'I have always believed that we were the apex, the better lifeforms in comparison to those like the measly humans, fit only to become slaves to the Aen Elle.

But I was proven wrong, we merely didn't search enough for those who are much more than what we saw in our old world.

The humans in that realm, the one they called Yggdrasil, are like the rest of the creatures that call that world home.

They are Monsters.'

– A Ride of the Wild Hunt

"Oi, Suzuki-san! Some of us are gonna get drinks, are you gonna come with us?" A dark haired man called out to the salaryman who was packing his bag, a couple of their other coworkers talking to one another as they prepared to clock out.

"Thanks for the offer, Takashima-san, but I'll be heading home now. Maybe next time."

The man, Takashima, shook his head with a sigh as he heard Suzuki's response. "You always say that, you know? But fine, I know how precious our free time is in our lives, go and enjoy the weekend, see you next week."

"You too, Takashima-san."

As the group left, the salaryman breathed a sigh of relief as he left the office space as well, wearing his gas mask and protective coat as he stepped outside to the hostile outside environment.

The man doesn't have anything against his coworkers, however at the same, he doesn't have a close relationship with them either, they were acquaintances at best, strangers at worst.

The only people the salaryman ever had a close relationship with were his friends in YGGDRASIL and his mother, who passed away while he was a child, his father died while he was still an infant, from a workplace incident according to his mom.

Suffice to say, the salaryman, who was in his late twenties, could confidently say that he was by all accounts a social recluse, despite being more than capable of holding long conversations and engaging in social interactions due to his work in the company.

The man walked across the night streets, his feet avoiding any obstacles on the pavement in his way, which varied from simple things like broken rocks, rusted lamp lights rusted by time, to the corpses of the poor folks who couldn't find shelter in time from the acid rain, resulting in the streets being littered here and there with the carcasses of children, the elderly, disabled men, and some young women, who couldn't find 'clients' who would take them in for the night in exchange for warming their beds.

Long gone was any compassion left for one's fellow man, and the corpses of his fellow humans littering the city streets proved exactly that, either out of cruelty and disinterest, or simply because it was not worth the cause of wasting resources to house someone else for whatever reason.

Suzuki sighed as he entered the supermarket near to his apartment, taking his gas mask off and breathing in a breath of fresh air before taking a small shopping basket.

Despite being called a supermarket, the place could only boast of selling common household items like cleaning detergents, filters, and the like, the foodstuffs that they sell are water and piles upon piles of multivitamin pills and nutritional goo-like 'paste', which requires eating them immediately as they spoil outside of the supermarket fridges quickly due to the atmosphere on the streets, even if you live close by. And buying a portable unit to store his purchased items was an expense he couldn't afford to have, not to mention that it would increase chances of him getting robbed for it.

Luckily, the shop provides quite the few tables and chairs to allow customers to eat their paste quickly before leaving, which was often filled to the brim with folks who return home during the early mornings and the late evenings; from children who finished elementary school and joined the workforce, like he once was, to the few elderly who could boast they still have jobs despite their age, even if it's something as simple as a janitor or paper sorter.

And so, as Suzuki Satoru paid for his last item, a monotone 'please come back again' from the sickly pale cashier, he went and sat down at one of the rundown tables, pulling the plastic lid from the container before gulping down the entirety of the tasteless paste.

Doing the same to the other container he had, Suzuki proceeded to place the empty containers on a basket near to the cashier, being granted two lottery tickets in exchange that could be used to win a monthly supply of free water, and with that, the man gave a nod of gratitude to retail worker before wearing his protective equipment once again, and taking off after packing up the pills and the water he bought.

Having eaten lunch, the salaryman went inside the nearby building and went up the stairs, going to the third floor's fifth apartment on the left.

Home sweet home, for better or worse.

"I should go and store these in the cupboard," Suzuki muttered to himself as he took of his shoes, his gas mask and protective coat, dumping the items that are constantly exposed to the elements in the laundry basket nearby. He then went to stock his 'food cupboard' with his recent purchases before going to his room to change clothes.

Overall, Suzuki's life is very dull and repetitive. Wake up, wash up, don your suit and hazard gear, go to work, finish your overtime and go to the supermarket, eat your lunch, go back home, play YGGDRASIL, eat dinner if needed, which consists of so KM e multivitamin pills and water, before going to sleep.

With the exception of YGGDRASIL, his life was extremely boring and uneventful, yet, he couldn't help but be grateful for that, as new changes often result in quite the negative series of events. Like getting fired from work, or forgetting your house key at work and having to stay stranded outside your door of the apartment while using your coat as a blanket if radioactive rains begin to pour.

As the man finally finished changing clothes, and threw his items in the rundown washing machine, he went towards the room near the bedroom, which houses the most expensive thing he owns in the entire apartment.

A gaming chair. His medium for playing the games and enjoying the entertainment of the new age, his only source of genuine joy in this corrupt and destroyed world.

The man sighed as he picked up a strange syringe, one filled with nanomachines that he began injecting into his arm, which would allow him later to operate DMMO-RPGs like YGGDRASIL without getting booted outside the program halfway through.

As Suzuki gritted his teeth and began the process, he breathed a sigh of relief as he put aside the syringe, sitting on the gaming chair and laying his body on it, the helmet of the chair automatically activating as he placed the cable of the helmet into his cranial port, his vision and other senses being overtaken by the device's programs before clicking on the icon for YGGDRASIL, opening the online game and submerging him in a sea of virtual dreams and fun.

"One hundred and sixty five… one hundred and sixty six… one hundred and sixty seven… one hundred and sixty eight… one hundred and sixty nine… one hundred and seventy…" A young ashen haired woman uttered under breath as she kept performing pushups, her feet and hands in contact with the wooden floor of the house she was in as she took shaky breaths while keeping her body stable.

It's been over two days since she was left here by whoever healed and saved her, though the person in question has yet to show themselves to her, leaving her only to ponder on the mysterious identity of the homeowner.

She attempted on multiple occasions to leave the place to go out and find out where she was exactly, beginning with visiting a nearby city, only to be stopped by some… obstacles.

For one, she noted that the nearby environment was dangerous, too dangerous even. While Ciri was used to the presence of monsters, even hunting them due to her tutelage under Geralt, her adoptive father, and Uncle Vesemir.

Even so…

'In the span of an hour, I think there were around three large dragons the size of entire castles flying above the cliff, not to mention that weird tentacle creature that attacked the city for a while before leaving after they made it retreat… Honestly, what the hell is wrong with this world?!'

Ciri groaned as she finally did two hundred pushups, laying on her back on the soft rug as she took a few deep breaths. 'At least I can hide from the Wild Hunt here for a good while, and I don't need to go to the city for resources or food.'

Her mind wandered to the wondrous kitchen the house had, especially the large weird container that was frosty on the inside, having numerous dishes of unknown origins inside, ones that Ciri could confidently say was the best she had eaten since forever, even during her time as a princess.

'I am sure that weird steak was made from cow meat, but even still, it tasted good… way too good, it was too divine for it to be made from simple cattle meat…'

She could feel her stomach rumbling at the thought of eating more of the exquisite food inside the large strange silver container, yet it also bothered her for certain reasons.

For one, she doesn't know till now the exact origins of these dishes, or if they were ever meant to her, and the only reason she dined on them was because the homeowner hasn't returned for two days, leaving her here practically to starve had it not been for the food inside the kitchen.

As for the second reason…

'I don't know how much weight I'm gaining from all that I'm eating right now, and from the lack of outside activities… I really don't want to end up caught by Eredin's Riders because I got fattened up from lazing about.' A faint blush appeared on her face as the embarrassing possibility began clouding her mind, having the chase that spanned across worlds end so… humiliatingly… Geralt would probably never let her live it down.

'Geralt… Yennefer… Uncle Vesemir…' Her mood dampened as she remembered her second family, ones that were closer to her than anybody else.

It's been a while since she saw any of them, since the pogrom in Rivia occured, when she shipped Geralt and Yennefer off to Malus Island after the former's near death, leaving them to heal up after the unicorn Ihuarraquax guided her to the mystic island in the mists of Loch Eskalott.

'Are they still there? Did Geralt heal up? Are they safe? Happy? There's so many things I want to know, to ask them… but I can't, if I do, the Wild Hunt will pick up on their trail and hunt them down too if it means it will lead to me…'

Ciri sighed, her eyebrows furrowed as she began thinking about such a dark future. The Dearg Ruadhri have been tailing her for so long now to gain access to the Elder Blood in her, which to her, was as much of a curse as it was a blessing.

'I should try to leave as soon as I can, I don't know if the Wild Hunt will find this place, but I shouldn't risk it, especially if it means putting whoever saved me at risk too.'

As the woman nodded to herself, she got to her feet, dusting her hands off before preparing to go to that weird 'washroom' and take a bath.

*Click!*

Ciri felt like jumping out of her skin as she heard the door opening, her eyes widened with surprise as she unsheathed her steel sword and aimed it at the 'intruder'.

"Hmm? Oh, you're finally awake."

She blinked for a moment as a familiar figure appeared from the door, one that she didn't know personally, but knew of his existence from the photos across the abode.

'It's that skeleton… So he was the one?' She eyes the man up and down before signing, her sword lowered as she tried to relax for a bit. Yet the man's(?) gaunt appearance and terrifying visage was enough to make a shiver run up her spine. 'I just wish it was someone less terrifying…'

"Hello. I am Momonga." The large skeleton spoke up to her with a wave of his hand.

Ciri blinked once at the casualness of the monster before doing the same, yet all the while there was something that weirded her out, when he spoke, it felt as if there were two voices speaking at the same time to her, one was more emotional, and felt like it would come from a fellow human or a nonhuman than a monster with no vocal cords to begin with. The other however, was a deep baritone one that seemed devoid of all emotion, fit for the appearance of the skeletal being in front of her.

'I would question why he speaks in two voices at the same time, but I'm already talking to someone who doesn't even have muscles or anything else to help him move. I guess that's the least weird thing about him.'

"Hello, sir," Ciri greeted in turn to the man, a bit of formality in her voice as she spoke. "I'm Ciri, I guess you were the one who healed my wounds?"

Momonga responded. "I did. Your wounds needed to be tended to quickly, especially since you were under the bleeding stat- Khm, I mean, bleeding severely."

Ciri nodded gratefully. "And I thank you for that. Though I should ask, what happened to me… and, uh… what exactly are you? I must admit, I never saw anything like you before."

The man didn't reply immediately to her, which worried the world-hopper for a bit that she might have offended him with her last question.

Yet that wasn't the case entirely.

'Seriously? All the NPCs in YGGDRASIL have a basic understanding of the different races in the game, at least the most common. Did the Devs forget to input the data into her? Or is this actually related to her quest?'

The Player shook his head as he began clearing his throat ('Why does he do that? He's all… bones'). And started answering her questions.

"Well to begin with, I am an Undead, or a member of the 'Living Dead' as some would say, and to be more specific, I am an Overlord. You would consider those like me as among the pinnacle of the Undead race in terms of overall strength."

As the woman nodded, having absorbed the information he gave, albeit reluctantly from her weak hesitant nod, he continued. "As for what happened to you, you were dropped here from a portal in the sky while heavily injured. Luckily, I was close by to catch you before you fell to your death, and used a healing potion afterwards before relocating you here to recuperate."

Ciri made a small 'aahhh' as a hint of realization coloured her face, looking at the Undead with appreciation. "I must thank you then, sir, who knows what would've happened to me otherwise if you weren't there."

She then balled up her fist as she looked at him with determination. "But I must leave now, every day I spend here will be spent endangering you and others instead."

Momonga didn't have facial expressions, neither did he even open his skeletal mouth, yet his head tilt conveyed his confusion. "Why is that?"

Ciri was silent for a moment before answering his question. "My pursuers, the ones who have injured me, will go to any lengths to capture me, even if it means killing everyone that stands in their way."

…

She must admit, she expected for him to have at least shown a semblance of concern or worry regarding the information she just gave him, yet Momonga didn't so much as flinch, but instead asked her another question, one in a tone so bland it was as if he's been through this song and dance more than once before. "How exactly do your assailants look? And what do they want from you?"

The woman was hesitant in answering him, after all, despite having saved her, she doesn't know if he will end up vying for her powers like the people from her world, yet at the same time, she felt the need to inform him of what exactly is going else many people in this world might suffer.

'If he is among the so-called 'pinnacle' of this undead race, then he probably carries some authority in the political climate of this world. At best, he might help me escape from the Wild Hunt… at worst, he will try what Vilgefortz did or what Emperor Emhyr, my own biological father, was planning on doing before he gave up.'

Her grip on her sword tightened as she took a few deep breaths. 'If he plans on capturing me, I'll try to teleport out of this world, the Wild Hunt might start pursuing me again, but at least it will be far away from here.'

In the midst of all this, Momonga's thought process was entirely not what the young Ciri was expecting. 'I am getting seriously anxious about this quest from the hesitation from this NPC… does it lead to some grand fight against a Raid Boss or a World Enemy? Is that it? I mean, that already happened with that Timmie quest, it was supposed to just be a level five type quest for the human players in one of the cities in Midgard, but they ended up fighting some Raid Boss titled 'Timmie: The Guardian of All Pigeons'... Please don't tell me it's gonna be a repeat of that…'

As Momonga was internally panicking, Ciri finally answered him, a hint of hesitation in her voice as she answered him. "My pursuers, called the Red Riders, or the Wild Hunt, are horsemen from another… world. They dress in armour and ride horses that are made to resemble spectres or wraiths, often galloping on their fearsome horses in the sky looking for new victims, one who they would enslave for their people."

The ashen haired woman took a small breath as she continued her answer, albeit with nervousness. "As for why they're chasing me… it's because I am capable of traveling across worlds, a power they want so they could unleash full scale attacks and gather more slaves for their civilization, and so I've been on the run ever since they found out about me."

There was silence in the small home as Ciri finished her answer, the only noise coming from the crackling of the fire in the hearth. The woman was prepared to immediately teleport out of the abode as soon as Momonga even tries to make any movements to capture her as well.

Yet, to her surprise, his next uttered words were quite strange.

"I see… and I assume you teleported to this world in that previous state of yours after escaping them again? If that is the case, then you should've tried to go to another world instead of Midgard, ones that would be more difficult for them to find you in, like Svartalfheim, or even Asgard, if your enemies are from the negative… I mean, if they are considered 'undoubtedly evil' in the moral sense."

Ciri' eyes were as wide as saucers as she opened her mouth and closed it like a koi fish, unable to give out a proper reply to the Undead player.

Momonga, having understood where her shock was from, explained to her. "I think you might've not known when you teleported to YGGDRASIL. This place isn't just one world, but a collection of worlds, and everyone here, or at least a good portion of the entire multi global population is capable of traversing the different worlds. Either by their own magic, or by hiring other mages, or buying scrolls or using the official {World Gates} owned by some nations and city-states."

…

The ensuing silence was almost deafening, with Ciri going through multiple emotions so rapidly Momonga feared she might go into shock sooner than later.

'Uwah… I'm honestly jealous, I wish us Players could show emotions like this, unfortunately it's only limited to the YGGDRASIL non-player-made NPCs… Wait, no, I wouldn't be able to show any emotions to begin with though, I'm a skeleton…'

"...So many people here… can travel to other worlds whenever they… want?" Ciri hesitantly asked the Player, who nodded in response, before her voice became an octave higher as she exclaimed. "Then this would mean many here are in danger! The Wild Hunt would start going after them instead of chasing me! They will get what they want even quicker!"

The man tried placating the girl's panic as she stepped towards him, concern and despair colouring her face as she made her worried apparently.

He guided her to the nearby couch as she sat on it while taking a few deep breaths, he then sat from across her as she tried to calm down.

"Feeling a bit calmer now?" When the woman nodded, Momonga began slowly probing her for information. "Then, could you tell me more about these Wild Hunt riders? What level are they?"

"L-level?"

"I mean… how strong are they? What are they capable of? "

Ciri pursed her lips for a few seconds before answering the man, trying to recount as much information as she can about them. "Well, first, they are able to go through different worlds too, except they can only send a few riders with each navigator, they're what they call those who are able to open gates between worlds, you see. The main purpose of their group was to capture slaves from other worlds, particularly humans, and even dwarves, or other elves. They're not actual spectres however, or undead like yourself, they're dressing like that to instill fear in others, they're actually elves, called the Aen Elle."

The girl furrowed her eyebrows for a moment before continuing. "Their king, who is also the personal leader of the Wild Hunt, is called Eredin, he and his riders have been chasing me for so long so they could tap into my blood's powers, which would allow them to send as many soldiers as they want to other worlds to capture as many slaves as they want. Plus, they could move their entire population across different worlds in case anything happens."

Ciri balled her fist into a fist as she seemed to remember some things, before continuing. "As for their strength… The average rider is quite stronger physically, able to take down an entire group of armoured soldiers on their own. And their mages, the navigators, are able to summon other soldiers and the Wild Hunt's hounds too, who are quite fearsome in their own right. They don't usually appear in person however, instead sending out spectral projections that they can do their job through and only step in personally when it's absolutely necessary…"

She slowly took a deep breath before continuing, Momonga patting her back reassuringly as she continued. "Eredin, their king, is the strongest among them, not to mention the most ruthless, he doesn't hesitate in destroying anything or anybody that stands in his way. Which is something that he shares with one of his two, Imlerith, a merciless brute with a rash temper. The other lieutenant is Caranthir, the best among the navigators and one of Eredin's most trusted advisors, even among the other navigators, he's the best among them, but has a tendency to take risks. He might not be as much of a fighter as Eredin or Imlerith, but he's still strong in his own right, both in using his magic and in swinging his staff."

Ciri was silent for a moment as she tried to recollect her thoughts, her mind filled with memories of Tir ná Lia, her time spent there after her… 'deal' with the elves trying to go back home from their hold. Her escape after Auberon's death, the subsequent chase from the Red Riders, saving Geralt and Yennefer from certain death…

"It's alright." Momonga's voice(s) suddenly rang in her ear, his hand on her head as he spoke. "You're quite safe here."

'Safe…' Ciri couldn't stop the melancholic smile from forming on her face, if she was counting her days right, it's been no more than a year ago that she last saw those whom she started to see as her real family, yet it felt like centuries, traveling across worlds, never stopping, never halting, the most she has ever spent in one world was no more than a week, and it was in the sewers of that world to hide from the Wild Hunt.

'These might be the most comfortable two days I have ever spent… anywhere.' She closed her eyes momentarily as she enjoyed the feeling of Momonga patting her head. 'His hand is cold, but somehow… it's also warm.'

Soon, her breath calmed down as the sandman worked his magic, and sleep overcame her.

Momonga finally tucked in the now sleeping 'NPC', ensuring that he didn't touch her anywhere… inappropriately while carrying her so he doesn't get booted out of the game.

As he left the woman to sleep, for whatever duration it might be, his mind raced with thoughts over the newly acquired information.

'The Wild Hunt… I think YGGDRASIL already had a group with that same name, back in Helheim, I think. Two, if you count that Player Clan in Svartalfheim. And I don't think the Devs are fans of reusing old skins and enemies for new quests and whatnot, despite how scummy they might be.'

The man hummed as he went to sit back down on the couch, watching the cackling of the flames. 'Is this maybe a DLC of sorts? Or an Easter Egg? If it was the former I would've at least heard of it on the forums, especially if there were updates all of a sudden to bring in these guys into YGGDRASIL. It might be an Easter Egg then, or a hidden quest, would explain why I never heard anything about it before, since I doubt any Player would even choose to share this information willingly, especially if there's good rewards to be had. I should ask someone just in case… I think Yamaiko's sister, Akemi, still plays the game, maybe she would know something?'

The man released a great sigh as he aimed his eyes at the wooden ceiling of his hideout. "Still though, this 'Ciri'..." The man pursed his lips IRL as he thought about her.

'She felt real, far too real. Even other NPCs aren't as reactive as her, if you exclude the Campaign NPCs and the big enemies in the field like the Raid Bosses or World Enemies. How advanced is her AI exactly? …Or maybe… she's not an NPC and is actually alive?'

A moment of silence passed for Momonga, before he snorted and shook his head. 'I've been reading too many light novels, that's just ridiculous. She's probably just an NPC with a very advanced AI. Kudo's to the VA who gave her voice to her though, it really complemented her.'

The man sighed as he opened a [Gate], cracking his neck IRL as he prepared to move out. 'I still need to finish that quest back in Niflheim, and I doubt she's gonna wake up anytime soon, probably mimicking the usual sleeping schedule of a human. I'll go and finish that quest and trade for some resources in Svartalfheim, I think some of the dwarf NPCs there are holding a sale today.'

And with that, the Overlord Player disappeared, the spell closing behind, leaving the sleeping Ciri in peace.

"Your Majesty. I have news to report regarding Zireael."

A knight-mage in dark skeletal armoured spoke with reverence to the figure sitting on the throne, his armour resembling his subordinate's, yet was much more fearsome.

"Speak, Caranthir." The King of the Wild Hunt, Eredin, spoke coldly.

"We have found traces of her in a distant world, she seems to have taken refuge there since our last… encounter with her."

Eredin hummed as he drummed his fingers against the armrest of his throne. "What do you know about that world she is in now? Their inhabitants? Can we get more servants from there while pursuing her?"

The Navigator was silent for a moment before shaking his head apologetically. "I apologize my lord, I couldn't find any specific details about that realm without sending out men there to scour that world personally."

The Aen Elle King was silent for a moment before responding. "Then see to it that some of our Riders go there, to both find the girl and bring any information about that world… Speaking of which, what do the inhabitants of that world call their home?"

Caranthir bowed his head as he answered the King of the Dearg Ruadhri.

"They call it YGGDRASIL…"

A.N: And here we are, it was one info dump of a chapter, wasn't it?

We got to see a glimpse of Suzuki's IRL life, and he got to find out more from Ciri about the Wild Hunt, and the Wild Hunt finds out about the existence of YGGDRASIL.

Anyways, thanks for reading.

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