Chapter 9, Part III

"Angels have very nasty tempers. Especially when they're feeling righteous."

– Clive Barker, Mister B. Gone

"Be careful not to trip!" ~ Mako calls out to her young students as she watches them running on the (relatively) small valley grasslands around Tengoku Junzi.

She was a teacher up to a few weeks ago, and while she treated mostly with young teens, she was convinced that it was good for children of all ages to play outside as much as it was to study in the classroom.

Thus, she had taken the children out to play.

"Yes, sensei!" - the smaller children answered, and some of them actually glared at the grass for a few moments, as if trying to divine what sort of devious traps were there.

Rather than reading a book or working on her next project, Mako simply watched over the children while standing nearby over the grass.

In her previous world, she would probably had at least sat down under a tree's shadow, but she found that her new body was far more resiliant and had far fewer needs.

Unlike usual, however, she wasn't wearing her casual clothes, but one of her actual gear sets. Specifically, it was her healing set, which gave her huge bonuses to buffs and healing, but very little to defense and nearly nothing to attack. It was one she usually wore when she was with a party she could trust to keep aggro off her, so she could use area effects to heal without worrying about mobs switching targets to her.

The reason she was wearing it... well, it was a nice clean summer dress-like set, and it was such a nice, bright day outside.

Three of her [Children]. The hare hengeyokai she had created a couple of days ago, were helping her take care of the children, while 2 Solar Archons kept watch over her.

She was quite sure that the guards were unnecessary, but she was equally sure that Burlaug would have a stroke if she went out without assistants or guards.

As she was looking at the children, she noticed a brief flash of light coming from the city behind them. It was probably the teleporting platform, since travel had been authorized between Tengoku Junzi and Sorventh, and already parties of adventurers were beginning to come and take a look at the city and its facilities.

Of course, both Burlaug and General Li were extremely wary of such people, but Tengoku Junzi had always been a place where Players could freely enter to purchase and utilize its services and goods. In her eyes, there was little difference between the players of Yggdrassil and the adventurers of the new world, ecept in their levels and equipment.

Honestly, it was hard for her to consider the adventurers of this world as a credible threat. Even the largely decorative city guards would have very little trouble dealing with them if need be, not to mention General Li's Defensive troops.

She thought it would be nice to meet new people.

Maybe that evening, she would take a walk through town and mingle with the tourists.

~O~

Virulhaka Azriel, Heavenly King of Patience, was traveling east with a merchant caravan. To be accurate, she had walked into them late one evening while they were resting for the night, and after buying transport with them, she had been riding in the back of a wagon which had been quickly adapted for a passenger.

She didn't need to ask for such preferential treatment. It wasn't just that she had paid for her 'ticket' with one of those brand new bullion gold coins, she was also exceedingly beautiful and simply oozed elegance and grace. There was absolutely no doubt in anyone's minds that they had just picked up a extraoridinarily important person, somehow.

But despite the arrangements and accomodations made for her, she used very little of it. Instead, she quietly knelt in the exact center of the empty space, closed her eyes, and seemed to be deep in thought while waiting for the caravan to arrive wherever it was going.

"Miss, what's your name?" – Suddenly, a clear, yourthful voice rang into her ears, as a young girl had climbed unto her wagon and, after imitating the way she was sitting [1] for a whole whooping 7 seconds, leant forth and patted at Azriel's knee.

Of course, Virulhaka was aware of her presence, but judging her a insignificant threat, and since the child hadn't spoken to her before, she had simply ignored her up to that point.

"I am Virulhaka Azriel, Heavenly King of the south, and guardian of Patience." – she replied calmly to the girl that was staring at her from a couple inches away.

Well, to begin with, she didn't had a common adult's sense of personal space, so as long as the child wasn't a danger, Virulhaka didn't really mind having her around.

"King, shouldn't it be a queen? Are you a queen, Viru- Vir-ul-aka Azy-rail."

"It is a traditional title, and it can't be changed just for the convenience of its holder. And it is Virulhaka Azriel."

"Vir-ul-acca."

"Virulhaka Azriel"

"Virulacca?"

"Isn't Azriel easier to pronounce?"

"Ah, yes! !"

"Alright."

"I'm Messa!"

"Messy?"

"Messa!"

"Nii-san? That doesn't sounds right. You're a girl, correct?"

Of course, it was just Virulhaka's sense of humor, but she teased Messa for a little bit longer, then the child started asking her about everything she could think of.

And of course, the wagon's driver, the guards walking next to it, and a few others that approached when they realized someone was finally talking to their mysterious and beautiful guest, were all trying to overhear the conversation.

Messa was doing a thorough and merciless questioning in the manner children tend to, when the wagon suddenly stopped and screams came in from outside.

"What's happening?" – Messa crawled over towards the courtains separating the wagon's back from the driver's seat, and was poking her head in when Virulhaka pulled her back just enough for an arrow to miss her head.

"A group of armed people is attacking."

"Bandits!?"

"Oh, so they're bandits? I was wondering if I was actually with bad guys and they were guards or such."

"We're not bad guys!"

"I see, alright."

"Why would you think that!?"

"You shouldn't rush to judgments. Wait here, I'll get us moving again."

As another lost arrow flew in through the cloth covering the wagon, Virulhaka drew her [Blue Destiny] sword and used it to bounce the arrow back the way it came.

She jumped down from the wagon's back to the road, and looked around. Indeed, about a hundred or so mounted bandits were rushing everywhere between the wagons, cutting down the merchants and the guards, and dragging out the people hiding inside the wagons themselves.

The bandits that saw her, stopped at that very moment. Some fell off their horses, too distracted by her to pay proper attention.

"Dibs!" – called out one of the younger bandits as he rode towards her at full speed, wanting to grab her and throw her unto the back of his horse.

Well, whatever dreams he had, his horse passed Virulhaka without stopping, and he passed her with one less arm.

She had sliced clean off the arm he had stretced to grab her with, and he hadn't even noticed until he tried to straighten up and grab the reins again, at which point he cried out and fainted on his chair.

The bandits were slightly shocked, but they quickly recovered and rode towards Virulhaka at full speed, attempting to run her over and cut her down.

Seemingly weightless, the beauty in the colorful kimono leaped to the back of the first horse to approach her, and sliced its bandit's head clean off, before gracefully leaping to the next closest horse and repeating her swing.

A few moments later, every bandit in the area was dead on his chair or laying on the ground, and their horses were either running off with noone to stop them, or walking around in no rush.

Either because they saw the horses running off with their headless riders, or because they noticed how there was an area of noticeable silence, the bandits began moving towards Virulhaka's position, where they found almost a dozen bodies laying headless on the ground on pools of their own blood, while a uncanningly beautiful young woman in colorful clothes walked around undisturbed.

As if this was a manga from two centuries ago, a huge bandit appears!

Over almost 7" tall, with limbs as thick as apple trees, and a body wider than a wine barrel.

With huge fat hands that look as if they could pick up a man with ease.

A bald head with enough fat under its chin to make it look round.

Small, pig-like eyes, and a huge spiked metal club on his hand that looks as if it would be an ogre's dream weapon!

A huge, fat, strong man that seems to be the incarnation of violence.

Truly, this hog-man seems like he ran out of an 80's manga before the protagonist could tell him that he was already dead!

He's just missing the spiked metal pauldrons...

"Ora!? Pretty slut! What do you think you're doing, slut!?" – truly, he even spoke like someone who would squish a villager's head with his left hand just to show off how bad and tough he was before the hero went 'atatatatata!' on him and left him to explode after three seconds.

Virulhaka looked up at the sun-eclipsing mass of fat and muscles for a couple of seconds, then suddenly she had a bright expression that clearly showed off she just had an idea, and spoke to the bandit thus...

"Overweight gentleman, you seem to be lost. You are looking for my sister, Dhrutarashta Michaella, right?" – she said so with a refreshing smile that was somehow also full of pity.

"What? Why, who... who the fuck is that!?"

"Round sir, it seems your fat is clogging up your ears. I just said she was my sister."

"And who the fuck are you!?"

"I am Virulhaka Azriel, Heavenly King of the South and guardian of Patience."

"King, don't you mean queen?"

At this point, Messa poked her head out between the curtains at the back of the wagon, and explained...

"It is a traditional title, it can't be changed for the convenience of its current holder."

"Ah1? And who the fuck are you!?"

"I'm Messa. I'm six and a half."

"Ah!? Who the fuck cares who you are!?"

"But... you asked..." -Messa cried softly as the huge hog-man bellowed at the top of his lungs.

"Gentleman who-eats-too-much, please do not be violent towards children." – said Virulhaka

"Ah, sorry, I- why the fuck am I apologizing for!?"

At this point, the bandit's leader had had enough. His face was so red, it was spreading down his chest and shoulders now. Normally, you would say it was going down his neck, but since such a thing wasn't visible anywhere, that would be impossible on this case.

The pulshing veins on his forehead looked like they were about to burst. He cried out as he began running towards Virulhaka, swinging his mace over his head.

"I still think you are looking for Dhrutarashta, but I guess I can give it a try." – said Virulhaka as she saw the huge man running towards her.

From inside the wagons, those who had survived and were hiding, looked in despair at the mountain of fat and muscles that approached the exotic beauty at full speed.

It was a scene similar to that of an adult running towards a child, or maybe even like that of a bear chasing a rabbit?

"Ah, alright, then... " – Virulhaka wondered if she could actually do this, given the man's considerable size.

She was still thinking about it, when the bandit swinged his club at her location from high above, adding the full might of his weight into the blow and causing a explosion-like sound as his huge club smacked the ground. It was to the level of nearby wagons briefly jumping off the ground dur to the aftershock, and the horses needing to be calmed down by their riders.

Of course, the unattended horses simply ran away at full speed.

"How's that, uh!?" – he grunted as the dust began to clear off

"Boss, behind you." – commented one of the bandits

"What?"

"Behind you." – sounded Virulhaka's raspy voice – "But don't worry trying to turn around. You are already in two. No... that doesn't sounds as good... You are alrea- ah, now he's really already dead. It doesn't matters, then."

While she was talking, the bandit tried to turn around, but only the upper half of his body did so. As if he was an action figure with a poorly designed joint right at the middle, just his upper body spun so he was now facing Virulhaka while his legs were still facing forth. Since his hips weren't perfectly level, at this point his upper body slid down from his lower half, and fell to the ground.

"Yeah, Dhrutarashta does it better. I'm not really cut for catch phrases."

She reached a conclusion, and nodded with determination!

Then she looked at the remaining bandits and thought 'I can keep trying, right?'

That day, the bloody legend was born!

~O~

While Grumnir, Tazar and Albion pushed the giant spiders back with their shield wall, Kallisto flung spells at them and Cathya shot crossbow bolts.

They had returned from Tengoku Junzi and were busy taking on the giant spider's quest after practicing their new skills. The shield wall was solid and acted as a solid steel wall from behind which the men of the team had little problem stabbing at the monsters, easily enduring their charges and taking advantage of the openings thus generated.

In order to prevent them giant spiders from leaping over them and targetting the squishier members of the party, they quickly marched towards their lair's entrance and held their ground there, letting the otherwise deadly monsters waste their time trying to bite at their metallic shields.

"[Fireball]!" – chanted Kallisto as she released the fourth tier spell at the monsters in front of the iron wall.

Since it had a specific blast radius size, once you got used to it, it was easy to position the explosion so that it would just barely miss your own front line. Of course, it was quite nerve-wrecking for the men in said front line to weather the blast that they saw and felt right in front of them, but after the third time, they felt like they may actually get used to it.

"It's hard to shoot past them like this." – Cathya was having trouble to position bolts past the party front liners.

Well, this much was obvious since the spiders were not tall enough to stand out over the shield line. Sure, they were enormous for a spider, but they were still lower than a man, if much wider. This meant Cathya needed to go around them to shoot at them from the side or from behind, which was all but impossible in a tunnel like this.

"I know, right? ~la" – Said Lyann with a confident tone right before she nodded.

"You can't shoot either way..." – retorted Cathya

"Fuuu ...y-you meanie! ~sol"

Lyann whined a little bit, but she was smiling, playing the [Song of Astral Fire] in her violin in order to create a blast of fire similar to Kallisto's [Fireball] using her music rather than her attack spells.

Since coming out of the closet, so to speak, she had been a lot more liberal with her abilities, and revealed herself as a capable source of damage through music, greatly adding to the party's firepower.

Right now however, she was just happy they were still her friends.

Her [Song of Cosmic Fire] ended on a high note, and a enormous number of red and golden flowers bloomed in the middle of the spider's nest. They appeared in quick succession, then burst in a whirlwind of fire, music and flower petals that burnt anything they touched.

In order to keep a relatively low profile, she was still not using her attack spells, and limited herself to her [Bardic Music] abilities, which she could, without lying, explain were quite limited in how many times a day they could be used.

~O~

Juno found himself standing before the door of Virupaksa's (temporal) residence in Sorventh.

He had been standing there for about five minutes now.

Perhaps at some level, he hoped the strawberry-colored King would, for some reason, feel a need to talk to him some more, and open the door, looking for him along the street.

In such a event, he wanted to be right there.

That's the state he was in when he finally came back to his senses.

Juno wasn't a smitten schoolboy. He was a tough as nails adventurer that had loved and been loved, and seen his loved one die by a rakshasa's claws.

He was more than mature enough to understand his own feelings.

'She got me quite good' – he thought to himself with a smile.

Being in love, uh? It had been a while.

It felt nice, to feel like a stupid boy again, and hope for morning to come soon, so he could see her again.

Of course, he was a grownup now. There was no good reason he couldn't knock at the door, and talk to her again... except, there was no good reason he could think of, to explain why he'd knocked at her door.

What would they talk about?

Thus, he forced himself away from the door, and began walking home.

And inside the house, Virupaksa was leaning against the door, her forehead pressed against it, hoping he would knock...

~O~

Ren was fiddling with a scrying bowl inside the council room. Perhaps it would be necessary to explain first that making a scrying tool wasn't a particularly challenging task in Yggdrassil. You just needed a clean brass bowl (its size was up to you, really. How large of a screen do you need?), some water to fill it with, and a relatively simple ritual.

Its efficiency on the other hand, was entirely dependent on your level and [Spellcraft] skill, however.

There's also plenty of spells and rituals to enhance or block scrying, as well as items and certain class skills', but Ren didn't had the right job levels for that, nor was she specially trying to alter the functions of the scrying bowl at the time.

"Uhmm- la la!" – she hummed to herself as she got the simple tool to work, and began trying to direct it.

Unlike the [Scrying Mirror] that was so popular with Pks, the [Scrying Pool] had plenty of disadvantages. For example, it was unable to penetrate through even the thinnest barriers, so even a paper wall was a formidable obstacle. It also couldn't tell illusions from reality, and so almost any defensive wards or measures would be enough to trick it.

With all its limitations, it did had one important advantage, though. It was possible to cast up to second tier spells through it, and it had unlimited range, albeit it couldn't peek into other worlds. More importantly, as Ren had found out, it responded to her will automatically, so she didn't need to struggle with steering or directing it. She simply willed to observe a point, and as long as there were no obstructions, that spot was immediately shown to her.

Should one call it lucky, or just convenient? Since she was convinced Tengoku Junzi was the only bit of Yggdrassil that had made it into the new world, she was using a extremely simple, low level tool which wouldn't even get past a second tier illusion spell.

On the flip side, it was such a passive sensor, that it was just as likely not to trigger any defensive wards and spells a target may had prepared.

If you were familiar with military terms, it would be a passive sensor. For example, there are active and passive sensors on a fighter jet. Active sensors were the radar, the radio, and other electronic means of detecting your enemy. Of course, that very same jet would also have electronical countermeasures for such things, in the form of jammers, radar absorbing materials, and the like.

When a fighter pilot says he is going to switch to "passive sensors", what he is really saying is "I'm going to use my eyes." But that wouldn't sound nearly as official, so the military had come up with the term 'passive sensors' instead.

Thus, a scrying pool was simply a way to extend your eyesight beyond its normal range and direction. It created a invisible floating 'eyeball' that wouldn't get past even paper thin walls because it was physically impossible, and it wouldnt distinguish between reality and illusion unless you yourself had the ability to do so, but on the flip side, it wouldn't trigger wards or protections the way a more powerful spell would.

That's what Ren was using when she spotted a long, strange caravan past the mountains in the west, in the direction of the neighboring Slane Theocracy.

As her 'sensor' approached, she spotted a long group of people.

Most of them were on foot, with but a few on horseback, and four wagons near the middle of the group.

Once she moved the scrying pool's invisible sensor closer, she could see that there were two types of people in the caravan. That was, soldiers and prisoners, while the wagons were built almost solid, made of wood with metal reinforcing them here and there, as if their cargo was some extremely dangerous beast or criminal.

'Prison transport? Are they criminals?' – She moved the sensor closer still, and now she could look at the caravan as if she was standing right next to them as they passed.

She frowned as she realized, there were plenty of children amongst the folks in chains. No, not children, but small humanoids she recognized from Yggdrassil as gnomes, a very small race of humanoids which was barely about half as tall as a regular human.

Furthermore, none of theprisoners, unlike all of the soldiers, was human.

The concept of slavery was not alien to her, being a fan of fantasy books and games. But seeing it live was quite a different thing. When a soldier started kicking a fallen halfling while shouting at him to get up, she had enough.

Ren wasn't the hero type. She wasn't even particularly brave. She was a young math teacher for a prestigious Tokyo university, and had never before been exposed to violence in real life, not even during the normal games rambunctious children play while growing up.

She had been quite content to let Lyann be the brave one going out into the world, and done her best to stop her sister from imitating their friend, but something inside her started to boil when she saw the Theocracy soldier kick the chained and helpless gnome to death.

She couldn't hear what was going on, and for that, she was grateful, but when the soldier kicked his tiny prisoner hard enough to break its neck, she could swear she heard a sickening crunching sound.

"[Gate]!" – she had no idea what she was doing, but by the time she could think about it, she was on the scene.

~O~

All of a sudden, a gold and white whirpool of energy had come into existence next to the road, and before anyone could react to it, an angel had stepped forth.

There was no doubting the nature of the being to emerge from the [Gate], as even the dullest of those present could understand its exalted nature.

Her long, midnight black hair floated in the wind, making one wonder just how light and soft it had to be for this weak breeze to pick it up like that. Her figure was covered by a small and simple white dress, gently exposing her dreamy figure, and her white wings glowed with light that could only be described as holy.

Far from the friendly visage she had shown during her missions as ambassador in the Dragonix Kingdom, however, her appearance was terrifying, as in Yggdrassil angels posessed a righteous aura that would intimidate and terrify enemies weaker than themselves.

Well, back in the game, it was a relatively weak effect that was almost flavor text, since no mob would ever attack a player exceeding its own level by 10 or more, same as it had been in practically every online game for over a century now, but right here and now, for those she deemed as her enemies, the effect was nearly enough to petrify their bodies and stun their will.

Furthermore, being a normal, functioning member of society, Ren was ill-prepared for playing a hero. She wrecked her head trying to come up with something to say now that she stood next to the caravan.

On Yggdrassil, she had been a dram builder, and moreover, a roleplayer.

Yes, that's right. She had no idea on what to say, but she could play the part of Celi Malefactor, and act as she felt one of the three rulers of Tengoku Junzi would.

"Woe unto you, who would chain your fellow sentients and drive them like beasts, for you are least than beasts before my eyes! Rejoice, you who have been bound, for deliverance is at hand!" – She wasn't a timid person. She was used to handling classrooms full of rowdy students, after all, but even so, she could still feel goosebumps running up and down her spine due to what she just said.

With the sound of her voice, tens of tiny fingers grasped at the small slits that acted as air holes and windows in the reinforced wagons. Guessing that they were full of gnome children, Ren could feel her briefly waning rage boil all over again.

But, she wasn't a combat class.

With levels in almost nothing but crafting jobs and classes, Celi Malefactor had very little firepower by herself, but it could also be said that she had almost mastered all crafting jobs and classes. While she certainly ouldn't match the pure firepower of a pure boomstick-type sorcerer or crit-hunting warrior, she wasn't helpless, specially when compared to the strength of this world's inhabitants.

However, she was never the type to engage in combat herself to begin with!

"Come forth, Aegis." – the angel called forth.

On her command, magic gathered and in a single moment to bring forth "Aegis," Ren's highest level personal effigy/summon and bodyguard, a construct warrior made and reinforced with the very best materials she could collect during 10+ years of playing Yggdrassil.

It looked as if a giant was wearing studded, reinforced, crenellated armor. Quite honestly, it was more of a fortress in humanoid shape than a golem, quite literally, once Ren opened her wings and flew to sit behind the crenellated 'walls' that made up its crown.[2]

"Wh- ..." – the soldiers couldn't endure it anymore, and most of them broke and run in every direction.

Even those who couldn't see Ren arrive, could certainly see the gigantic Aegis from way back in the caravan's rear.

The beasts pulling the wagons began to howl and became agitated, so Ren used a 2nd level [Calm Emotions] and quickly cooled down their mood. Since it was an area spell, it also affected the slaves and the two remaining soldiers.

[Nee-chan, can you hear me?] – Ren contacted Mako through thelepathy with a [Message]

[What is it?]

[Where are you?]

[I'm outside the city, with the children.]

[That's perfect, I'm going to open a [Gate] near your position, please make sure the children don't wander too close.]

[What? Where are you?]

[I'll explain soon. Can you send some troops through? I need them to drive some wagons.]

[...alright]

"You two" – she said to the remaining soldiers – "You are coming with me."

~O~

Author Notes:

Ah, this was a pretty short final bit, but when you look at all three parts of this chapter put together, it really was a long one, uh? Well, with next chapter, we will go back to Nazarick's side of the story. I's also like to point out that I feel I learnt a lot about writing Overlord style thanks to this fic so far, so now that the prologue is complete and everyone is in place, we will begin to follow a single storyline at a time from now on. Two at the most.

Incidentally, a friend asked me where my fanfic was so I sent him to and told him to look for it on the overlord category, but he couldnt find it, even though he was looking for it by name, so I decided to look for it myself and give him the link to it... and I couldn't find it either.

It took about two days of searching for us to figure out that you need to go to the Overlord section then the Overlord Crossovers subsection, then pick the Dungeons & Dragons sub-subsection in order to find it, so, I'm like "how the hell has anyone found it?"

That's not all. The default search excludes those stories with an M rating, which this fanfic has, so you ALSO need to manually include M-rated stories on your search. I really wonder how the hell did we manage to get 6100+ views...

Well, on the other side, like Lyann would say, "We are Numbah One! ~la." Because if you are the only one in your category, you are #1 by default, right? Min-maxing? Yea. Ruleslawyering? Damn right! But that's pretty much the reason to be of this fanfic, isn't it?

Thus, I want to thank you for ever reading this fic in the first place. It must have been hard to find. Even I had a ton of problems trying to do so. Let's enjoy it together in the future as well.

We have reached the end of the beginning, but are nowhere near the beginning of the end!

[1] Seiza, I'm sure you know what it is. But if not, google it.

[2] If you ever played Lineage II, think of a Siege Golem.