CHAPTER 1: Tiamat, The Weakest Dragon in YGGDRASIL

hackslashbash: Reuploaded 7/11/2019

"Fuuuuck, I'm gonna be late!" Hannah Annafellowz hurriedly scampered towards the VR chair and immediately opened the game YGGDRASIL without changing from her flour dusted work outfit.

The game was only sixty minutes away from shutting down forever. If only the dust-storm was a little bit nicer, she could've made it back home three hours ago.

Quickly plugging herself into the neural-nano interface, a sense of nostalgia washed over her as she waited for the game to load. After all, it had been more than a month since she had last played. The amount of money, effort, and time she had spent on YGGDRASIL was certainly not something to scoff at.

After waiting for what seemed to be an eternity, the launch screen appears and she finally saw it.

Her masterpiece, Tiamat, the Goddess of Dragons.

Tiamat was a red haired woman with amethyst colored eyes. Adorning her head were two antler-like horns and a delicate crystal fa-zan holding up part of her hair. She was equipped with a long, flowing crimson colored dress from the ancient Tang Dynasty. The dress flared outwards with long sleeves that gently fluttered in the virtual breeze, and a long ruby silk ribbon circled her hips and wrapped around her arms.

She was a sucker for ancient asian dresses. Sue her.

Admittedly, her avatar was a little bit mainstream, especially for people who were really into the fantasy genre. But who cared, she had always liked Dragons ever since she heard her Grandfather's tales of his Dungeons and Dragons adventures, a fantasy game from an era when technology was not as high tech as it was today.

From the first tale, she was absolutely smitten.

Of course the game itself was ancient, but she loved it regardless. Some of her favorite memories in life were when her Grandfather's eyes would sparkle every time she asked him about his favorite games back in the old days.

As she got older, she continued to reminisce over her Grandfather's sagas, and eventually she stumbled upon YGGDRASIL. A game large enough that anyone could mix and match their own character. Kinda similar to Dungeons and Dragons, just much more advanced.

There really were a lot of Dragon type characters in the game. Everywhere she looked, she saw players specializing from Sword Masters to Mages. But her Tiamat belonged to none of those categories.

Dragons with their high base stats were pretty easy to play, and players could actually level up their racial class and advance across a Dragon's age stages: Dragonling, Young Dragon, and Adult Dragon, and more. The stat bonuses grew higher as a player took on more racial classes, but in return, there was less room for min-maxing the character.

But no one in the game had actually bothered to fully invest into a tank role. She could understand why they choose not to. It was very disadvantageous since a player wouldn't have access to many physical or magical attacks, making solo-play extremely difficult. The defense mechanic in the game only allowed players to withstand attacks longer, and resist mechanic allowed them to, well, resist debuffs from other players and hazardous environments.

That was why her Tiamat was special.

When she first played the game, she maxed out her physical and magical defense, and then her resist. Weak monsters and low level Players couldn't even touch her. She didn't need high agility either because it only improved speed and dodge chance, stats she didn't need if she could just shrug off anything that was thrown at her.

On the other hand, it took awhile for her to improve her attack stats to the point where she was able to deal significant damage to other players; an issue that made the first few months of playing absolutely frustrating because of her abysmal damage output. That was until she evolved Tiamat from Old Dragon (a class that one received after you maxing Adult Dragon), to Ancient Dragon, then to Primordial Dragon.

It turned out that once a player went max on Primordial Dragon, they could unlock a God Beast racial class, which was only available when they unlocked and fully leveled all of their racial classes.

God Beast was apparently the level cap for Dragons and she was ecstatic when she realized that she was the first one to reach that racial class. She still remembered how she jumped around her small apartment for a full half an hour, and how she screamed with joy when she unlocked a secret class after she had accumulated and consumed an obscene amount of rare boss drops.

World Eater, named after the last boss in the Main Campaign.

Her new class allowed her to absorb attacks and return them with the same attack power her opponent had plus her own physical and magical attack. The only drawback was that she had to withstand eneher onslaughts for a certain amount of time without dying. Basically, only those who maxed out physical and magical defense could use that particular skill.

So ***ing meta.

This was the skill that she continually abused in boss battles and PvPs. And with it, she caught the eye of the heteromorph guild Ainz Ooal Gown.

Out of a stroke of pure luck, she managed to defeat their Paladin of Pure Silver, The World Champion; A title which could only be gained by the number one winner of their respective realm in PvP, Touch Me.

It was a painstakingly long process, and she would never be able to forget that moment, that combination of luck, disbelief, and awe.

Touch Me was ruthless. His build was basically a cross between a warrior and a tank. Even if she used World Eater, the damage was not critical because of his armor. One of the few reasons she had won was that the timer had run out before he was able to use World Break. Because PvP rules in YGGDRASIL stated that if the timer ran out, the Player with the highest HP would win the round.

It was pretty amazing to finally see someone who was kinda a tank, yet could dish out silly amounts of damage. After the match, she sent Touch Me a friend request, and was overjoyed when she saw that he had accepted.

Soon afterwards, the YGGDRASIL forum blew up with recordings of her PvP battle against Touch Me and she was given the title "The Weakest Dragon in YGGDRASIL".

She still remembered how epic it was, and how she had basked in the attention the community had given her. Perhaps she should've been offended over being called "The Weakest", but she didn't get mad over the title she was given because it was true. Tiamat had almost no points dedicated to physical or magical attack.

That was the first time she received the title 'World Guardian' at level 85.

After this, she was constantly targeted for PK's.

It wasn't just one player who PKed her. It would have been impossible for them to do so because of her build. Even Touch Me, one of the strongest three players in YGGDRASIL could only take away about sixty percent of her HP in the PvP before the timer ran out.

Three guilds; two human, and one elven guild created a coalition to PK her for fun. One of them had a maximum capacity of 50 players and all were fairly high ranking guilds. About 150 players ambushed her, and a video of her downfall was posted. There was even a separate forum dedicated to me getting PKed.

The community was so toxic and she remembered how particularly awful it was at the time because she was a solo player, and her level tanked to 70 within a month. Even a one level drop was massive. Every time she raised her level and skills, she would only get PKed which caused her to stop playing YGGDRASIL for a few months.

This soul-draining pattern continued, until one day she got an email from Touch Me, asking her why she was not enlisted in the next PvP event. She explained everything to him, from the forum, the community, and how she just stopped playing altogether.

The next reply she got from him was truly unexpected. He said he wanted to help her and he had only one question that she should answer truthfully. She didn't see how he could help her with this question since he asked her what she did for a living, but she answered anyways.

"I'm an owner of the bakery and café Pâtisserie La œillet." she typed in. He only replied with 'Noted.' and 'Please look forward to her next message in the next three days.'

Pâtisserie La œillet was a bakery and cafe for the elite because as the world became more polluted and toxic, stuff like organic bread or coffee became more scarce. Rich people with absurd amounts of money would want to get a sense of normalcy, and that's where she raked in all the money. She would provide, as long as they could pay for it.

As promised, in three days she suddenly received an invitation to join the guild Ainz Ooal Gown, and her first response was 'What the actual ***?'

Ainz Ooal Gown was one of the top five guilds in YGGDRASIL at the time, and the hardest guild to join. Basically a guild for the elite, all the players in the guild were hardcore players who were masters of various specializations, moreover, Ainz Ooal Gown had the most number of World Items in YGGDRASIL and had never been defeated by anyone.

So why the hell did this prestigious guild want her to join?

She thought at first that it was a prank, or the Guild Leader may have misclicked the 'Invite' button, but there was no one on her friend's list who was a member of Ainz Ooal Gown.

Except for one.

Soon after, she received a message from Touch Me, saying that she had been accepted to join the guild Ainz Ooal Gown. Not wanting to waste this massive opportunity, she pressed 'YES', and was immediately transported to a huge round table where the other 40 members sat. Players that she assumed were members of Ainz Ooal Gown.

Immediately after she arrived, she was bombarded with messages like "Congratulations!" or Friend Requests from members of Ainz Ooal Gown.

A voice from her right pops up in her ears, which shocked her for a bit because she never had to use those features before.

It was the voice of a young adult, "Hello and welcome Tiamat-san, I am Momonga, and I'm the guild leader of Ainz Ooal Gown."

"Hello." she answered timidly. "If I may ask, what the hell?" she asked breathlessly, which earned a few snickers and giggles from other guild members.

Then they explained that Ainz Ooal Gown was created to help the heteromorphic race, and PK all the human or demi human races who discriminated against the heteromorphic players. Apparently it was hard to enter the guild because the players were more focused on min-maxing their characters and it appeared that each player had their own lore.

They've had their eyes on her ever since she defeated Touch Me, even though she claimed it was all luck because Touch Me hadn't activated his World Break skills. The others said that the fact that she clipped away more than seventy percent of his HP proved that the min-maxing of her character worked in her favor.

After the hub died down, she was bombarded with questions from the pink slime tank, Bukubukuchagama, about her build. Ulbert asked how on earth was it like to be defeated by three guilds. Peroroncino asked about her cup size and immediately received a slimey slap from his sister.

That was how she joined the guild.

After that, YGGDRASIL became her sole source of entertainment, as she built bonds with the guild and slowly began to enjoy the craziness around her. They helped her raise her level to 100 and to maximize her character. Before she knew it, the guild became her second home.

But then reality hit.

A few years after she joined, the number of active guild members dwindled down as they found more important things to do IRL. She could understand that, and was not angry about it. Because in the end YGGDRASIL was just a game, it was impossible for them to be stuck in something that didn't even exist.

Despite all that, Momonga stayed. She played with him more, and got to know him better. She even created an IRL event at her bakery since they wanted to know what bread and coffee tasted like, and it worked in her favor because she wanted to check up on them.

Only the nine original members showed up. The rest apparently had moved on with YGGDRASIL, or reality caught up to them. Some didn't even reply to her e-mails to meet up.

The IRL Bakery event became a yearly event for Ainz Ooal Gown members, those who wanted to show up anyways, or those who wanted free bread and coffee.

Slowly but surely, the game was dying; people were losing interest in the game due to the complete cessation of updates or even patches.

Then, there were only two active members in Ainz Ooal Gown. Tiamat and Momonga.

Momonga often told her how sad and angry he was that their friends had abandoned them, but she always told him the opposite and that he needed to be more understanding. To her, Ainz Ooal Gown was home, the other members were just away for now, but they will always have a home to return to.

They continued on playing, until one day a post showed up on the YGGDRASIL forum on December 1, 2138.

"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Today, the Developers have made a difficult decision to shutdown YGGDRASIL DMMO-RPG as the game is no longer in line with the newest technology, and it's getting more difficult to update the game. The game will shut down on January 1, 2139.

Thank you for playing YGGDRASIL."

Just a few hours later, the devs made another post regarding the opening of YGGDRASIL II, with newer technology and features. But everyone would have to start from scratch, which meant all their hard work and efforts would not live to see another day.

Not long after that, Momonga sent an e-mail to every member of Ainz Ooal Gown to stay until the shut down of the game.

And here she was, scrambling over her unmovable loading screen, and with only 55 minutes away from when the game would be shutting down.

After a few minutes, she finally entered into the game, and teleported directly to the meeting table. Only Momonga was sitting there at the large table, an Overlord, all by himself.

She wanted to cry for Momonga. She truly did. After knowing him for a few years now, she knew that YGGDRASIL was everything for him. He poured his heart and soul into thie game. Even though he never told anyone, she knew he spent the majority of his paycheck on YGGDRASIL instead of taking care of his basic necessities, a fact that had always worried her. Almost a third of his life was dedicated to YGGDRASIL. Imagine then how he would feel, seeing the forum post from the developers about the game shutting down.

No. She shook her head IRL, this wasn't the time for pity party. Tonight she was here to celebrate their efforts and bonds, to celebrate the guild and its achievements.

Crying could be done later.

"Momo-chan!" she cheerfully spoke into the microphone. Using voice actor tricks from Bukubukuchagama to make herself sound as happy as possible, "I'm sorry I'm late, I got held up because of the weather."

"Tiamat-san! I'm so glad I could see you before the game is shutting down, and it's fine! I'm really happy you could come."

That's good, from the tone of his voice, he really was happy to see her.

"Am I the only one here?" she asked slowly, afraid it would destroy his good mood.

"Herohero-san was just here Tiamat-san, but he can't stay until the game shuts down." His tone dropped a bit, showing how disappointed he was. But there was nothing he could do. The fact that some of them visited for the last time showed that they cared. Even though she knew they wouldn't care as much as Momonga…

"Well, I finished all my work for today. So I can stay with you until the game shuts down, Momo-chan! Rejoice, for I am here." she jokingly said to him.

He sent me a laughing emoji, "That is true." It was quiet for a moment before he softly said, "I'm really happy you're here."

"Me too Momo-chan. You know, it must have been hard being the Guild Master of Ainz Ooal Gown. Since I'm here all by herself, and as the last member of Ainz Ooal Gown, I will represent every member of this guild to say this."

"W-wha? What is it Tiamat-san?"

She made her avatar stand up, and launched herself into a hug towards the undead. Hugging was not a 17 act, so it was permitted within the game. "I and all the other members would like to say to you, Momonga, the eternal leader of Ainz Ooal Gown, thank you for everything. Thank you for being there when nobody else was. Thank you for being strong. Thank you for the wonderful memories we all have made in the game. But most importantly, thank you for making Ainz Ooal Gown another home for us."

Through her speaker, she could hear him sniffling, which made her feel relieved. She was a bit happy that she was not the only one who was on the verge of tears tonight.

He returned the hug "Thank you very much, Tiamat-san."

She cleared her throat, "Now that it's all been said and done, what about a last tour through all the floors starting from the first floor?"

"Of course! It would be my honor to give you one last tour."

She beamed and sent him a let's go emoji.

And so, they walked around Nazarick, from the first floor to the tenth floor, looking at all the designs of the guild for the last time, and collecting all of the Floor Guardians, until they returned to the Throne Room on the ninth floor.

"This place is as majestic as ever." she mentioned out loud unknowingly. It was true, the members spent so much time and effort into every single piece. Indeed, the Throne Room was truly breathtaking.

Momonga then proceeded to sit on the lone throne in the room, and she stood on his left as he commanded the Floor Guardians to kneel in front of the throne while the Pleiades lead by Sebas stood in a line on his right side.

"Have you read Albedo's lore, Tiamat-san?" Momonga asked.

"Well, not really. It can only be accessed by the Guild Staff which only you could hold, so all I know about it is what Tabula blabbed on about."

Momonga opened Albedo's lore for her to read:

"She is a demoness who holds the title of Guardian Overseer, which is the highest-ranking position in the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick. With flowing raven hair and golden pupils, her beauty could bewitch a nation.

She is proud of her position and confronts intruders as a confident, dignified superior being.

Regardless of how brilliant or brave her foes are, or whether she considers them strong, she will never acknowledge them as being equal to herself.

This is because she understands the meaning of the position bestowed upon her.

Her abilities befit the title of Guardian Overseer, with outstanding intelligence and combat ability.

That said, she is not omnicompetent. For instance, in pure wits, Demiurge is her superior, while Shalltear is superior in fighting ability. Yet, nobody in Nazarick can rival her administrative ability.

In addition, her feminine skills - particularly those pertaining to being a housewife - are excellent, and during her free time, she can be seen sweeping, sewing, and so on.

Though the reason is unknown, she enjoys cleanliness and her desire for such frequently drives her to clean things up.

In particular, her ability to sort out bookshelves knows no peer.

However, she recognizes the possessions of others as belonging to them, so she rarely insists on cleaning up.

That said, the items accumulated through her collector's habit are typically very messy.

Therefore, it remains to be seen whether she actually likes being tidy.

This might well be an act - in order to appear as the perfect woman - though the truth of that is unknown. It is too scary to confirm.

She always has a gentle smile on her, and her elegant way of speech has made many people think she is a goddess or an angel.

That mistake is not particularly laughable, given that she is surrounded by that sort of atmosphere and acts in an appropriate way.

The fact is, it would not be wrong to view her in that way.

She was originally planned to be an angel of the highest order, but she ended up with a greatly distorted appearance after being fused with a monster from the land of dreams.

Because of that, her personality is similarly twisted, being merciless and cruel, cunning and savage. She gives her enemies despair and revels in their agonizing deaths.

Her usual expression seems to be there to suppress the urges which flow from her heart - a mask which exists to conceals her desire to perform ruthless acts upon the weak.

If the mask breaks, she would probably end up being like Empress Lu Zhsheor Empress Wu Zetian.

However, that only applies when dealing with those, not of Nazarick.

Fortunately for those who do not serve Nazarick, one can take comfort in the fact that the mask is very sturdy and will not break easily.

She feels very strongly about her duties as the Guardian Overseer of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick.

Naturally, the fact that she has ears everywhere listening for information goes without saying.

In addition, she smiles all the time - to the point where one might say she does not show any other emotion.

Her smile is nothing more than a poker face to her.

She can also show emotions like anger, grimaces and fake tears.

Her sophisticated lady's face will not break, even when she is torturing the fools who oppose her.

By her appearance alone, she is a perfect beauty.

Incidentally, she's a slut."

"Jesus, Tabula. What is this Gap Moe character that you've created..." she chuckled, and Momonga laughed out loud.

"That's the same response I gave to him when I first read her settings." He sadly smiled.

"Can we change it?"

"Well, I can since I hold the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown. What do you want to change it to?"

"Just delete the slut part... poor Albedo, she doesn't deserve it. Consider it a gift from us before we part."

Momonga then proceeded to delete 'incidentally, she's a slut.' and then closed the settings tabs on Albedo

"Bow down" he commanded the NPCs.

He looked up to the flags of the members of Ainz Ooal Gown and pointed at them one by one. "Me, Touch Me, Shijuuten Suzaku, Ankoro MochiMochi, Herohero, Peroroncino, Bukubukuchagama, Tabula Smaradigna, Warrior Takemikazuchi, Variable Talisman, Genjiro..."

She continued listening to him with a heavy heart. For the past year, YGGDRASIL had been an adventure. A precious memory, a treasure that she would cherish. Here, she found a second home, a new family and friends. Player, no... people who were loyal to her as she was to them.

Her heart clenched painfully. Despite all they had done to draw the members closer, it was no use after all. Of course she couldn't blame them, they had more important things to do and she understood. They were not betraying Ainz Ooal Gown, they were just away for a while.

But with the shut down, they were going to be away forever…

She looked at Momonga, who was still listing all the names of the members of Ainz Ooal Gown. Looking at him, she remembered how much harder it must be for him since he loved Ainz Ooal Gown more than she did. He was one of the original nine after all.

"...and finally Tiamat." He finished. "It was really fun wasn't it to be able to play together..."

The clock read 23:57:12

She hummed in acknowledgement as she held back a flood of tears. She didn't want Momonga to know. She didn't deserve to cry. He did.

"After this I have to wake up at 4 A.M, hopefully this doesn't affect our jobs." He chuckled light-heartedly.

She hummed again…

"I hope we can play another game together in the future..."

Numerous ideas and goodbyes pass through her head like a storm, and she was unable to convey her thoughts to him with such little time, so she could only meekly reply "Me too..."

"You know Hannah?" she stiffened at her real name. Momonga and her knew each other IRL, especially after the events at her bakery. Even IRL, he would call me by her avatar's name, and he rarely ever mentioned her actual name. "Your bread is really delicious."

She gave him a small giggle "I know, that's why it sells."

The clock read 23:58:30.

"I like you a lot, you know..." A shocked noise left her. But he continued, "I've liked you since I first watched your PvP with Touch Me. Your build is a mess yet it's absolutely mental."

"The hell? Don't mock my Tiamat you, you..." she scampered to find a suitable insult until she decided on "Kel'Thuzad!" A reference to the ancient RPG World of Warcraft.

She used to joke to Momonga a lot about how his character looked similar to the Undead Sorcerer from WoW the Frozen Throne.

He just laughed and replied. "But it's not just that. You're kind, and you always put out your heart in everything. Don't think I've never notice that you've been trying to reduce tension between the guild members. And even if you think otherwise, I think you're beautiful."

"S-So blunt..." Then the atmosphere between the two of them became quiet, like he was waiting for her reply.

The clock read 23:59:40.

"Then tomorrow, let's meet up at her bakery." she decided.

"I'd like that..." He put his hand on the guild staff and she followed.

"I don't want this to end..." she whispered, on the verge of sobbing.

"Me as well..."

The clock finally reached 00:00:00

YGGDRASIL was no more.

Or so they thought.

A/N: And so, her adventure begins.