Chapter 1: The New World

Two minutes remained for the shutdown of YGGDRASIL, when another one of the 41 members of Ainz Ooal Gown managed to login, his name was Alucard and he was a True Vampire. He stood as tall as his guild master Momonga, his hair was long and sliver hanging freely down his back, his skin was sickly pale and his eyes blood red with snake like pupils. Alucard was wearing his Blood Armor, a Divine Class armor, it had a crystal-like texture to it shinning with light, it was colored dark red and had engravings of an imposing dragon all over it. Both hands and feet ended in the dragon's claws, on the back were the depictions of wings and on the chest the horned visage of the beast. To his left was his strongest weapon, Shi a katana made in a black metal with a hilt wrapped in a red cloth, it was an object crafted by himself in order to compete with even the strongest warriors.

Alucard looked around, first he was relieved to have been able to login in time to witness the end second, he facepalmed to have forgotten he wasn't in Nazarik the last time he was here. He had been sent to a forest fort, a place normally used as a safe zone for socialization and trade. Summoning the holographic clock, he confirmed that indeed time was quickly ending, the fort was empty now but a shell of what it once was, Alucard leaned against a wall letting his body fall into the ground where he took a seat.

Maybe he should go back to Nazarik, it would be a better way to end this than in some abandoned fort, in the Tomb there could still be some other guild members or even NPCs would be better than this. However, time wasn't on his side, closing his eyes he let the clock count down, the best he could do now was be forced out of the game by the shutdown, then there would be no burden of having abandoned YGGDRASIL.

Jack Briefs, here known as Alucard, counted the seconds in his mind, this was the first time he would logout via shutdown so he wondered if it would be uncomfortable, one second remaining, a small pause, zero. Nothing happened, Jack opened his eyes and was surprised by what he saw, he was no longer in a fort, he somehow was now leaning against a tree in the middle of a completely alien forest.

The vampire got back up, he made a 360 turn to take in his surroundings, this forest was in fact different not because it looked to strange, it was the other way around, the trees the grass, the night sky all looked too normal. A sudden gust of air lifted several of fallen leaf's in his direction, such thing caused Alucard to place his hand in front of his face waving away such annoying distraction.

"Wind!?" he gasped in a low tone, his voice was slightly deeper than he remembered

"What?" he continued, now focusing on his voice and how soothing it was

His left-hand wen up to his face, he felt the contours it was different, then it traveled to his head lifting some of his long strands of hair. His eyes went to the silver hair being held in his hand, how strange it looked just like his avatar, a sudden realization came into mind but it was too ridiculous to even consider. So, he tested it out, letting go of his hair he placed a finger in his mouth, his eyes widened when his suspicions became a reality, he now had fangs just like a vampire.

"I'm not paid enough for this." he sighed, facepalming

Alucard let out a frustrated groan, this made no sense he had been transported somewhere else and seemingly had been turned into his avatar. Thinking about game mechanics, he knew that two things were impossible touch and smell, touch was there, now he would have to test smell. He inhaled deeply, taking in the many fragrances of the forest, the feeling was amazing he could feel every little smell that made up his surroundings. He was hoping this would have failed, the fact that it worked made him think he had been transported into another world where this body was his own.

A troubling thought, while considering the situation and what he should do, Alucard tried everything he could to call a GM, nothing worked. Maybe he should try calling someone he knew, but he wasn't sure if anyone else was online when the shutdown happened, Alucard cursed the fact he hadn't seen who was online when he logged in. Alucard thought of what he would do if this was outside the game, stranded in an unknown situation, with no allies and in possible hostile territory, he would try to escape. Right now, he had not place to escape to, so the second-best thing was to set up camp somewhere else, scout the area and work out a plan from there.

"Where should I go…" he mumbled, once more examining his surroundings

"I guess my body isn't the only thing that changed." Alucard chuckled

Only now had he considered how calm he was in the face of this situation, it wasn't like he normally was a nervous person, but this was something he had never gone through which should puzzle even the most composed of men. Flexing his body and doing some warmup exercises, Alucard was surprised of how good in shape it was, he was almost certain it was impossible to in better shape than he was before, seems like he was wrong.

The vampire's eyes looked through the shadows, he didn't even think of how he was doing this, letting his body do the work for him he searched for any signs of civilization. Finally, he could see in the distance light, possibly some small town or village, letting out an eager hiss he charged forwards. Jack was certain he was running faster than he had ever done before even with the bulky armor the speed this body displayed was incredible, easily more than an athlete, he could only wonder what else it could do.

Stopping midway towards the village, he jumped into the tallest tree he could find, if his eyes didn't mislead him the village should be visible from there. The source of light, had come from torches, the houses were made out of stone and in the center, was a large wooden watchtower. Alucard pondered this new piece of information, the technology here was rudimentary at best, nothing like from where he came from, this village was something more medieval in nature.

The sound of creaking branches brought him back from his thoughts, a sign that the tree could no longer bare his weight, jumping backdown the vampire began to walk into the darkness. He decided not to approach the village, not because something could go wrong but he feared the effect his appearance could have on people. His random wandering made him end up near a cave, it had a small clearing leading to it, looking up the branches of the nearby trees had grown to cover that clearing so during the day it would block most of the light.

Alucard took this moment to smell the air once more, he didn't feel anything inside the cave, for now this could work as a good hideout. It didn't show any clear signs of human activity, which meant he wouldn't have to worry with any unwanted interactions. Going inside, his night vision allowing him to see perfectly in the darkness, he found a "comfortable" clustering of rocks. First thing he did was remove his armor and place it behind some of the rocks, so if anyone would come in they wouldn't see it. Now he was reduced to light brown shorts, his katana and the three rings in his right hand, his keen senses detected something approaching the cave. Sniffing the air. Alucard felt intoxicated by the smell, followed by a strange sensation in his stomach, this could possibly be hunger but what had awakened this feeling in him, finally the cause came into his line of sight, it was a young couple.

The vampire's eyes widened in horror, wrapping his arms around his gut in some uncompressible way to hold himself back, he did his best to stay silent. He was certain that they shouldn't be able to see him that deep into the cave, how foolish could they be to be this far away from the village without any source of light, the Moon could only do so much.

"Are you sure this is safe?" the girl asked, she sounded unsure and worried

"It's fine." the boy reassured, closing the distance between them

Seeing them come together, the obvious reason fell upon Alucard, they risked possibly being attacked by an animal for this, how unsightly.

"Who dares, disturb my rest?" he growled, his hands went to his mouth soon after having spoken without any wish to do so

"Who's there!?" the boy cried out, stepping in front of the girl

"I have chosen this cave to spend the night. I have no wish to share it with a couple of humans in heat!"

"Let's go." the girl pleaded, trying to push the boy away

"Listen to the woman. Go and live another day, that is if you don't speak of this."

The boy was about to give the stranger some courageous remark, when he saw a couple of red orbs glowing from within the cave, his courage was gone like that grabbing on to the girl's hand they ran off. Alucard let out a sigh of relief, but he still had an issue to take care off, his hunger something that had been awoken by their young, healthy, bodies. He needed to find something else to eat before, his vampire nature would force him to make some grave mistake.

Alucard found the necessary relief in in a deer, catching and slaughtering the animal not too far from his temporary home, the poor thing stood no chance as the starved vampire used nothing but his hands and teeth reduced him to shreds. Once more sitting against a tree, he felt thankful to the poor animal he had slaughtered in place of some poor human, all the while looking at his disturbing handy work.

Momonga was busy trying to figure out how to use the [Mirror of Remote Viewing], when he received an unexpected nock at his door, motioning to Sebas the butler went to open the door.

"Who is it?" he asked

"It is the three Vampire Brides of Alucard-sama." the butler replied

"Let them enter."

Three women entered the room, closing the door behind them, they presented themselves to Momonga in a line, bowing before the Supreme Being. The one in the middle was the older looking one, she seemed to be 25 years old even if her face showed signs of great discipline and experience, her hair was light brown and long, her name was Talia. The one to her right was Touka, she had the appearance of an 18 year old, unlike her sister she had a more mischievous expression, her hair was black going down to her shoulders. The final Bride seemed to be around 14 years of age, she was as tall as Shalltear, with blonde hair that went down her back and blue eyes, her name was Nyx. All of them wore the same pure white dress, and a single ring in their right hand.

"We apologize for disturbing you, Momonga-sama." they said in unison, bowing once more

"There is no need for apologies. I should have gone to check on you three earlier. That aside what brings you here today?" Talia was the one to speak, since she was the oldest of the Brides

"We have spent all this time in Alucard-sama's room, once more we apologize." again they bowed

Momonga did his best not to sigh, he guessed their overwhelming devotion couldn't be helped, taking a better look at them they seemed to have been crying, could this possibly be a sign of mourning for their absent creator.

"You seem to have been crying. Is something the matter?" he asked

"That is the reason that brought us here, when we heard all the Supreme Beings were gone we could not understand. So, we did our best not to contradict those words but…" she began to tear up, however her words had greatly interested Momonga

"But?" she lifted her ring hand

"The signal doesn't stop. The ring says, Alucard-sama is near."

Silence fell upon the room, Momonga's eye sockets were glowing a bright red, his attention was on the ring, the Ring of Bound, four of these existed one for Alucard and the others for his Brides. Their purpose was if for any reason there weren't any means to find Alucard, one could use the Brides to search for the signal emitted by his ring. He did not understand why he wasn't able to contact him, he had tried every possible means of communication, then he remembered. The Ring of Incognito, which hid Alucard from any type of magic that could be used to find, spy or communicate with him, this was one of the reasons the previous ring was necessary, so great was his fellow comrade's paranoia.

"I see. Then why are you here? Certainly, it is not just to tell me this." the ruler of Nazarik asked, his head turning slightly to the side

"We…We wish to go find him."

Momonga had expected her to say something similar to this, it would be risky to send such precious NPCs out into this unknown world. He wanted to avoid this as much as possible, but he was still trying to figure out how the mirror worked and only them could find Alucard. Even with these concerns he knew that if magic still worked like it did in YGGDRASIL, the rings weren't lying Alucard was in this world.

"Can you tell, how far he is?"

"Around 10 km, Momonga-sama." Talia replied

"Then I will allow you to go. Make sure you are equipped with the best equipment you have, there is no need to interact with any one or risk being found. Track the signal and find if it is indeed Alucard, if it is bring him back, if not return immediately we cannot take any unnecessary risks." the change in their expression was obvious, even if they were trying to hide it

"Thank you, Momonga-sama. We will not fail."

Alucard was resting in the cavern, it had already been a few days since he had arrived and made this cave his shelter, the reason he had yet to move was because of the large number of unknown factors. The calm atmosphere of the cave disappeared when he smelled something approaching the entrance, the smell was strange but not alien, it was similar to his however heavily masked. Since he was hidden behind a rock he was certain whoever it was wouldn't find him, it wasn't like he was worried but what was approaching felt strong and there was definably more than one.

"The signal is coming from there." said a female voice

"So many bones…" pointed out another, she sounded younger and rowdier

"I'm worried." this one sounded like a child

The vampire leaned forward, looking from behind the rock at the new arrivals that had yet to enter the cave. His eyes widened when he saw them, two were of a similar height and the other was much shorter, they were wearing the same clothing. Light black armor made for both speed and agility, their heads was covered by a hood and from the lower half of their back down was a cape.

"Who dares disturb my home?" he growled, wanting to evaluate the situation

"Alucard-sama!" they gasped

"That depends on whoever is asking."

The vampire got back up to his feet, carrying his sheathed katana in his left hand, slowly he began to approach the entrance of the cave. Internally he smiled, these were certainly the NPCs he had created, however he was still unsure of why they had only showed up now.

"Our apologies!" Talia let out, her face blushing before she covered her eyes and Nyx's

"What's your problem?" Touka retorted

"We do not have permission to Alucard-sama's body. Cover your eyes." Talia remarked

Alucard looked down, he was still just wearing the same shorts, seeing her reaction one would think he was naked. Looking at Touka she was fine with it, her gaze was transfixed on his body, something that Alucard did not mind, but also did not outright enjoy.

"Then I will go dress myself." he announced walking back inside the cave

"My apologies��" Talia began to say, but her creator interrupted

"No need."

Shortly after their superior returned, dawning his Blood Armor, looking imposing before his subordinates, internally felt weighted down by the thing.

"Why are you here?" he hissed, eyeing down Talia

"Momonga-sama, gave us permeation to come find you, and bring you back to Nazarik, Alucard-sama."

He couldn't say he was shocked, if anyone was going to stay behind till the shutdown it would be Momonga. The only cause for surprise was that Nazarik had also been transported, in his case the fort where he was did not come with him, could it be that there was something different about the Tomb. The other cause for surprise was the NPCs, they were alive there was no other way to describe it, this made him curious to know what the others that were at Nazarik were like.

"How far are we from Nazarik?"

"Around 10 km." Talia quickly answered

"Then let's get moving. Nyx, open a Gate to take us there."

"Y-Yes. [Gate]." she replied, shyly

The portal opened before them, the group walked through leading them to the entrance of the Great Tomb, Alucard looked around finally it felt like he was home.

Patting Nyx in the head he walked inside, he passed by many servants who naturally prostrated themselves at the sight of him, something the vampire ignore. Seeing so many servants, going around with such propose, Alucard could only conclude that Momonga was busy making sure Nazarik was prepared for whatever might come. Going down to the first floor of the tomb, vampire couldn't help but feel nostalgic it had been a long time since he had passed through here, and the fact that he wasn't here during the shutdown made him want to explore Nazarik even more.

"Where is the Guardian of this floor?" he shouted, not directing the question to anyone

"We do not know. Momonga…" Talia's words were cut short, by a new female voice

"First, second and third floor Guardian Shalltear Bloodfallen, comes to welcome a returning Alucard-sama."

Alucard's eyes darted in the direction of the voice, the fellow True Vampire who was now charmingly running towards him, before throwing her arms around his neck. Given the different of height she freely hanged from his neck, Alucard stopped for a moment taking in the situation, seeing that this was Peroroncino creation he managed to keep his composure.

"Shalltear-sama, perhaps you would like to let Alucard-sama through. He is in need of some rest and proper food." Talia remarked

Alucard felt a sudden shift in the Guardian's face, she dropped down looked back at his Bride, her expression was now a mixture of outrage and anger.

"And who are you to tell me what I should do!?"

"I am one of his Brides, I will know better than you what his desires are." Talia hissed back, her voice calm but full of venom

"I guess the weak have to be good at something." Shalltear laughed back

"Burn. Is that the best you got, fake boobs?" Touka retorted, Shalltear placed her arms over her bust

"What are you talking about!?"

"It is rather obvious. Wouldn't you agree, Alucard-sama?" Touka looked at her superior and so did a red-faced Guardian

"There is no need to, point out such a thing Touka." Alucard said, before looking down at Shalltear

"First, allow me to thank you for such a warm welcome."

"It is only proper, Alucard-sama. What other way could I have showed my love for the Supreme Being whose beauty rivals even Momonga-sama's." she retorted, licking her lips

"Full of kind words, are you? Now, why don't you tell me where Momonga is!?"

Shalltear felt a chill going down her back, she was unsure if the others had felt it, but her superior's tone had changed for the worst. Even if he still wore a smile and seemed kind hearted, there was something that frightened her in the way only a Supreme Being could manage.

"H-He, went to a human village with Albedo. Sebas should know more than me." hearing her reply, Alucard looked back at his Brides

"Thank you, Shalltear. You three go back to the room. I'll go on ahead." in a flash he was gone