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There Will Be Dragons Here
Chapter 68 - Isabelle versus the Overlord

Chapter 68 - Isabelle versus the Overlord

Isabelle tried, but she couldn’t move. She could only watch as the purple electricity coiling around the Overlord swirled up into his large, black hammer. He raised it in the air and cackled. Why the fuck couldn’t she move? Sure, Isabelle was nervous, but this was ridiculous.

[Movement disabled]

[You’ve been caught in the Overlord’s thrall]

Fuck’s sake. His thrall? The Overlord sure was insufferable.

“Prepare to die, player!” said the Overlord. “Yes, at the hand of my might hammer, you shall pass from this world and have your consciousness dissolved, for once and for ever, within that endless, loamy sea of existentiality that is the collective uncoscious, the godhead, the one and the all mind!”

Isabelle rolled her eyes. Was this guy for real? Did the Overlord think he was a damn philosopher or something? How in the hell could he take himself seriously, saying something so ridiculous? It was this sheer irritating banality that convinced Isabelle that she had a chance to defeat the Overlord. There was no way she could allow herself to die by the hands of this self-aggrandizing douchebag.

[Notice: use stamina for extra battle focus?]

[Y/N]

Isabelle thought yes.

[Stamina 90%]

Now Isabelle could at least think for a second as the Overlord continued to charge up his weapon.

Isabelle’s first thought was, actually, suspicion. Why was the system letting her slow down time with her stamina? Didn’t the Overlord have a system? Couldn’t he do the same thing?

[Clarification: No, he can’t]

He couldn’t? Well, hell. Why couldn’t he?

[Clarification: The Overlord has a maximum of two defined classes. You do not, because your class in undefined. Your undefined class is one of the many side effects of not having a tutorial. Not having a defined class has allowed you to access abilities of many different classes at the same time.]

Well, shit, that was nice.

[Clarification: Of course, there are a whole host of benefits you’re missing out on by not belonging to a class, but yes, your ability to use stamina for battle focus is usually reserved for the barbarian and fighter classes.]

[Stamina 80%]

Isabelle rolled her eyes. The system couldn’t just let her have this and be happy about it, could it? Still, she needed to move on and stop wasting her time and precious stamina by arguing with her system.

[Clarification: The system does not argue. The system is simply clarifying miscontrued and misinterpreted information so that the player (you) rightly understand the system’s paremeters and limitations.]

[Stamina 75%]

Okay, Isabelle really needed to figure something out. What the fuck could she do? She couldn’t move, so it would have to be something system-oriented. Isabelle noticed that the Overlord was moving very, very slowly, and that he was only just pulling his hammer backward, which meant she had a good while before he swung it forward and hit her. A good while, as long as she was using her stamina for extra battle focus.

Isabelle had an idea. Didn’t she have a stamina potion in her inventory?

Inventory: Isabelle

Carrying capacity: 217.4/232

Item

Traits

Potion of Endless Stamina x3

+0.5 carry weight

Abbreviated list based on prior use. Focus to see more items…

Wow! She had three. There was no question what to do.

[Potion of Endless Stamina drunk]

[Stamina 100%]

Isabelle watched as everything continued to move in extraordinarily slow motion.

[Stamina 100%]

This almost felt unfair. How could the system allow her to do something so unbalanced?

[Clarification: The system is not unbalanced.]

Isabelle found that humorous, and would’ve laughed if she could’ve moved at all. Now that she could essentially slow time until she had figured out what to do, Isabelle kind of wished that she could deactivate combat mode. Wouldn’t now be a nice time to level up? Or to meditate?

[Clarification: You can only use stamina for extra battle focus in combat mode]

Of course. Isabelle should’ve known. She looked at the Overlord, still pulling his hammer back into the air as electricity charged around it. The Overlord sure was muscly. So muscly that it wasn’t even fun to look at any more, now it had just gotten gross. He just kind of looked like he had a bunch of pieces of roast beef sewn on to each arm. Very sinewy. It was just… strange. Like he’d injected a bunch of steroids in the past five seconds.

Isabelle thought of the spells she could cast. Supposedly, the Overlord couldn’t be hurt by any of them, but Isabelle wasn’t certain that would be the case when time was slowed down to this point. Maybe she could find a weak point on the Overlord’s body? Then again, Isabelle couldn’t really move to aim a spell at him, and trying to find a weak point would require her to keep looking at his body, which was itself a bit of a trial.

Wait a second. Isabelle could roll her eyes, couldn’t she?

[Clarification: Yes]

Hmmm. Could Isabelle aim and cast a spell from her eyes?

[Clarification: Yes]

Well, that answered that. The only question she had now was, well, where exactly was the Overlord’s weak spot? Obviously not his extremely well-developed chest. Or his biceps, or his forearms, or his neck. Really, his whole body was seriously disgusting. So many veins were visible that he essentially looked like a big wrinkly coconut with well-defined abdominals.

And then, she saw it. How had Isabelle missed it? The answer was so hilariously obvious that she almost felt embarassed it’d taken her so long to make the connection.

Isabelle was thinking, of course, of the Overlord’s codpiece. It was embroidered with a haunting golden damask texture, and it protruded out so extremely far! There was no way the codpiece was an accurate portrayal of what laid underneath it, that much was absolutely certain. Still, it was somewhat bewitching. Yes, this was clearly the Overlord’s weak point.

So, Isabelle knew she needed to cast a spell using her eyes directed at the Overlord’s codpiece. But what she didn’t know, is what spell to use. ‘Flame Blast’ was definitively a no go, seeing as last time she’d casted flame blast at the Overlord it had essentially fizzled to nothing. And, of course, ‘Minor Illusion’ was out. Worse still, if past experience was any indicator, Isabelle couldn’t cast a spell without cancelling out her extra battle focus and bringing time back to regular speed. So she had to choose correctly. Isabelle wouldn’t use ‘Shoot Lightning,’ either, because the Overlord’s main power seemed to revolve around lightning.

What did that leave her? It had to be a destroy spell. The ‘Ring of Fire’ spell was useless, it used fire. Would ‘Ice Blast’ work?

Isabelle regarded the codpiece once again. Yes, ‘Ice Blast’ would have to work. Or, at least, she hoped that it would work.

Isabelle focused her vision on the bulging center of the codpiece. Then, she thought, ‘Cast Ice Blast,’ and dumped as much mana as she possibly could into it.

[Mana 0%]

Ice flew from Isabelle’s eyes and flew in a flurry over the Overlord’s codpiece. Quickly it became encrusted in ice.

[Stamina 100%]

Time sped back up to its normal speed. The Overlord started to swing his black hammer, but stopped in midair as the ice further and fruther encroached over his covered manhood.

“AAAARGH!” said the Overlord.

Isabelle watched as the codpiece got smaller and smaller, and was sealed in a large block of ice. The Overlord fell out of the air and landed on his knees. His hammer rattled against the ground. He rasped and gasped in agony.

“Fuck!” said the Overlord. His voice was airy, and incredibly high pitched. “Gods almighty, how the fuck did you do that?”

Isabelle laughed. She could finally move. “Fuck you, you fucking dick!”

“Yay, Isabelle!” said Tahsi. He took a bite of bread.

“You’re a smart one, player,” said the Overlord in his seemingly helium-enriched voice. “Yes, you’re crafty. Very crafty. But—”

Isabelle didn’t have time to listen to the Overlord’s bullshit monologuing, no matter how ominous it was. She opened her inventory. She needed some mana as soon as possible.

Inventory: Isabelle

Carrying capacity: 217.4/232

Item

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Traits

Potion of Greater Mana x3

+20 mana, +0.5 carry weight

Abbreviated list based on prior use. Focus to see more items…

Perfect.

[Potion of Greater Mana drunken]

[+20 Mana]

Isabelle raised her right hadn and pointed it at the Overlord’s hooded head. She thought, ‘Cast Minor Illusion.’

[Mana 24%]

A faint pink halo faded into view over the Overlord’s head. Isabelle crouched.

[Current visibility: 0/300]

Isabelle opened her inventory.

Inventory: Isabelle

Carrying capacity: 217.4/232

Item

Traits

Stealth Drainer (enchanted)

+5 stealth, +10 damage, +1 carry weight

Abbreviated list based on prior use. Focus to see more items…

[Stealth Drainer (enchanted) equipped]

[+5 stealth]

[+10 damage]

If Isabelle was going to try this shit, now was the time. Of course, it’d be a lot easier if she could do it before the Overlord rightly realized what was happening, because there was no telling what his system could do. Isabelle was banking on the theory that possibly, just maybe, the Overlord’s system’s immortality worked a little differently for the Overlord himself than it did for his NPCs.

[Current visibility: 0/300]

Isabelle crept towards the Overlord. She raised the tiny blade of the stealth drainer. She could see his neck, though the fabric of his hood was partially covering it. Isabelle wanted to be sure she made this hit count.

[Notice: use stamina for extra battle focus?]

[Y/N]

Isabelle thought yes.

[Stamina 100%]

It sure was good to have the effects of the stamina potion. Isabelle raised her stealth drainer and snapped it down into the back of the Overlord’s neck.

[Sneak attack]

[Critical hit]

[Stamina 100%]

Isabelle felt her mouth crack into a wide smile as the time sped up to its normal speed.

[9298 damage dealt]

[Stamina 100%]

Wow. Isabelle had done over nine thousand damage!

“Ugh!” said the Overlord. The pink halo over his head faded away. “You bitch! How dare you try to destroy me! Do you really think that you can stop to Overlord?”

Isabelle raised the blade again. She had to act fast!

[You’ve been clutched]

Isabelle tried to force her arms to move, but she was suddenly in the terrible chokehold of Maviel’s powerful clutching spell.

“Foolish player,” said Maviel. “Did you really think I’d let you kill my Overlord?”

[-3 hp]

“Yea. That was a nice try, player,” said the Overlord. He forced himself to his feet. He raised his right hand. It ignited in a blue flame, which he held towards his crotch. The strong chunk of ice covering his codpiece slowly melted away, and soon after his voice deepend and his posture regained its strength. “That was close. Way too fucking close for comfort. Though, did you really think you could kill me with that tiny little weapon?”

[-2 hp]

“What do you mean, Overlord?” asked Maviel. She crossed her arms. “I just saved you from death, darling! I was beginning to think you’d completely forgotten about me, too!”

[-3 hp]

“Maviel—” said the Overlord, disregarding Isabelle entirely as he walked over to Maviel and brushed a burly hand against her seemingly soft cheek, “—I could never forget about you.”

[-2 hp]

“Oh, darling!” said Maviel. “You spoil me with such sweet words.”

[-3 hp]

“Yes, I do,” said the Overlord. “I could never forget about you, because I find you so horribly irksome and irritating that it’s left a permanent impression on my psyche.” He turned away from her, his soft cloak billowing in the air. Isabelle got the odd impression that the Overlord was staring at her through his shrouded hood. “Now, you, player. You are quite beautiful. Marvelously beautiful.”

[-2 hp]

Being clutched hurt, but the frankly creepy demeanor the Overlord was adopting towards Isabelle hurt more. She had liked him a lot more back when he’d just been aiming to kill her. Now he seemed more interested in… well… the short of it was, the Overlord was definitely not interested in anything Isabelle was interested in.

[-3 hp]

The Overlord walked up to Isabelle and chuckled. “It’s remarkable how soft and weak you look, trembling and ensnared in Maviel’s clutching spell,” he said. “Almost like a moth caught in a spider’s web. Yes, a lovely little moth.”

[-2 hp]

“Ew!” said Tahsi.

[-3 hp]

“Oh, fuck off!” said the Overlord. “I’m the fucking Overlord, don’t ‘ew’ me you cretin! Plus, didn’t you bump uglies with a fucking dragon? Who cares what you think!”

[-2 hp]

“Frimri is a very attractive lady!” said Tahsi.

[-3 hp]

The Overlord chuckled again and equipped a clear bottle full fo green liquid. He downed it in a flash and walked up to Isabelle. “Ah. Do you know what that was, Isabelle?”

[-2 hp]

Isabelle didn’t respond. She was terribly uncomfortable, and worse still she was terribly irritated at the Overlord. And she couldn’t do anything about it, either!

[-3 hp]

“Awfully quiet,” said Overlord. “I don’t always like them quiet. I like a little bit of noise.”

[-2 hp]

“You are seriously disgusting,” said Tahsi.

[-3 hp]

“Why does this kobold keep interrupting me?!” said the Overlord. Purple electricity started coiling around him again.

[-2 hp]

“Sweetie, don’t, it’s not a good time,” said Maviel, reaching a hand out to the Overlord.

[-3 hp]

“Don’t you fucking tell me when it’s a good time and when it isn’t, Maviel!” said the Overlord. The electricity coiled and twirled around his figure. “You don’t know what the fuck I’m dealing with! You don’t understand the fucking pressure! You could never be the Overlord!”

[-2 hp]

Maviel shrunk pitifully.

[You’ve been unclutched]

Huh? Isabelle looked over at Maviel. She winked at her. Maviel fucking winked? At Isabelle? What in the fuck was happening? Isabelle had no time or energy to question it, she’d been given another chance to take down the Overlord.

“As for you!” the Overlord turned to look at Tahsi. “I’m convinced that you, you fucking kobold, are the ring leader of this whole fucking thing! Real happy to have found yourself a player to use as a puppet, eh? Been having a real fun time senidng her around town killing everything, parading her around like a big powerful piece of jewelry? Showing off your enormous wealth?” The Overlord walked over to Tahsi, grabbed him by his neck, and hoisted him high into the air. The electricity coiled around the Overlord shot out from his hand and zapped around Tahsi in crackling sparks. “How big do you feel now, you fucking twerp? Huh? Do you feel fucking big, with that little bit of bread in your mouth? Well that’s the last fucking piece of bread you’ll ever fucking eat!”

[Tahsi -5 hp]

[Tahsi -10 hp]

[Tahsi -13 hp]

[Tahsi -15 hp]

[Tahsi -20 hp]

This was one time where, instead of being jealous of Tahsi and his high stats, Isabelle was thankful. It gave her time to spring into action. She crouched again.

[Current visibility: 300/300]

Isabelle focused on the Overlord and thought ‘Show Current Visibility Overlord.’

[Current visibility (Overlord, The): 0/300]

Just as she’d hoped. The Overlord’s rage, while obviously powering him up, also clearly gave him some debuffs. Mainly, a debuff having to do with focus and spatial awareness. Also, did he really think Tahsi was the ring leader of their party? Tahsi was essentially acting on Isabelle’s whims! How insulting. Isabelle was pretty certain the Overlord was a misogynist.

Isabelle crept around the courtyard, getting closer and closer to the Overlord. She could actually feel warmth radiating in the air from his electricity.

[Tahsi -25 hp]

Tahsi was starting to look pretty haggard, and was crying out in agony every few moments. Isabelle was getting concerned. It was time to pounce! She leapt forward to the back of the Overlord.

[Stamina 97%]

[Current visibility (Overlord, The): 0/300]

So much for her potion of endless stamina. But, Isabelle figured even endless stamina had to end at some point. She raised the stealth drainer and prepared to give the Overlord another good stab.

[Notice: use stamina for extra battle focus?]

[Y/N]

Isabelle thought yes.

[Stamina 88%]

Time slowed down. Isabelle inched forward, raised her drainer, and leapt up into the air, aiming for the Overlord’s neck. She had to jump up, of course, because he was quite tall.

[Current visibility (Overlord, The): 300/300]

Wait, what?

“Aha!” said the Overlord in a deep, slow-motion voice. Time sped up to normal as he swung around and punched Isabelle with an electrocuted hand.

[-18 hp]

Isabelle flew through the air. Electricity coursed through her body, shocking her.

[-5 hp]

Isabelle smashed into the ground.

[-3 hp]

She was feeling very feeble. Isabelle thought, ‘Cast Quick Heal.’

[Mana 73%]

[+20 hp]

She felt much better after that.

“How the fuck did you know I was there?” Isabelle asked the Overlord as she clambered to her feet.

The Overlord just laughed and laughed. Then, he tossed Tahsi to the side. He laughed again as the kobold winced and whined in pain. “I saw your reflection in the scared eyes of your kobold companion. Talk about a fucking liability.”

“You saw his reflection?” asked Isabelle. “How in the hell—”

“One of my many, many permanent buffs is a massively increased alertfulness that helps counteract even some of the absolute worst of my debuffs,” said the Overlord. “Of course, you probably don’t even know about permanent buffs, do you? No, you don’t, I can tell with another one of my buffs that increases my perceptiveness. You see, player, while you may think you have the system all figured out, you really don’t know the half of it. Hell, you probably don’t even know a quarter of it! You may have a fresh reincarnation on your hands, and that is a great experience, I can agree there. The powers of the system do truly seem mysterious and ephemeral at the beginning, that much is sure. I have been one with the system for a long, long time. More than two hundred years, player, I’ve been one with the system. One with my system. And I know how to use my system to do things that you cannot, and indeed will not ever fathom.” He laughed, and laughed, and laughed again.

[Weather status: storm incoming]

No sooner than the update from the system ran across Isabelle vision did it start raining and thundering.

“Remember a little while ago, Isabelle?” asked the Overlord. “I told you it was going to rain soon, and I told you that because I knew with one hundred percent certainty. Just like I know now that, no matter what you do, you cannot win this fight.”

Isabelle was furious. Fuck this asshole. There had to be something he’s missed. Some mistake he’d made. This colossal douchebag was nowhere near as perfect as he obviously thought he was.

Isabelle looked around, and then she saw it. The Overlord’s black hammer lying on the ground, untended, forgotten.

“Yes, there is nothing, nothing at all, nothing ever, that I, the Overlord, could ever do to lose to you in this fight! I am the physical embodiment of success! The gods are on my side, my system is on my side! Who do you have, Isabelle? A wisecracking kobold and a cat? Some braindead horses? A severed head that hates you and belongs to my party? You are nothing! And I am everything!” The Overlord cackled with glee.

Isabelle took one step to the side. She was just close enough to the hammer. She focused on it.

[Add ‘Overlord’s Black Silver Hammer’ to inventory?]

Isabelle thought yes.