part0009

Sam swallowed nervously as Greta set a bowl of steaming stew before him, along with a fresh loaf of bread and a mug of beer.

This is so unrealistic. Who the hell just happens to have hot stew, freshly baked bread, and cold beer lying around? Maybe all the people in Somerset were like the non-player characters, or NPC’s, in video games and not actual people.

As she bent down, Sam immediately realized two things. First of all, Greta had unbuttoned the top few buttons of her plaid shirt, and secondly, she wasn’t wearing a bra! In fact, if he tilted his head just the right way he could almost…

Sam’s eyes immediately snapped away from the woman, face coloring in embarrassment and he focused instead on the bowl of stew sitting before him.

He really didn’t want his Stalker skill going up any more. Besides, he really was hungry. The only food he’d eaten all day was a few bites of that furry rabbit, all of which, he’d immediately thrown up.

“Thanks for the food It looks great,” he said, noting that Greta hadn’t moved from her position next to him.

“You’re welcome. I hope you enjoy it. It took me all day to make that.”

Sam noted a teasing tone in her voice that made him distinctly more nervous, but all that fled his mind as soon as he took his first bite.

One of the best stews he’d ever tasted. The only stew he’d ever tasted, actually. Who the hell still took the time to make a freaking stew? Sam wondered.

Sam quickly tore off a piece of the bread, dunking it into the steaming broth and shoving it in his mouth, not at all caring how it probably looked to the woman standing next to him.

“You don’t need to stand there,” Sam said, mouth still half full of soggy bread and chunks of meat. “I really don’t mind if you sit.”

“No, that’s quite alright,” Greta said. “I still need to take some food out to your dog.”

“He’s actually my companion,” Sam automatically corrected. “I don’t really own him.”

“Of course you don’t! Such a sweet man. And handsome, too,” Greta said, trailing her fingers under his chin as walked past him and to the front door.

What the actual fuck is wrong with this world? Who designed this place? Some horny 15 year old with a hero complex? Sam wondered for the umpteenth time.

He really hoped that all the women he came across wouldn’t act this way. Sam wasn’t exactly a warrior for social justice, but he did know that there was more to a woman than just her looks.

Apparently, this illustrious Overlord didn’t get the memo, he thought, dunking another slice of bread into the delicious bowl of stew.

Sam grabbed the foaming mug and took a long sip, feeling the cool drink going down his throat. He leaned back in his chair with a sigh, hearing the front door open and close as Greta came back in. He took one last bite of the stew, mopping up the remaining juices in the bowl - as any fantasy trope would demand - and popped it into his mouth, washing it down with the last bit of the strong beer.

He let out an appreciative belch, as Greta came back into the kitchen and immediately sat up straighter when he noticed that yet another button on her shirt had been undone.

“Did you enjoy your meal?” she asked, her voice now pitched much lower than it had been.

To Sam, it sounded a lot more sultry, as though she were about to invite him into her bed. He felt his heart rate increase as she approached, his brain suddenly moving a mile a minute.

Was this one of those types of fantasy worlds? Where the main character went from town to town, collecting a harem of stupid hot women? Not that he would complain if that was the case, but he’d thought better of this Overlord person…

Sam’s thoughts trailed off as Greta sauntered over to him, and plopped herself down on his lap. He felt his eyes immediately lock onto her very exposed cleavage and his face went from red to crimson.

“Um, Greta. What are you doing?” Sam choked out, feeling his little buddy begin rising to attention from the contact.

“Oh, isn’t it obvious?” she asked, tracing a finger over his jaw and leaning down to place a kiss on his lips.

Sam felt his already pounding heart redouble its efforts, as those warm and soft lips pressed against his. For a moment, his mind screamed at him that something wasn’t right, but then he relaxed as a wonderful sensation washed over his body.

He sagged in his chair and allowed Greta to continue kissing him, feeling her soft hands wandering over his chest. Something flashed in the corner of his vision, but Sam ignored it, in favor of the stunning farm girl that was now pressed to him. She pulled back from the kiss, and he stared into her shining emerald eyes.

They were beautiful, and he wondered how he could ever have thought that the Overlord wasn’t a good dude. Somerset was awesome!

“Still awake, I see,” Greta said, grinning widely and displaying a mouth full of needle-like teeth. “You’re a strong one, aren’t you?”

Sam nodded dumbly, as the blue-skinned woman leaned in to kiss him once more, and felt a warm sensation wash over him.

There was a sudden commotion at the door and Greta pulled away from him, rising suddenly off his lap.

“Where are you going?” Sam asked, noting that his voice sounded oddly slurred.

“Don’t worry, darling. I’ll be right back,” Greta replied, winking at him and blowing him a kiss. San nodded dumbly, slumping back in his seat as the commotion from the door grew louder.

Then a voice called out from the door. A very familiar sounding voice, Sam noted.

“Sam! Wake up! It is a trap! This place is not as it seems!”

Why did that voice sound so familiar? Sam wondered, while he waited for the beautiful farm girl to come back.

“Samuel Edward Silvers the Third. Wake up this instant!”

“Don’t you fucking call me that, you damn mutt!” Sam yelled, up on his feet in an instant and ready to slug it out the pompous dog. Then he blinked in confusion.

Then he noticed a flashing in the top right corner of his vision, and his eyes went wide when he noticed that his HP bar was nearly half empty.

Sam’s sentence was cut off, as Greta walked back into the room.

“Oh, fuck me,” Sam said, feeling like such an idiot.

Here he was, making fun of this Overlord for all the bad tropes, and he’d gotten played by one of the oldest tricks in the book.

“Oh, I see that you’ve somehow broken my spell,” Greta said, placing a blue scaled hand on a shapely hip. “Not to worry, my pet. I’ll have you back under soon enough.”

“Yeah… thanks, but no thanks,” Sam said, raising his hand and using Mana Burn.

A flash of blue lit up the cottage and Greta staggered back with a pained cry as the flaming ball of mana struck her in the chest.

“I fucking knew it!” Sam yelled, targeting her again and using Mana Shot, then Mana Burn again.

“Stop this, at once!” Greta screamed, sending a rippling shockwave through the room which made Sam stagger.

Sam found that he suddenly couldn’t move and a small timer counting down from ten appeared in the top right corner of his vision. He could still move his eyes and they followed Greta as she sauntered over to him once more. Her bright blue lips were quirked upward in a smirk, and a pair of slitted black pupils stared back at him from emerald green eyes.

Sam shivered as she placed a clawed hand against his cheek, running slowly down to his chin.

“Don’t be afraid, my pet. I promise that you won’t feel a thing.” She leaned in closer, her lips brushing against his. “In fact, I think you’ll quite enjoy this next part.”

Sam could see the timer counting down, not nearly fast enough.

He didn’t want to die. But then again, if there was any one way he could go, maybe this wasn’t so bad.

Sam gave himself a mental shake, just as the siren leaned in and placed her lips against his. The kiss felt nothing like it had the last time. While the siren was an excellent kisser, her spell failed to ensnare him. As Greta pulled back, Sam quickly composed his features in what he thought of as an enchanted look. Greta seemed pleased with that, and he breathed an internal sigh of relief.

She leaned in again, probably to suck out his remaining HP, just as the Stunned debuff vanished. Sam acted without even thinking. Raising both hands, he used both his attacks in quick succession, then quickly cast Mana Shot again as soon as the 2 second timer ran out.

Greta staggered back under the barrage of attacks, screaming in pain as his Mana Burn and Mana Shot slammed into her one after the next. Sam cursed as he saw that she still wasn’t down and wondered what level she could be.

Was there any way for him to find out? There was some kind of analyze skill in every game, so maybe there was one in this world.

Staring hard at the reeling siren, Sam tried to picture reading her stats, saying the word Analyze in his head, over and over. Nothing happened.

“Shit!” Sam yelled, using his two spells once again. He really needed some more abilities! Two just wasn’t enough.

That was another thing that made no sense. When had his skills started causing so much damage? Last he’d checked, his Mana Shot did 3-5 damage, and Mana Burn did 6-8, with only a small chance of causing an additional 1-3 damage. It just didn’t add up.

“I thought I’d be nice and make your death painless!”

Sam cursed himself for getting lost in thought again and turned his attention back to the furious blue woman standing across the room. He gulped as a crackling blue light began to form over her palm, and he was fairly certain that he was about to die.

The door crashed open, and Gordon came flying in. Sam was so shocked to see him, that it took him a few moments to register that the dog’s muzzle was covered in blood.

“Gordon! What the hell happened to you?!”

“Good. I see that you have finally broken through the siren’s charm.”

“Yeah. I still remember what you called me, by the way. Don’t think I’ll forget it!”

“Excuse me! I’m busy gearing up to kill you, and you ignore me to talk to your dog?”

Sam turned back to the blue siren, who had actually stopped her attack and was glaring at him.

What a strange and fickle monster this is, Sam mused as he raised his hand and attacked her again, dealing an additional -22 damage.

“Mind telling me where you’ve been? And more importantly, why you’re covered in blood?” Sam asked as he jogged across to stand near his guide.

“I had to deal with the farmer. As it turns out, he is not really this siren’s father, but rather her familiar. She uses him to lure strangers off the road and into her lair.”

“Die!” Greta shrieked, sending twin bolts of energy at them both.

“Oh, crap!” Sam yelled, diving for the ground, and he felt the magic pass by overhead. He heard a loud crack as the bolts impacted against the opposite wall, shattering it to pieces.

“Is there any way to tell what we’re dealing with?” he asked, crawling behind the table for cover as the siren began sending off seemingly random blasts of magic.

“She is a level 7 blue siren. You managed to get her down past half of her health on your own. Nice job on that,” Gordon said, crouching on the ground near him.

Level 7? He was lucky to still be alive!

“How can you tell?” he asked, peeking out from behind the lip of the table, and seeing that the siren really was sending off random blasts of power. She seemed to be enraged, and not targeting anything specific as a result.

“You must use the Inspect skill,” Gordon replied, as though a level 7 monster wasn’t going on a rampage only a few feet away.

“Great. It didn’t work because I wasn’t thinking the right word. Stupid Overlord,” Sam muttered, peeking around the table and thinking ‘Inspect.’ A second later, a screen popped up before his eyes.

“Putting aside that very creepy description, this sounds like a very useful skill,” Sam said, closing the window. Immediately, another one popped open, this one displaying the siren’s information.

“Holy shit! Why the hell does she have so much HP? ” Sam yelled, “She’s only 4 levels above me and I only have 80!”

“Some monsters have naturally high health. Did you not wonder why her attacks caused you so little damage?”

Sam snapped his mouth closed. Now that he thought about it, a level 7 should have been able to squash him.

He then turned his eyes to the dog, idly wondering what level he was.

A second later, he was able to view Gordon’s information, and was surprised at how informative it was, compared to the siren’s.

His inspection of his companion was rudely interrupted as a chunk of the table was blown clean off, and he was forced to roll to the side to avoid another blast.

He quickly sprang to his feet, and used his two spells again, knocking off another -23 HP from the siren. There was now a small red bar hovering above her head, and Sam guessed that it was courtesy of his new Inspect skill. Greta fired another blast of magic, and this time he was hit. Boy, did it hurt! Sam’s entire body went numb, as though a massive electric shock had gone through him.

Then Sam’s eyes flicked to his own health bar and he felt his blood freeze in his veins.

He was down to only 4 HP! How did he not notice?

Sam dove to the ground as another bolt of power flashed across the room. He began frantically looking around for Gordon, hoping that the dog might have some advice, but he was nowhere to be seen.

“Hell of a time to flake out on me, dog!” Sam yelled, feeling his heart pounding a mile a minute.

Just then a very unexpected sound reached him. The sound of a growl was quickly followed by a scream. Sam quickly whirled, peeking out from behind his latest source of cover, the kitchen counter, and saw Gordon tearing into Greta’s arm. His eyes widened when he saw massive chunks of the siren’s health coming off with each shake of his head.

Sam sprang to his feet then and began casting his spells again, using Mana Shot and Mana Burn , until Greta fell to the ground, with one final shriek.