticed at that point was his vision: it wasn't bad, per se, before he woke up in this new world, but it had gotten to the point where he knew his eyes were starting to deteriorate. Here though… it didn't matter if it was his hand in front of his face, or a flock of birds on the horizon; he could see it all clear as day. Maybe not to the point of counting the individual feathers on said birds, but he could make out their shape and color perfectly.

Looking into the distance further, he decided to try and find some sign of civilization, if only to discover whether or not he was alone in this fantastical world. Sure enough, it didn't take him long to spot what was clearly a dirt road, and where there's a road, people are sure to follow.

And Fuyuki, curious as any other gamer, decided to find out where this road led: flying for it at a speed that could match some jets, his one and only world item, Arms of the First Flame, leaving twin smoky trails behind him as if they were engines.

Even as he broke the sound barrier, producing a sonic boom in the process, he stayed focused on his goal. Though as a result, he missed the observer that was tracking him off in the distance the moment he flew into the air, said observer barely believing their reptilian eyes…

"You really are a pathetic bunch."

Hamid sighed and gripped his spear and shield tightly as their Sergeant continued to berate them from atop her horse; the woman looked more than smug, though it was difficult to see behind her head scarf and helmet. She was a Janissary, true, but for Hamid who'd met a dozen of her kind, it wasn't that special; in the northern countries, the title given to her would have been Knight, but here in the south, that particular word was looked down upon for its history.

Before the Eight Greed Kings conquered the world and spread chaos all those centuries ago, the north and south had fought each other bitterly, and even now, the relations of the two halves of the continent were far from good even on the best of days. If not for the Floating City lingering on the border – itself a relic of the Greed Kings – and the universal fear of angering whatever creature now called it home, he was sure the sultans would be waging war against the kings even now.

His group were meant as a scouting party: sent on horses to investigate the local terrain, and ensure there haven't been any attempted incursions by either the Elvish Kingdom or Slane Theocracy (though he was personally disgusted by the former's naming conventions; there were several elfen nations in the south as well, so it was pretentious of the northern elf king to name his country such).

In truth, he doubted either nation would make a move, what with their never ending war against each other. Regardless, they had been on patrol for days, traveling along the sandswept border region of their homeland, and the torrent of abusive words had yet to stop; and frankly the men were getting sick of it.

He knew more than most just how quickly a group of men could claim to have been ambushed, leading to their commander being killed; when in reality they had simply slit the throat of said commander and left their body in the ever shifting sands.

Hamid could tell that the men were right on the verge of doing so, which was not something he would look forward to explaining. He wondered if they intentionally sent more incompetent commanders out on isolated patrols in the deserts like this in the hopes that they'll get killed.

Hamid shook his head and absently slung his shield onto his back, followed by taking a swig from his canteen, sealing it again after he did.

"Hey! What's that?!"

He paused and glanced at the man who'd spoken, then followed his gaze to see something that caused him to blink. A person, most likely a woman judging by the build and outfit, was walking off in the distance. Leaning forward slightly, he was able to get a close look at her.

"I don't recognize the clothing style…" he said aloud, trying to match it with what he knew of their northern neighbors.

It was early evening now, the sun beginning to set on the horizon, but he could still clearly examine her outfit, even at such a distance: it looked like a strange combination of ceremonial robe and dress, white fabric draped over her shoulders and back, while the dress portion from the waist was a dark and well worn gray. She wore a tall, white fabric covered headpiece that reminded him of the dancers back home, and it looked as if it covered her eyes to an extent.

The more he looked, the stranger and more out of place the outfit became, causing him to strain his brain trying to come up with an answer.

He couldn't make out much else aside from how dark the rest of her clothing was, but he'd seen enough to know she was a foreigner, just not from somewhere he was familiar with. Sure enough, the commander arrived at this conclusion as well, her forever angered voice sounding out an order.

"A filthy barbarian thinks they can wander into our land?! Men, detain her for questioning! Hyah!" She shouted, urging her horse on, the action almost causing Hamid to yell out a warning to the Janissary.

Arrogant fool! Doesn't she realize that the foreigner could be bait for a trap, or worse still, a powerful warrior?! No normal person just wanders out into the desert dressed like that!

He took in a breath to actually say it out loud this time, only for everyone else to ride after their leader, leaving him behind for a moment. Seeing this, he sighed and spurred his horse onward, cursing internally, even as he saw the Janissary nearing her target a moment later with her spear drawn, followed by a shouted order to surrender.

That's when he saw something alarming: the foreign woman's right hand clenched, and a crackle of thunder was heard, before a burst of red lightning sprang from her hand into a massive shape similar to a curved blade, and she spun around to-

…

Wha… What happened? He thought groggily, mind sluggish, as if covered in a fog. Was I… doing something?

Slowly, he came to some semblance of awareness, now feeling his sore muscles along with a heavy weight on his left leg. When he tried moving his head, he almost choked, half his face now covered in sand. Slowly, he reached a hand up to wipe it away as best he could, and he only now realized he was on the ground.

But… wasn't I riding a horse?

A glance at his legs gave him the answer to two questions: his horse had fallen onto its side with him still in the saddle, and while it didn't feel like it was broken, his leg would definitely be swollen from how the animal landed on it.

The horse itself seemed to still be alive judging by the breathing, but it was stunned the same as he was, and not going anywhere for now. With this realization, another one was made, and he looked around, trying to spot either the other scouts or the foreign mage responsible for his current position.

He found both.

My God… they were cooked in their armor… he thought with horror, watching smoke rise from a number of his brothers in arms, even as their horses spasmed due to the manner in which they were killed.

And that's when he saw her: the mage, the one who'd killed the entire scout contingent in a single, powerful attack, was now standing over the Janissary's corpse like a vulture, moving the body around and examining it.

Whatever the witch was searching for, she found it, as she lifted the corpse up with one hand as if it was made of naught but paper. The other hand moved swiftly and started removing the now dead woman's armor, unlatching it with practiced ease and tossing the parts onto a neat pile off to the side.

She didn't stop until the corpse was left with nothing, undergarments included; and proceeded to drop the now nude body to the ground without a care in the world, ignoring the brutal display the magic attack left behind on the previously smooth skin of the dead woman.

Hamid couldn't help but watch in morbid fascination as his former commander was defiled in such a way from beyond the grave, and he caught sight of the witch waving a hand over her newly acquired armor and clothes, a golden glow encapsulating it. The reason as to why she did this soon showed itself as he noticed the armor being cleaned to pristine condition, and like a child with a gift, the witch picked it up and giggled.

Something that just seemed so very wrong considering her actions just a few moments prior.

Not stopping there, the witch stood still for a moment, which confused him. It didn't last long, however, as suddenly her robes simply dissipated into sparkling blue mist, exposing her body to the world, and Hamid couldn't help but gawk.

By the sands… I've seen beauty before, but this! Not even the royal dancers can match! It's otherworldly! As if waiting for that thought, she twitched suddenly, and a distinctly foreign sensation wormed its way into his mind, before her naked body began to shift unnaturally.

Her skin pigment changed from a pale near white to a dark tan, hips slimming to more normal levels, leg muscles becoming more defined while her arms grew bulkier, hair changing color from raven black to a dark brown, and she even lost a fair bit of height.

Before he knew it, he was staring at a carbon copy of the Janissary, even down to the hair being cut short just below the neck, causing one thought to run rampant through his mind: Monster!

He knew the tales of doppelgangers, they used to plague the southern lands: monsters that could change shape, steal knowledge, and even replace people entirely. He thought they were simply legends. But as the creature in front of him flexed its new body and began putting on its clothes, he started to lose the battle to stay awake, the head injury he sustained making itself known.

The last thing he saw before passing out was the monster standing up after having slipped on the Janissary's boots, with it now looking to the north in what his quickly fading reasoning concluded was curiosity; the creature absently spinning the commander's ceremonial dagger in the air and catching it, the wickedly curved blade becoming a black and silver blur that made his throbbing headache even worse.

His final thoughts before embracing the darkness were, as such, simple: I almost pity those fools up north. They don't know what's coming for them.

Edge AN: Heyo! Apologies ahead of time for those that actually read the AN, but this will be long.

So yeah, sorry about the gap between chapters; life happened, I'm now in Japan for three years, and my job is busy. Good times. Anyway, onto the juicy bits: the story!

Hope none of you were looking forward to a rehashing of Ainz's arrival in the New World. Nothing against authors that do it, but I would've been drained if I had to write that scene; I've read it so many times now I can probably give you a play-by-play of how it goes all the way up until he saves Carne. Hence why it wasn't covered here.

Other bits!

So. The southern half of the continent. Maybe there's a reason Overlord's author never invested time into it, maybe not; all I know is lack of info=free reign, so I can't complain. And hey, look at that: someone from the new world actually survived an encounter with the Nightmare! Granted, it was like 99% luck, but hey, I'm sure he isn't complaining.

Anyway, I'm done here, and as such will now hand it off to the co-author. See ya next time.

Pilot A/N: Welcome back ladies and gents, sorry for the long wait; but I hope this chapter eases the sting of it just a little bit.

For those wondering, or wanting to have a point of reference, The Janissary that Nightmare killed and took the shape and armor of was based off of Afeera from For Honor; Wearing the Scryer Helm, Prophetess Chest, and Prophetess Arms.

And yes, she looks Arab or Persian (IE, stereotypical Middle Eastern) with her new disguise; if you were paying attention, she had shapeshifting abilities in the last few chapters.

But the eyes always stay the same, although our one off mook didn't get to see that.

Edge: Hey, the eyes are the window to the soul after all. Oh, and newsflash: I found some more cookies! Sadly, they're homemade chocolate chip, so I'm not gonna share (sorry, not sorry). I'll see about getting more for next chapter, but no promises. At least there's still cake!