Full Summary: What if Momonga hadn't been alone in real life or in YGGDRASIL? Insert Suzuki Satoshi, his lazy younger brother who can't help but drop everything to go sightseeing! A king of procrastination and idleness! War? Battles? Momonga's unintentional harem? He'd rather not get involved, so please leave him out of it, thank you very much.
Disclaimer: I do not own Overlord, obviously.
An unfamiliar ceiling, Adalbert groggily mused as he awoken from his slumber.
It took him a quite few moments to reorientate himself and realize that he was currently lying on an uncomfortably hard bed in a room that looked similar to his at the Singing Apple INN. His gaze sharpened gradually as he analyzed his surroundings, fingering the hidden daggers in his sleeves in preparation for any abrupt attacks.
Usually, he would've gone from 0 to 10 within a split second after awakening at an unfamiliar location, but oddly enough, it took him a while to even go from 0 to 1.
When the door creaked open, Adalbert lethargically pushed himself into a seated position and held his forehead. He was acting as if he was still disorientated whilst he peered at the newcomers from his peripherals, judging them for any hidden weapons and ulterior motives.
"Ah! It looks like sleeping beauty has finally woke up. You okay? We found you passed out cold in front of the INN."
Four people crowded to the left side of his bed, and the one who spoke - Hekkeran, Adalbert reminded himself - grinned at him almost playfully as the human leaned slightly forward to hand over his pair of thin-framed, oversized circular glasses. Adalbert retrieved his decorative eyepiece accessory, perched it on his nose, before dropping his hand onto his blanket covered lap.
"I am fine," he nodded slowly, his cobweb-covered brain still actively trying to process how he had ended up collapsed out on the streets despite his HP being full, "What happened? And who are you?" Adalbert added the second question with a tilt of his head, pretending to be oblivious to their identities.
The leader of Foresight scratched his head and shrugged, before turning to look at his members. The other male human and lone half-elf also shrugged, whilst Arche remained stoic with her hands on her staff, knuckles white from how hard she was clutching at it.
Judging by her body posture and microexpressions, Adalbert knew that the blonde magic caster was extremely wary and suspicious of him being here - perhaps she even suspects that he did this on purpose to force their meeting.
Unfortunately, he could not claim credit for this unexpected scenario despite it bringing good results. It was completely unintentional on his part for him to be, quote, 'passed out cold in front of the INN' like some weakling. In fact, this plan would have never entered his mind in the first place as he was also too prideful to show a weakness in front of these lesser beings.
Purposely forcing himself, the One True Devil who governs over the Sin of Sloth, into fainting just to meet a handful of insects? How preposterous.
(Adalbert has long been influenced by Ulbert into becoming a misanthrope. Hence why 'Satoshi' had chosen to play as someone from the Heteromorphic race when YGGDRASIL came online. After becoming his avatar, a Sloth Demon, his dislike for humans, in general, had soared and reached the heavens.
Some nights, he would even contemplate the eradication of humanity... but ended up shrugging those thoughts away. They were too troublesome to act upon. Besides, he preferred napping and sightseeing rather than causing mass genocide, anyway. Holocausts took far too much energy.
It was a harsh and cruel mentality, but he was not one to lie to himself.)
"Right, introductions. Well, we four are a group of Workers called Foresight. I'm Hekkeran, the leader. These two beauties are Imina and Arche. Last but not least, this here's Roberdyck. He was the one who examined you to see if you had been injured during your fight in the tournament, but the conclusion was that you were just sleeping. Mind, we were getting worried since you've been out for the whole day without any signs of awakening!"
Sleeping? Adalbert would've frowned if his facial muscles allowed for it.
As a Sloth Demon, let alone 24 hours, it would not be a surprise if he slept for days on end. But now that he was in his human form, he should be slightly more resilient to the lore of 'Sloth Demons tend to nap after four hours of activity in order to regain their energy'.
Despite being expressionless, he was desperately trying to come up with a logical solution to this conundrum. His resistance stats were maxed, hence abnormal status effects from a third party would not work on him. So why did he suddenly collapse?
His last recollection was walking back to the INN after his fight... only for the memory to be abruptly cut off as if his CPU had entered sleep-mode.
As if something suddenly clicked inside his head, Adalbert recalled that there was a lore written by the shitty devs for shapeshifting Sloth Demons.
The description was basically something along the lines of 'whenever the Sloth shapeshifted into their human form, there was a high chance that the demon in question would develop narcolepsy the longer they remained in that form, hence why Sloth Demons were instinctually reluctant to enter their human form as it made them twice as vulnerable'.
A layer of cold sweat suddenly covered his entire back as Adalbert thought of the many ways he could have perished due to an abruptly random episode of narcolepsy. Ainz-ani would not be able to resurrect him if his body was left in a ditch somewhere since nobody from Nazarick knew of his current whereabouts (he had Pandora's Actor be his body double before he left).
Was the risk he was currently taking worth it? Adalbert wasn't sure. But he knew that he would have to be extremely careful whenever he was in this human form of his.
"Are you alright? Do you require healing?" Adalbert turned mechanically to Roberdyck, his eyes staring blankly at the worry written all over the human priest's face, "Your face has gone pale."
Taking a deep breath, Adalbert gave a firm nod. He would've smiled with reassurance if he could've, but alas, facial paralysis was a bitch (or rather, his body disliked humans so much it didn't want to show any positive facial/body language). It was hard to express emotions with only his default deadpan and monotonous voice to lean on.
"Your concern is unnecessary as I am always pale. Although it pains my entire being to do so, my brother has instilled manners into me. Hence, I will reluctantly give my thanks to you for your goodwill and make sure to pay off this debt no matter how undesirable it was in the first place."
Uh... Why did that come out so snobbish? What he was trying to convey was 'thanks so much for your help! How about I join your group in order to repay you for your kindness?'. He was trying to form a rapport, not break their relationship before it could even develop! Why was his mouth filter malfunctioning at a time like this?!
"Since you're so above us all, just leave already. We do not need a favor from such an ungrateful person," Arche glared, her tone scalding. Adalbert was tempted to return her glare with twice the venom. Thankfully, the leader of Foresight intervened.
"Woah, woah, woah, Arche-chan! Don't be like that. I'm sure he didn't mean to sound that way. Right, er... What was your name again?" Hekkeran laughed sheepishly whilst patting the blonde magic caster's shoulder in a soothing manner.
Adalbert narrowed his eyes. It seems that it wasn't only him that pretended to be oblivious, "It's Al."
"Right, right. I'm sure Al-kun's still tired. And everyone's snappy when they're tire- hey!"
Hekkeran was cut off when Foresight's half-elf forcefully pushed him aside so that she was the one standing next to Adalbert's seated form.
"We've seen you at the tournament. Your fighting style is magnificent - elegant like a dancer's yet deadly like an assassin's! I couldn't take my eyes off of you, Al-kun!" Imina's eyes were sparkling as she leaned eagerly into his face, her nose almost touching his, "Are you an Adventurer? A Worker? Do you want to join Foresight?! We need someone as talented as you!"
On instinct, Adalbert used a palm to push against her face, everything inside of him screaming for him to sear whichever insolent insect it was that dared come close to him without his permission. When he realized what he had done, he coughed lightly and looked away, forcing himself to blush and pretend that he had been embarrassed rather than disgusted by her close proximity.
"You're too close," Adalbert stated matter of factly. Imina, thankfully gullible enough to fall for his acting, smirked as if a cat that ate the canary.
"Oh my, are you shy? That's so cute~" The purple haired half-elf playfully and shamelessly poked at his reddened cheeks, "It makes this onee-san want to see you cry."
... A sadist? Adalbert deadpanned in his heart. One could truly not judge a book by its cover.
"Imina..." Hekkeran laughed nervously whilst trying to pull her away from the disguised Demon.
"What? Are you jealous?" Imina leered.
"W-who's jealous?!" Hekkeran sputtered, face completely red.
The two soon began bickering back and forth like an old married couple. Roberdyck shook his head at their antics before turning his attention to Adalbert. He smiled kindly at the disguised Demon, Arche next to him - having not taken her eyes off of Adalbert the whole time.
"I apologize for my companions' brusqueness. They're loud, but they're good people."
"It's fine," Adalbert shrugged. He then turned to Imina, bluntly cutting into their conversation without a change of expression, "Hey, you. Imina, right? I'll accept your insistence that I join Foresight. Not because I like your group or anything - I'm joining to repay your goodwill. You better be grateful for my charity."
"Hoh? What's this? It can't be... Are you actually a tsundere?! That's so cute!" The half-elf suddenly leaped onto his bed whilst grinning widely. Adalbert only gave her the stink-eye for having the guts to call him a tsundere. Him, the World Champion of Muspelheim, a tsundere? Hah!
"No take-backs! Welcome to Foresight, Al-kun!" Hekkeran hurried to join her, his grin stretched from ear to ear as he sat next to Imina, further causing Adalbert to feel uncomfortable at their lack of issue regarding personal space.
Roberdyck nodded happily along, his kind smile not once dropping as he patted Adalbert's shoulder in a welcoming manner. All it did was make the disguised Demon repress a shudder. For now, he would allow himself to be subjected to these lower lifeform's act of endearment. After he has exhausted all of their uses, he would leave without looking back.
When his pair of blue eyes focused on the remaining member of Foresight, Arche, he saw the former noble looking pale and horrified. Her mouth kept opening and closing, but no words of protest came out.
Adalbert lowered his head, his hair shadowing his features as his lips curved into an innocent smile. That expression on her face made his blood sing, the temptation to show her his innermost demons was almost impossible to ignore. Thankfully, he held back.
It seems he has won this battle of theirs. Poor little fallen noble.
Adalbert knew that she would continue to keep a close eye on him. Despite it sounding troublesome, inwardly, however, he wishes her the best of luck. In fact, he welcomed her to try and make him look like an evil megalomaniac. Entertainment was hard to come by nowadays, after all.
After reassuring his temporary teammates that there was nothing wrong with his health, he retreated to his own rented bedroom after they've all had their dinner. Plucking off the glasses from his nose and the scarf around his neck, he placed them atop his nightstand and laid languidly on the beanbag bed he had taken out from his Item Box days prior, closing his eyes not a second later.
"I know you're there," Adalbert suddenly spoke, one half-lidded eye gazing at a shadowed corner, "Victim."
The silhouette of a small blob floated timidly towards him, and after reaching a meter distance from Adalbert, hovered lower until he was only a few centimeters off the ground. Due to how unflexible the Guardian's body was, he had no other choice but to pay his respects in that manner.
".amas-trebladA drolim ,uoy nopu eb ronoh dna sgnisselB" [Blessings and honor be upon you, milord Adalbert-sama.]
"Why are you here? Ainz-ani made it clear that you are not allowed to leave the Tomb, Victim," Adalbert positioned himself until his ankles were crossed and his cheek resting lazily upon his knuckle.
".amas-trebladA ,tif ees uoy sa em hsinup esaelP .sredro s'amas-zniA gniyebosid rof ezigolopa I" [I apologize for disobeying Ainz-sama's orders. Please punish me as you see fit, Adalbert-sama.]
Adalbert sighed at the non-answer he received, "Come here."
Victim didn't hesitate to follow his command. As soon as the Guardian was within arm's reach, Adalbert tugged the floating fetus and hugged him against his chest. He would question this naughty child of his tomorrow. For now, he wanted to sleep.
"?amas-trebladA" [Adalbert-sama?]
"Hush," He murmured with his eyes closed, his body shifting back into his demi-human form now that he was out of sight from any nosy humans, "We shall continue this conversation later," Adalbert snuggled against the warm body in his arms and allowed the pull of darkness to take away his consciousness.
".amas-trebladA ,llew tseR .sdnatsrednu tnavres sihT" [This servant understands. Rest well, Adalbert-sama.]
A/N:
If anyone was wondering why I updated late... it wasn't due to my mischevious plot bunnies (ಠ ∩ಠ). It was because of my rebellious computer... ༼ಢ_ಢ༽! My will to write was broken because of it!
BECAUSE AFTER I WROTE A FULL CHAPTER (FINALIZED AND ALL), MY FUCKING MONITOR GAVE ME A BLUE SCREEN AND SAID ":( Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart. We're just collecting some error info, and then we'll restart for you." FUCK ERROR REPORT! FUCK EVERYTHING! FUCK LIFE! Y U DO TIZ TO ME?! I... AM DONE! THIS VERSION IS SHITE COMPARED TO MY FIRST ONE ( ༎ຶ _ ༎ຶ )!
UnknownRegion, PEACE OUT! *The author performed a flying dab whilst laughing crazily with tears streaming down their cheeks*
Conqueror of Shadows Skill(s)
= Nero Assoluto [Pure Black]: The map the user is in will fall into complete darkness for 60 seconds, making all enemy units be affected by the negative status effect of Blind, Fear, and Silence. The user's attack speed and movement speed will increase by 15% for 30 seconds.
= Ombre Puppets Art Love [Shadow Puppets Are Love]: Takes a portion of the user's shadow and forms them into an inky puppet. The shape and mass vary to the user's imagination. The puppets are only great for scouting purposes as their stats are similar to level 20 Shadow Demons. The user can only summon up to 5 puppets at a time and they will remain for 300 seconds before returning to the User's shadow.
= Obsidian Pellis (Passive) [Slate Skin]: Creates a layer of armor on the selected surface of the user's skin. Increases defense & offense by 50%. Has a 50-50 chance of inflicting Slow to those who make contact with the selected skin surface.
= Hikari aru tokoro ni kage ga aru (Passive) [Where there is Light there is Shadow]: HP & MP Regeneration rate increased by 20% upon being in bright areas. Will not activate if the user is engaged in combat.
= If thou gaze long into an Abyss, The Abyss will also gaze into thee (Passive) [Quote by Nietzsche]: Emits an intimidating aura that inflicts Intimidate to whoever looks into the user's eyes for more than 4 seconds. Has a 100% chance of working on those who are level 40 and below, and a 40% chance for those who are level 80 and below. Has a 100% chance of allowing the user to see through their victim's numeric status.
= Shadow Warp: Grants the user the means of traveling a short distance from shadow to shadow.
= Sombra Is My Best Friend [Shadow is my Best Friend]: Upon activation, the user will become one with the surrounding shadows. Increase in Stealth and Backstab damage, and decrease in Speed. No MP is needed to keep the skill activated.
= Umbra Regeneratione (Passive) [Shadow Regeneration]: HP & MP Regeneration rate increased by 100% upon being in shadowed or dark areas. Will not activate if the user is engaged in combat.
= Welcome to my genial Monochrome World: The user can absorb up to 10 Players/Monsters concurrently into a pocket dimension made of their own shadow. Welcome to my genial Monochrome World reflects upon their current map with the difference of only in color and phantom imprints. All victims will be inflicted with Extreme Slow due to the increase of gravitational pressure. The only way to escape is to kill the user or wait until the user's MP has depleted.
= Vương quốc của bóng tối [Realm of the Shadow Monarch]: The realm of shadows is a separate dimension from Welcome to my genial Monochrome World, a liveable environment that could be customized to the heart's desire. This skill is only available to Tamers. Able to summon and reabsorb their tamed monsters or pets from their shadow whenever and wherever. Capacity: 12.
Trivia:
* Welcome to my genial Monochrome World is often used by trolls to prank their allies since it allows Friendly Fire. The main victim, Momonga, can attest to that.
* In the New World, puppets made from the skill Ombre Puppets Art Love don't have a time limit but have a quantity limit depending on their size.
* Obsidian Pellis (Slate Skin) is the reason why Adalbert's limbs are black in color - against lower level Players, they can be considered a weapon on their own. The skill is turned off whilst in his human form.
* If thou gaze long into an Abyss, The Abyss will also gaze into thee skill is the reason for Adalbert's sclera being black in color. The skill is turned off whilst in his human form.
* Players deduced rather easily that the shitty dev who created this particular Class has a disturbing obsession with foreign languages.
* The dev who created CoSS had admitted on YGGDRASIL's forum that he had been sloshed when he thought of the names for the skills, causing half the Players to kneel in worship in front of their computers whilst the other half scorned him for his appalling naming sense.
P. S. All translations are done by Google-sensei.