Isabelle stood in the courtyard, looking at the Overlord. He seemed rather pleased with himself. The large, captive audience surrounding them mumbled with anxiousness.
[Notice: You’re ready to level up]
Sure, maybe Isabelle was ready to level up, but did she really feel like it?
Okay, maybe Isabelle absolutely loved leveling up and almost always felt like leveling up. Maybe it gave her a rush that couldn’t be beat. Maybe looking over her stats filled her with joy and even a little ecstasy. Yes, maybe all those things were true. But, at the same time, maybe this was a trap.
After all, why in the hell would the Overlord allow her such an opportunity? Why would he voluntarily deactivate combat mode and entreat her to level up unless there was something ulterior going on?
Unless, of ourse, the Overlord just thought he was so good that no matter how hard Isabelle leveled up she couldn’t measure up to him. Damn. That was probably it, wasn’t it? This was all meant to humiliate Isabelle. The Overlord had gotten his audience ready to watch as the new player leveled up in front of him then got slaughtered. Probably in one hit.
“Hey, Isabelle!” said Tahsi. He was standing in the audience now, and taking a bite of bread. “Combat mode got disabled! Do you think it’s a trap, or do you think the Overlord’s just that cocky?”
“Have you just completely given up on helping me, Tahsi?” asked Isabelle.
“What? I’d never!” said Tahsi. “I’m just keeping a safe distance from the Overlord is all. He gives me the creeps, Isabelle, and he’s a very imposing figure. Makes me feel a little insecure as a kobold man, if I’m being honest. Gods, what did Frimri ever see in me?” Tahsi took a bite of bread in sorrow and shame.
Isabelle looked back to the Overlord. She wondered if she should level up, or if she should try and get the drop on him, somehow. But how? Isabelle looked at her inventory. What were all of those items she’d been considering using earlier?
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 242.4/282
Item
Traits
Overlord’s Black Silver Hammer (enchanted)
+50 damage, +50 str, +10 const, +8 stm, +13 carry weight
Overlord's Glorious Electrifying Axe (enchanted)
+45 damage, +48 str, +18 const, +15 stm, +12 carry weight
Stealth Drainer (enchanted)
+5 stealth, +10 damage, +1 carry weight
Vial of Cauldron Goo
n/a
Abbreviated list based on prior use. Focus to see more items…
Oh, the vial of cauldron goo! Maybe, if Isabelle could just—
“Stop looking at your inventory, player,” said the Overlord. “If you keep that shit up, I’ll reactivate combat mode and one hit you in an instant.”
“Damnit, how could you tell?” asked Isabelle.
“Do you not remember my long, drawn out explanation of how I modded my system at the nexus that I gave to you only moments ago?” asked the Overlord.
“Oh, boy,” Isabelle said with a sigh. “I remember, all right.”
“Well, that’s one of my mods! Duh! I can tell when you’re accessing your inventory. Takes away a lot of the advantages you have over me, eh? If you had any to begin with,” said the Overlord. “If I focus hard enough, I can see literally everything your system tells you.”
“Everything?” asked Isabelle.
“Yes—” said the Overlord, “—everything.”
Isabelle cleared her throat. “That’s a little… invasive.”
“Oh, you cannot imagine how invasive it is,” said the Overlord. He sounded almost excited. “You would not believe the shit I’ve caught some of my party members doing with my system. It can get surprisingly lewd.”
Isabelle grimaced. The last thing she wanted to talk to the Overlord about was anything lewd.
“Oh, won’t you stop gawking, Isabelle?” asked the Overlord. “Just go ahead and level up so I can beat and humiliate you already. Who knows, maybe I’ll even let you live after I rip your system out of you. If I’m feeling terribly generous, of course.”
What a cocky douchebag. It made Isabelle want to disobey him more than anything else. So, she didn’t level up.
[Notice: You’re ready to level up]
“Um, excuse me,” said the Overlord. “You’ve got a golden opportunity right here to level yourself up. Come on. You know you want to.”
“I don’t fucking trust you,” said Isabelle. “I’m not touching my stats with you standing right there peering over my shoudler. Not only is it weirdly voyeuristic, but it’s impossible for me to feel like this is anything other than a vicious trap! Who knows what else you can do with your system, ‘The Overlord,’ since it’s so modded to hell!”
“I told you not to address me in that manner!” said the Overlord. The trademark purple electricity started flaring up around his veiny muscles again. “The Overlord is a serious title! You will not make a mockery of me!”
Isabelle rolled her eyes.
“Oh my gods!” said the Overlord. “You are absolutely incorrigible!” The ground shook as more electricity snaked around his form. The audience mumbled and groaned with exhaustion and half-hearted fear. “Isabelle, you will take me seriously right now! Take me seriously, or I’ll make sure you never get another opportunity to level up again, gods damnit!” The Overlord’s voice sounded like twenty deep voices.
“Wow, this is really disturbing, why does your voice sound like that?” said Isabelle. “What, do you have laryngitis or something?”
“The Overlord does not get laryngitis! The Overlord does not fall ill!” said the Overlord. The ground cracked with energy as the electricity around the Overlord coiled and coiled until it looked more like sparks of flame around his body. “The Overlord lords over all!”
Isabelle couldn’t help but chuckle under her breath.
“What?! I heard that! What’s so fucking funny?!” said the Overlord. He was floating up in the air now, and his cloak was billowing magnificently. “The Overlord demands an answer! Answer me now, damn it!!”
“Okay, I’ll answer you,” said Isabelle.
The crowd gasped.
“What?” asked Isabelle, addressing the crowd. “I’ve been here the whole time! What is it about me agreeing to answer the Overlord’s question that has all of you acting so dramatically?”
The audience grumbled and mumbled with indecisiveness.
Isabelle turned back to the Overlord, but was interrupted by a familiar voice before she could speak.
“Alright, citizens of Cloud Reach and captive audience members of the Overlord, it looks like the famed and infamous Isabelle the Giant Slayer turned Dragon Slayer turned Duke of Cloud Reach Slayer is going to answer the Overlord’s question, namely his question asking what was so fucking funny that it made her laugh!” said the echoing voice of the kobold announcer who’d voiced her fights at the Citadel. “And, I must admit, while I know there is a tendency at this point for this crowd to root for Isabelle, I need to stress that the person we’re cheering for right now is not Isabelle. We’re cheering for Isa—erm, for the Overlord, because he’s our wonderful Overlord, and we all love and support and fear him terribly because if we don’t he’ll murder us. And those he doesn’t initially murder will of course get burnt to a crisp, along with the whole township, if we upset him. Just a reminder.”
The crowd mumbled glumly.
“Come on people, make some noise for the Overlord! Don’t you see how strung out and angry he looks? He needs some folks on his side!” said the announcer.
The crowd gave a light cheer.
“He looks like a roided out circus freak!” shouted a high-pitched voice in the audience that sounded suspiciously similar to Sir Jingles. A couple other audience members mumbled in agreeance.
“Folks, folks, don’t be crazy!” said the announcer. “Why, may I remind you that Isabelle just killed the Duke of Cloud Reach? Our very own Duke, people, was murdered by her in cold blood! Also, I have it on good authority that she stole a bunch of stuff from the rest of Cloud Reach’s royal family. Including, if I’m reading this news scroll correctly, an entire Duke Sized Bed? How is that even possible? Who knows, but her evil must be stopped, and who better to stop it than our very own evil Overlo—er, our very own benevolent Overlord?
“Yea, I didn’t even know Cloud Reach had a royal family,” said another person in the audience.
“Me either,” said another. “Aren’t we just a township?”
“I think this is a sign of a gross misappropriation of public funds,” said a third voice. “If the government of Cloud Reach is just padding its own pockets instead of giving our tax dollars back to the people that live here, is there any point in celebrating its existence in the first place? Or should we not instead outwardly oppose it?”
“Eat the rich!” said the Sir Jingles-esque voice.
The crowd cried out in agreeance.
“This is absolutely infuriating!” said the Overlord. He growled, almost like a dog or a bear. The electric flames surrounding him flared out with each grunt and utterance, and got bigger and stronger. The ground below quaked and shook more and more as his strength increased. He turned to look at Isabelle. He pointed at her. Even his pinter finger had bulging veins on it. “You! Isabelle! What the fuck were you going to say before these idiots drowned out your thoughts with their bizarre and mind-draining ineptitude?!”
Isabelle felt a little taken aback. Was the Overlord angry… for her? No, Isabelle felt assured that the Overlord was much more angry for himself than anyone else, he was much too selfish to try and feel something for someone else, even if it had to do with him.
“Why are you just standing there staring into space? I know you aren’t fucking around in your inventory again!” said the Overlord. “Now, Isabelle, tell me what the fuck you were going to tell me already before I blow my gods damned lid!”
Isabelle stifled a chuckle. She cleared her throat. “I was only going to remark on the fact that ‘The Overlord’ really seems to enjoy referring to himself in third person.”
“The Overlord enjoys nothing! Nothing except the consumption of the powers of his underlings and his enemies!” said the Overlord. “Oh, yes, feasting on precious, precious powers and levels can be absolutely delicious. You have no idea, Isabelle. You have no idea of the hunger that can come from just a single taste of another person’s mana, another person’s energy, another person’s life force sucked out of their cold, dead corpse and rushing into your own personage to further raise your power levels.”
Isabelle grimaced. The Overlord seemed, at this moment, incredibly fucked up.
“Oh, sure, go ahead. Cringe now, cringe all you want. But if you were in my situation, you’d feel the very same way,” said the Overlord. “It’s like a drug. A most wonderful drug. And the first time is always the best. Isabelle, if we’re being honest, there’s a not very small part of me that wants to show you what I am capable of. Not in an aggressive, combative way, but it an actual way. I want to show you, Isabelle, what it is like to feel true power. To taste true power. Already, you must be able to tell that I and you are on very different stages of our lives.”
“Um, fucking of course we are!” said Isabelle. “You’re like, what, a million years old?”
“About two hundred and a half, but thanks for that little ego hit,” said the Overlord. “Not that it should matter, seeing as I became functionally immortal long ago, but still.”
“Long ago?” asked Isabelle. “Is two hundred and a half years really all that much time for someone approaching immortality? And you’re already a bit of a total mess. ‘The Overlord,’ I’ve got to be honest, the only future I can picture with you living out an infinite life is one where you become an absolute and total basket case. And that’s only implying that you aren’t one already.”
“How dare you continue to refer to me in such an insulting and derogatory manner!” said the Overlord. His skin was getting red. Actually, his whole body was getting red. He seemed to be reaching a bit of a breaking point.
“What do you mean?” asked Isabelle. “I’m only calling you ‘The Overlord.’ Don’t you want to be called ‘The Overlord?’ Isn’t that what you are? You’re ‘The Overlord?’”
The Overlord screamed with a fervorous rage. A large hole in the ground split open and lava shot out into the air. His muscles pulsated as he got bigger and bigger and redder and redder, like his entire body was flowing and filling with excess blood and excess energy. And then, in a flash of blinding light, his body completely changed.
Isabelle looked in shock as she saw a slender, feeble looking young man standing before her. His face was completely covered in a familiar shrouded cowl. He looked lithe, pale, and weak as a pile of dead twigs. His clothing looked less like armor and more like a dress.
“Well, shit,” said the Overlord. His voice was airy yet soft. “I wasn’t planning on entering this form so soon, but I guess you did it to me, Isabelle.” He giggled.
Isabelle scowled. “Um, what the hell’s going on?” she asked.
“What do you mean, what’s going on?” asked the youthful, feminine Overlord. “I’m in my next form, duh! I’m many, many magnitudes more powerful in this form than I was in my last, though I will admit I’m much more comfortable in my other form. Really, I don’t like entering this state. It feels vulnerable. Which is funny, because I could level this whole township to dust with the flick of my wrist now. Seriously, I’m not exaggerating.”
Isabelle was disturbed, to say the least. She had no idea how to feel about this situation, though she didn’t like the thought of this frail, feminine yet male Overlord destroying everything around them in an instant.
“Stop looking at me like that! I’m getting self conscious. You’ll make me blush under my hood,” said the Overlord. The Overlord turned to look at Maviel, who was standing in the courtyard with a look that mingled with rage, disgust, and arousal. “Maviel, honey, I’m, like, so sorry.”
“You’re… sorry?” asked Maviel. She stepped closer to the Overlord.
“Yes, I’m so terribly sorry,” said the Overlord. “I really, just, I never think about how you feel, you know?”
“Oh, Overlord,” said Maviel. A tear ran down her cheek. Then, she slapped him across the face. Her facial expression changed to a smirk. “Don’t worry. I’m well aware.”
“Ouchies,” said the Overlord. “That really hurt.”
Isabelle didn’t know how to feel about this situation. What exactly was the deal with the Overlord’s form? He was acting so different, so bizarrely different. Was he still a threat?
“What are you thinking, Isabelle?” asked the Overlord.
“She’s probably thinking about how disgusting, horrible, and disappointing you are, you fucking pig,” said Maviel. She slapped the Overlord again. “Get your fucking shit together and control your transformations, you fucking shrimp.”
The Overlord whimpered softly and rubbed his slapped cheek. “Maviel, that was so uncalled for.”
“You’re uncalled for,” said Maviel. She spit on the Overlord’s hood and walked off.
“I am so confused!” shouted Tahsi from the distance. “However, my bread sure is delicious, and I can find immediate solace in recognition of that.”
“Overlord—” said Isabelle, “—you’re acting so different now. Are you the same person?”
“Um, of course I am!” said the Overlord. “I’m just in my second form. Changing form can change an awful lot about a person, Isabelle. Maybe you’d learn that from experience if you let me show you what it’s like being the Overlord. Come on. Aren’t you curious what it’s like, having all my powers?”
Normally, Isabelle would’ve said no. Despite her envy of Tahsi’s stats, and her joy at her own, Isabelle didn’t really feel like she was in love with power. It was more that she liked seeing numbers go up more than anything else. So, she shrugged.
[Notice: You’ve reached level 24]
[hp restored to 20]
[Notice: You have attribute and skill points to spend]
[Would you like to spend your points now?]
[Y/N]
Shit! Isabelle had forgotten about leveling up, and now she’d started the process.
“Oh, come on, Isabelle,” said the Overlord. “Just let yourself level up. Don’t worry about me, the only real reason I let you out of combat mode in the first place is because if you level up I get the benefit from it when I eventually absorb all your powers. And now you can’t stop the process. So, go on, level up! Have fun with it.”
Isabelle was beginning to miss the roided-out Overlord with anger issues.
[Would you like to spend your points now?]
[Y/N]
Clearly, there was no escape. Isabelle thought yes.
Attribute Points to Spend: 15
Hp:
75
H-Regen:
3/30sec
Mana:
64
M-Regen:
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
2/40sec
Stm:
59
S-Regen:
0.5/sec
Five to hp sounded good. Hell, Isabelle would put five to mana, too. Actually, scratch that, six to mana. So Isabelle had four more points to spend. She put those to stm.
Skill Points to Spend: 15
Str:
55
Int:
40
Dx:
43
Wis:
36
Const:
35
Char:
27
Isabelle wasn’t feeling incredibly thoughtful. Instead, she felt incredibly nervous. Adding to str would be good, right? She put five to str. Seven to dx seemed good. That left three. All three of those could go to int. Isabelle had a hunch she’d need it.
[Congratulations, you’ve finished leveling up!]
Character Status
Name:
Isabelle
Gender:
Female
Level:
24
Class:
Undefined
Race:
Human
Alignment:
Neutral-Neutral
Attributes
Hp:
80
H-Regen:
3/30sec
Mana:
70
M-Regen:
2/40sec
Stm:
63
S-Regen:
0.5/sec
Skill Points
Str:
60
Int:
43
Dx:
50
Wis:
36
Const:
35
Char:
27
Magic Ability Levels
Enchant:
3
Summon:
2
Heal:
0
Destroy:
9
Transmute:
2
Confuse:
3
Normal Ability Levels
Crafting:
7
Sneak:
8
Archery:
8
Lockpick:
3
Armed Combat:
11
Melee Combat:
4
Speechcraft:
10
Sleight Of Hand:
6
“Nice job leveling up, Isabelle,” said the Overlord. “Not that it’ll save you from being destroyed by me, but still. It was a valiant effort. Now that that’s finally done with and I’ve got you all fresh and leveled and ready to harvest, I’ll stop playing around and get to the business.”
[Combat mode activated]
“It’s time, Isabelle,” said the Overlord. “Time to have all your power sucked out of you through my system like a straw, that is.”
Isabelle watched the Overlord equip two brilliant, shimmering blades that sparkled with a yellow glow and energy.
“These swords are really cool, Isabelle,” said the Overlord. “They sap your hp, mana, and dx with every hit. Isn’t that fun?”
Isabelle swallowed air with discomfort. She was not enjoying the attitude of the Overlord’s second form.