That was the only significance the dungeons had, and since they were so difficult to conquer, there had been no recorded cases of anyone in Legendaria becoming an Overlord.

  And so, their presence in Legendaria would mean nothing as long as everyone there simply let these sleeping dogs lie.

  However, that had changed in recent years.

  Two things had happened that were catastrophic to Legendaria. First, there was the increase in Masters. The nature of their existence had greatly changed the difficulty of the dungeons. The previous observers had stuffed the dungeons with features that could kill an explorer before they even realized it, making it impossible for all but a few people in history to reach the end of them. However, since Masters only received death penalties instead of permanent death, they were capable of coming back and trying again using the information they’d learned from their previous attempt. Through this, the three created dungeons that had previously been unconquerable by pure power alone had been laid bare.

  Second, there were the few who had actually overcome the dungeons. Once information had been gathered, the dungeons could now be conquered by simply being strong enough.

  That didn’t mean it was necessarily easy. They weren’t created dungeons for nothing—their difficulty was so high that simply trying over and over again wouldn’t be enough to clear them. Additionally, perhaps due to the dungeons’ function in bestowing the Overlord job, their difficulty grew exponentially when multiple humanoids tried to conquer them in parties, basically making it necessary to conquer them solo. This meant that prospective dungeon delvers needed not only information, but also a lot of power as a single unit. Unfortunately, Legendaria didn’t have many Masters—Superior or otherwise—who had enough direct combat ability for this task.

  That only applied to those who belonged to the country, though.

  By now all three of Legendaria’s Overlord dungeons had been conquered, and it had been done by Masters who were in Legendaria but did not belong to the country—in other words, Legendaria’s wanted.

  The three Overlords were all major criminals as well as Superiors.

  They hadn’t conspired to make this result. Each of them, completely separately, simply headed out into the dungeons and conquered them. Legendaria was the country with the most first-wave players, and thus also had the greatest number of wanted Masters. It even had more wanted Superiors than Superiors that actually served it—enough that there were still some left after three of their number had become Overlords.

  The dungeons that had remained unbeaten for so long had finally been brought down. The monstrous Masters who lived in Legendaria had taken all three of the Overlord thrones in the country.

  Having become Overlords, the three went on to live as they wished. They obeyed their desires, consuming, playing, and sleeping—in various different meanings of those words—to their heart’s content. They had even found tribes that obeyed them and created domains where they reigned supreme.

  Their actions were primal and animalistic, making them seem more like wild monsters than Overlords.

  These three also never had any conflicts among them, nor had they ever cooperated. Along with the other wanted Superiors of Legendaria, they had formed a kind of nonaggression pact.

  They were not a clan with a united goal, but a cartel with the single rule of mutual nonintervention. As they each expanded their own domains, they were careful not to encroach on the domains of the others. The Overlords were essentially carving up Legendaria from the shadows.

  This was the origin of the criminal cartel known as “Desire.”

  The criminals weren’t hostile to each other, while noncriminal Masters were entirely unable to defeat them. Legendaria’s nature as a coalition of tribes, as well as the landscape with extremely varied areas that favored the tribes living in them—including the ones serving the Overlords—made overcoming them difficult.

  Legendaria’s wanted also had no interest in anything outside Legendaria, so when La Crima had invited them to IF, none of them had even wanted to hear them out.

  This isolated fairyland was home to a group of monstrous Masters who were more than a match for IF.

  Was it pure chance that the country that was the most fantastical ironically ended up being the one that cast the darkest shadow, or was there some reason that it grew to harbor such evil? Regardless, Legendaria had become a chaotic mix between the main country, led by Titania the Fairy Queen, and several rebellious minor states. It was rumored that the recent assassination of the prime minister was related to these conflicts, as well.

  The sole silver lining on this cloud was the fact that despite all the chaos in Legendaria, none of the major cities with save points in them had been conquered by the criminals, Overlord or otherwise.

  If that ever happened, the chaos of Legendaria would certainly become the chaos of the entire world—and that remained a distinct threat that loomed over the future.

  Despite their lack of involvement with Legendaria’s wanted, IF’s escape from the gaol did have an effect on the situation there, if only by chance.

  The domain of one of the three, Overlord Acedia, was located to the very north of Legendaria—right next to the UBM-dominated area that had once served as a buffer zone.

  Sechs and his group had broken out of their prison right on the Overlord’s doorstep, and they had achieved the feat through the extended use of Downfall Screamer—the skill of a Superior Embryo.

  Overlord Acedia’s reaction to this was...

  ◆◆◆

  Overlord Acedia

  The depression. The melancholy.

  It was a nice, sunny day, and I’d been getting some good shut-eye when I heard something on the horizon that sounded like Dis consuming the sky itself.

  I loved this costume for sleeping, but I hated that it didn’t block outside sounds for safety reasons.

  That meant that this noise was a danger, which just made me more depressed.

  “Ugh...what a paiiin...” I was now awake anyway, so I went ahead and sent out some recon Thralls.

  It turned out that it wasn’t Dis this time—it was a group of four that I kinda recognized and kinda didn’t, and I could sense what seemed like two Superiors there.

  There were probably three, though. The messed-up-looking one must’ve been a Superior too—and the one in maid clothing wasn’t even human. Thanks to Dis, Benetnasch, and all those other pains in the neck, I could now tell things like that whether I liked it or not.

  “Such a paiiin...” Even thinking of how to deal with these bozos was getting on my nerves, and now there was another one. Ugh...he was flying for some reason, but he looked like a real baddie.

  Not even G the Bottomless looked like that, and she was the actually Overlord-ish one among us...

  Anyway, these four plus the new one were...well, yep. Enemies.

  All of them were enemies. Hostiles. They were annoying, they were being a pain, they’d woken me up, and they’d be a danger if they came here, so I’d just have to beat them before that happened. Knock ’em down, you know?

  “Uhh...oh yeah...I woke up, so...”

  I figured I should ask the maids for dinner. I called one of the sheepkin maids by ringing the bell next to my bed.

  After a bit...no, a lot...of thinking, I asked for omurice.

  Then, without doing much more thinking, I picked some forces to send out. It turned out that Leprechaun B had made a whole lotta mithril Thralls, so I’d just send them and Cardinal A. Go go gooo! I’d based Cardinal A on Benetnasch’s Aragorn, but this’d be my first time actually using him. Test, test.

  Well, the new face wouldn’t change anything. I’d just throw them into Dreamland and get rid of their bodies like always. Kill ’em all.

  Anyway, thinking about what I wanted for dinner had forced me to use my brain, so I was getting sleepy again...drowsy.

  It was high time I was off to Dreamland too.

  And the ones who’d woken me up...would die. Death penalty to all.

  “Anyway, good night... Zzz...”

  ◆◆◆

  That was the situation.

  The interlopers were noisy, dangerous, hard to ignore, annoying, and wouldn’t let him sleep in peace. For him, that was enough reason to kill them.

  He was part of the Desire criminal cartel—Overlord Acedia, ZZZ the Hypersomnia—and he recognized every single person at the site of the escape as enemies.

  Ray was in no way involved in the noisy prison break, but that didn’t matter to him. It didn’t matter whom he was up against, or even if they were all Superiors.

  Acedia had set up a domain here instead of the gaol exactly because he had never been defeated.

  Thus, Overlord Acedia had decided to kill them all.

  Chapter Five: The Dream-Quest of Unknown Meetings

  Night Hunter, Gerbera

  “Where am I?” After I’d been hit with those fragments of the mithril monster, everything had faded to black, and next thing I knew I was in this weird space.

  I was standing on a long and thin road. Looking around, I saw lots of roads just like it going in every direction. There were no platforms or pillars anywhere—just these thin roads twisting and turning everywhere.

  They also weren’t black like asphalt or white like a stone pavement. Instead, they were all really colorful and unrealistic. They actually kinda reminded me of the Rainbow Road stages from a long-running series of racing games. I’d played them with dad before, and I’d always hated that track...

  “There’s...nothing down there,” I said as I looked over the side of the road. I couldn’t see anything through the dense clouds. What would have happened if I fell? “I...I’m not in the gaol again, right?”

  I’d just left that place, so I was really sure it didn’t look this crazy. Had the explosion sent me flying somewhere?

  I’ll just check by opening the map window and...huh?

  “It’s not coming up,” I muttered to myself. I couldn’t open the map.

  But never mind the map—I couldn’t even open the menu or check my stat summary. What the hell was going on?

  “Hold on...how am I supposed to log out?”

  Am I trapped in the game, like I’m in some 2010-era anime...? No way, right?! Someone tell me I’m wrong!

  “What...? I don’t see our leader, April, or even Candy here either...” Hell, I couldn’t even see my own Alhazred.

  This was actually the most confusing situation I’d gotten in since I started Dendro, which was saying a lot—I hung around our leader, after all.

  “Hellooo...? Is anyone heeere?” I raised my voice, but the only response I got was an echo, spreading through the whole who-knows-how-big space.

  Well...it doesn’t look like I can do anything but walk...

  As I began moving, I thought about the situation.

  Before it all faded to black, I’d seen both the leader and Candy get caught in the explosion. If that was the reason I was here now, those two must be here too. I didn’t know about Candy, but our leader could do anything, so I was pretty sure he’d know what to do about this situation.

  I wanted to meet up with them again, but I couldn’t find them anywhere.

  “What am I supposed to do by myself?” I didn’t even have Alhazred for some reason. What could a non-maxed-out girl like me even do here? If I ran into some of those “Thralls,” they’d just beat me up.

  “Someone...anyone...show yourseeelves... I need a tank! C’mon, give me a meat shield...!”

  Right as I mumbled all of that...

  “Hm?”

  ...the surroundings quickly became more colorful.

  A mist with an indescribable color spread around me and covered my eyes. I couldn’t see anything.

  “What the heck...? This is scary!” This was like in one of my dad’s horror games! Will I be okay?! What if there’s some creepy monster somewhere in the mist?! What if it’s all wriggly and gross?!

  “...Hey.”

  “EEEEEEEEK!” Someone grabbed my shoulder...!

  “Hey, calm down!”

  “We are not your enemies.”

  “Y-You’re not?” After hearing the voices, I turned around.

  This was a weird place where I couldn’t know what I’d run into, but if it wasn’t an enemy, then I didn’t care.

  “Yeah. I’ve been dragged in here too. My name’s Ray, and this is my Embryo, Nemesis. Well, your leader knew us...but yeah.”

  It did turn out to be enemies!

  ◇◇◇

  Sorcerer, Ray Starling

  I’d touched the aura, gotten the Forced Sleep debuff, and next thing I knew I was in this place.

  My trusted mount Silver was nowhere in sight, and my body felt so light it made me kinda uncomfortable. But I still had Nemesis with me and could transform her into weapons, so I’d been able to relax for the moment.

  After that, I’d gotten caught up in some weird mist, and then ran into a member of the other party that’d been put to sleep. It was the girl who’d been injured and received treatment.

  “I know I said ‘anyone,’ but...whyyy...?” For some reason, she took one look at me and then started to panic, grasping her head.

  Is something wrong...?

  “This must be caused by your apparel,” Nemesis said telepathically.

  I feel like you always blame my clothes for everything, I replied in thought. There’s no way an outfit can be enough to make a stranger act like this, right?

  “Have you forgotten the dismay you inflicted upon those bandits that one time?”

  That must’ve been because of the other three. Yeah, that’s it.

  “Nngh...this is the worst time to not have him with me...” said the girl.

  “You okay...?” I asked.

  “Yeah. I am. I just gotta calm down a bit...”

  “That’s fine.” I didn’t know if it was my fault or just because of where we were, but she seemed pretty damn stressed. “What’s your name, though?”

  “My name? It’s Gerbera...uh.” After answering Nemesis’s question, the girl once again grasped her head.

  “What a fidgety young lady,” Nemesis commented.

  “I get it, though. Just look at what’s happening.”

  Gerbera, huh? I’d definitely heard that name before. That was the name used by the Superior that Shu and Rook had beaten. I knew that Gerbera owned a terrifying Sentinel that couldn’t be perceived in any way, but besides that I’d been told that she was an overconfident, extremely self-assertive woman.

  “Nnh...I’m such a dummy. I’m a complete mess... I really am useless...”

  The Gerbera they’d described was the complete opposite of this self-deprecating girl who was freaking out with her head in her hands. That other Gerbera was supposed to be in the gaol, anyway, so yeah—she obviously wasn’t the same person.

  While I thought of what to say to this girl crouching on the ground, she glared at me with tears in her eyes.

  “How are you so calm...? You realize you’ve been put to sleep and sent to this weird place, right...?” Why was I calm, huh?

  Well, the answer to that was the simple fact that I’d actually been through something like this before.

  “I was once kidnapped by a cult while I was asleep.”

  “Whaaa...that sounds so scary...”

  Yeah...looking back, that was actually pretty terrifying.

  “So you’re calm because you’re used to dangerous situations that make no sense?” she asked.

  “I guess you could say that.”

  “Is that really something you should get used to?”

  Silence. It’s probably better not to, but I did, so...it is what it is.

  There was one other relevant thing I’d experienced before.

  “Oh, another reason is that it’s not my first time in a space like this.”

  “Huh...? You know what this mystery zone is?”

  I nodded before saying, “We are...in a dream.”

  Gerbera looked at me like I was talking nonsense, but that was the truth.

  “...Weren’t we in a game? Wait, aren’t dive-type VRMMOs already basically like dreams?”

  “We’re still in Dendro, but we’re in a dream inside of that—the space you’re sent to when your avatar gets Forced Sleep or Faint.”

  I’d experienced this multiple times before. I’d even gotten to use my avatar in dreams thanks to Gardranda and, more recently, the axe.

  “Oh. I see...” said Gerbera.

  “Though, normally, there are no other people here but me—even my Embryo isn’t here sometimes. This time, though, there’s me, Nemesis, and even you. So, this is definitely a dream, but not just any dream.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Someone—probably Overlord Acedia—has connected our dreams.”

  “What’s the point of doing that?” I knew what she actually wanted to say—why couldn’t the Overlord just put us to sleep and kill us then? There were still lots of Thralls left. They were more than enough to slaughter us while we were all unconscious.

  “I know what you mean. If the Overlord just wanted to defeat us, there’s no need to connect our dreams like this. That’s why I think there’s gotta be more to it...”

  Perhaps this space was related to us being put to sleep?

  “There’s so many things we just don’t know... Maybe our leader understands something, but...” Gerbera said.

  “Oh yeah, why are you alone? You had a party, didn’t you?”

  “I’d like to know that myself.”

  Regardless, all either of us could do right now was keep walking. I had no idea what this dream-road was leading to, but for now, all we could do was follow it. The silver lining here was that Nemesis and I had found someone to accompany us.

  “...This took a weird turn.” For some reason, though, Gerbera followed after me with a complicated expression on her face.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22