AN: At first, I'm not that fond of the idea that I should add Zesshi to the "list" since I just don't like her overall look and design. That's why whenever I see people asking for her to be added, I just always say "... We'll see."

But BOI, when I see her illustration in the new volume 15 of overlord LN, I'm f*cking conflicted now.

Join my Discord: https://discord.gg/jgHe4zAxnz

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Sasaki Sasaki is the current Rank 2 in the whole YGGDRASIL. He's second to Raizel when it comes to the Player that has the highest overall raw stats.

He's also the Guild Master of the Trigon Guild. The Guild that is currently Rank 1 and hailed by many as the Strongest, Largest, and most influential Guild in the entirety of YGGDRASIL.

Aside from his IGN and "Rank 2", he is also known in the YGGDRASIL community as, the "Hero".

Why? Because he has a positive image in the whole community, and given his position as the strongest "Human", if he can't be the Hero, then no one else could. It's also not hidden from the Public that he has the most unique job class [ Hero ]. So with all those things, it's just a befitting nickname for him.

Sasaki Sasaki is also a veteran in the game. He's been playing YGGDRASIL ever since the game was released to the public. He's someone that the Community would describe as an Early Bird.

Actually, he's one of the very few people that managed set foot on the land of YGGDRASIL even before the others could. His [ Hero ] class proves this because to get this class, one needs to be the very first Player to enter the game with a Human as his selected race. To be the very first Human in short.

This just shows how old he is in this game.

In fact, if Sasaki Sasaki could describe what his experiences are throughout the years that he played YGGDRASIL in a few words, then it would be... "It was fun and there's no time when I felt sad."

Yeah, some people might call BS on this one and say that it's nothing but exaggeration, but Sasaki Sasaki himself could proudly say that it's the truth.

He might have felt a similar emotion of being sad and disappointed throughout the years he played, for example, if he had already spent all his savings on Gacha but got nothing in return. Yeah, he will be sad if that happened, but all those things are nothing but superficial. He only felt that on the surface, but deep down, he was really not affected by it. It's not comparable to the real thing is what he likes to say.

So throughout the years he played YGGDRASIL, he really had fun only, and never felt sad at all...

He never felt sad until now that is.

And by now means, he in his current situation.

Right now, he's inside the game, playing with his close friends.

But even though that's the case, unlike the usual, there's no fun in it. What he felt is only pure Sadness, Disappointment, Confusement, and many other negative emotions. Emotions that he never thought he'd feel while playing YGGDRASIL.

While feeling all these emotions, he glanced at one of the guys that's currently gathered around him, and ask with obvious sadness in his tone.

"... Why did you do this?"

The Player he asked is his best friend, the guy that he played with for the longest time. They even know each other personally. Compared to his other friends in YGGDRASIL, he and him are much much closer. So much closer in fact that Sasaki Sasaki already planned to give him the role of the best man in his upcoming wedding next year. That's how high the level of their friendship is.

Yet, this "Best Friend" of his, is the reason why he has all these negative emotions.

He, was simply Betrayed by him.

( Few minutes Ago... )

Sasaki Sasaki just entered YGGDRASIL. Well, not the main servers but just the Waiting Room.

His tiredness, even inside the game is pretty obvious. Well, he just got home from work. He didn't even change clothes as he immediately dived inside the game after putting away his things.

He's a busy man. He still had a lot of work to do in real life, yet he still made time cause he know that what he was about to do now is quite important. Important for him that is.

Today's plan was quite simple.

Meet up with his friends in the Waiting room.

Then they will enter inside the main servers at the same time to have their annual Guild Meeting.

In the Guild Meeting, they will discuss the recently destroyed base, and come up with a plan about the current Raizel situation.

And that's all. Simple as that.

-Actually, No. It's actually not that simple. It might look like it is, but it's really not.

Why?

Because before they do this, they need to come up with a solution about the only thing that's holding them back. The snitch.

Yes, among their circle, there's a snitch.

If they won't be able to deal with this problem today, then whatever plan they manage to come up with later, will turn into dust because it will be exposed anyway.

So they need this meeting to be as secretive as possible, yet informative for their whole Guild.

At least, that's what his friend said to him.

Yes. As embarrassed as he is to admit it, he didn't make any participation when it comes to the planning. Every countermeasure for the snitch has been made by his most trusted friend.

Well, he's pretty busy. He barely has time for a night of proper sleep, let alone to come up with a countermeasure plan for the snitch, so he is rightfully excused. Or at least, that's what he likes to tell himself.

Anyway, the countermeasures had been created and then got implemented successfully.

So, Sasaki Sasaki's plan for today had been put in motion with no delay.

Just as he planned, he meet up with his friends in the waiting room. Although he's a little bit behind the planned schedule, it turns out that he's not the only one who has yet to arrive. So, without any choice but to wait for them since they can't have a meeting without the rest, they waited.

As they wait, they started catching up on each other. Well, for some of them, especially for Sasaki Sasaki who's been away in the game for a while now, it's been a while since they saw each other. It's been a pleasant wait for all of them.

A couple of minutes have passed and all the included members of the planned meeting today have finally arrived, after this, they immediately decided to dive inside the YGGDRASIL to finally have their long-awaited meeting.

The transition from the Waiting Room to the Main Game itself is quite fast. Almost an instant in fact. So it's not that surprising when all the reactions on their faces instantly changed from a pleasant one, to a serious ones, when they found out that the place they got teleported to, is a place they didn't know at all.

They are not Newbies. They've been playing YGGDRASIL for so long now. Their instincts inside of the game have been sharpened up to the point of extremity.

The place they're in is such an Open Field. Too open to their liking. Not only that but they're also surrounded by high grounds from a far distance. The Space they're standing on is also affected by a special environment that hinders their movement for a little bit.

For them, they don't need to be a genius to tell that their current situation screams nothing but an ambush.

They've been set up. It all dawned on them at the same time and in almost an instant. But, no matter how fast they figured the situation out, actions have been made too late as before they could even react...

[ Notice! ]

[ A World Item has been activated near you! ]

[ You are inside the range of a World Item effect! ]

[ Your skill "Aura of the Blessed" is trying to block the effect of the World Item! ]

They can't do anything. They are caught inside the range of a World Item. They didn't know its effects but since it's a World Item, they're simply doomed.

That is, if Sasaki Sasaki is not with them.

Even though he reacted a bit late, he still managed to respond to the attack they encountered. He is still confused about the situation they're in but he doesn't have time for that yet.

The moment he received the notification about the World Item, he immediately tried to block it with his skill.

A Huge magic circle appeared below him and his Guildmates, followed by the activation of Sasaki's skill.

!!!

But before he could fully erect the barrier that will block the World Item's effect, a prompt suddenly appeared in front of him.

[ An unknown force is trying to corrupt your skill! ]

[ Your other skill 'Auto Resistance' has been activated. ]

[ The unknown force has higher Resistance than you! 'Auto Resistance' has been canceled! ]

[ 'Manual Resistance' has been activated. ]

After the notification, another prompt appeared in front of Sasaki. The prompt this time is like a mini-game.

( AN: It's hard to explain, but just imagine the mini-game as the prompt for fixing the generators in the game Dead by Daylight. The moving line that u need to stop in the white spot, yeah that. )

"Sh*t!"

Sasaki could only curse as he immediately started resisting the Corruption of his skill. However, his 'Manual Resisting' skill is not an easy thing to manage. The larger the resist stats of the attacker to you, the faster the line moves in the Resistance game goes.

So the Resist Prompt in front of Sasaki Sasaki right now is going pretty wild. Unless he gives his whole attention to this, he will surely fail.

!!!

But as he was doing that, he suddenly felt a bad omen. No, more like, his skill gave him a bad omen in a form of a warning notification.

[ An attack is approaching you from behind. ]

Even his friends who are currently shielding him from any possible attack since they know Sasaki Sasaki's situation, didn't notice an approaching sword on Sasaki's back.

Sasaki on the other hand, instinctively dodged the attack in one swift motion.

He did dodge the attack, and surprisingly, he did that while still playing the resistance game.

He already knows that their attacker will do everything to distract him, but he is already prepared. He won't let anyone distract him so easily.

Or at least, that's what he thought.

Because when he looked in the attacker's direction, to see who it is, his eyes widened.

The identity of the attacker gave him a low shock to his very core.

"It's you?" Sasaki muttered in a low voice as realization dawned on him.

But this act made Sasaki daze for a second.

And unfortunately, that second of being in a daze, is already enough... for him to fail.

[ Resistance failed! ]

[ The corruption of an Unkown Force has been successful! ]

[ You have been silenced. ]

𝘛𝘜𝘜𝘜𝘛-

Immediately after the loud beep, the magic circle below all of them, the same magic circle that seems to be protecting them from the World Item, shattered like glass.

"... I messed up. I'm sorry." Sasaki Sasaki said towards his other guildmates with a dejected tone as a Notification appeared in front of all of them.

[ The World Item has affected you. ]

[ Participants have been successfully selected. ]

[ The Ceremony of the Dark Tribute begins. ]

After that, pure darkness enveloped their visions.

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