Dungeon Overlord (OLD Version) Chapter 16 - From the Essos (Patreon)

Essos, Unknown Time

The Century of Blood in the Essos wasn't a nice period of history. They called this period as such because it was already one hundred years since the Doom of the Valyrian when the Fourteen Flames erupted and destroyed the entire Valyrian Freehold.

The Valyrian Freehold defeated the Old Empire of Ghis, took control of the Slaver Cities, forced the Rhoynar into exile, and founded eight of the nine Free Cities. Braavos, the ninth and youngest of the Free Cities, was founded by escaped slaves from Valyria. The power of Valyria eventually encompassed the western half of Essos, ranging from the narrow sea to Slaver's Bay.

One hundred years ago, the Valyrian Freehold collapsed when the Valyrian peninsula was destroyed in the Doom. Within mere hours, Valyria was gone, and the Freehold was destroyed. It is said that the fire and smoke were so hot that even dragons were consumed. The destruction of Valyria strongly reduced the number of dragonlords left in the known world.

House Targaryen had relocated to Dragonstone, the westernmost outpost of Valyria located in the narrow sea, twelve years before with their dragons, thereby ensuring their survival. Since the fall of the Valyrian Freehold, the Free Cities of the Essos and Slaving Cities were in constant war and conflict.

During all of this, due to the lack of constant genocide, the Dothraki rose to power as the Horse Lords destroyed everything in their way and plundered and raped all the time. The Essos nowadays were filled with nothing more than war and destruction all the time. 

Or at least that was the best that she managed to find out about the situation of the new world where she had been summoned. Or summoned would be a wrong word, as she was on the verge of death when she took the offer from the unknown entity that was somehow perhaps connected to the God of Time. 

She first appeared in the area of the forest; only later, she found out that it was the Forest of the Qohor from a few locals after she recuperated enough from her injuries. As unfortunate as it was, this world was extremely weak on the Magical side, so even though she recovered from some of her injuries, she was still very weak, magically speaking. 

At least she appeared here with her armor and weapons intact, if nothing else. Though the positive thing from all of it was that, she was still far more powerful than any of the locals that she encountered.

Even though dealing with some of the enemies that she encountered without the usage of the Magic was rather annoying. Especially those barbarians on the horses, that were constantly screaming and smelled worse than horse shit.

Nevertheless, she killed a few hundred of them when they attempted to capture her because, apparently, they were slavers. She had been here for a few months already, but she had to enter even a signal Mage. 

Coupled with the fact that there was any kind of Magic Density in the environment, she concluded that Magic wasn't commonplace in this world. For the time being, she limited her activities to the Forest of Qohor.

Even without her Magic, she was a master swordsman and combatant, but she was saving her Magic for more powerful opponents if this world had any. At the same time, there was a deal with the entity that she closed, and she would need to fulfill that one.

Today, she planned to leave this dammed forest as her injuries were mainly healed, and she recovered enough Magic to use it in combat for some time. While enough only for the basic spells, as her strength was greatly weakened, if her opponents were the same or similar to what she had experienced till now, then there was nothing really to fear.

Right now, according to a few unlucky Dothraki that she tortured to spill some information, she was in the Forest of Qohor, which was a large area of woodland and forest containing the Free City of Qohor in the continent Essos.

The dark, primordial forest is the greatest wood of the continent. The Forest of Qohor divides western Essos and the Dothraki Sea. The forest stretched north to the Shivering Sea, with the Axe to the northwest, and south to the swamps of the Selhoru. The Darkwash is to the west of the forest, while Vaes Khadokh is to the east along a Valyrian road.

The Free City of Qohor is located on the western edge of the forest. Even though she found the Dothraki primitive lowlifes, they were pretty knowledgeable when it came to geography, but that was given by the fact that they were expert raiders and pillagers.

After learning of her current location and recovering from her injuries, she set on the journey to the City of Qohor. She adjusted her clothes a bit and put the sword back to it's sheath as she stepped on the head of the man that was crawling on the ground and begged for his life.

"Cowardly trash."

She hated bandits and brigands, especially the ones that wanted to capture her and sell her as a slave. 

She was a buxom young woman with a slender figure. Her wavy, golden hair was cropped short, reaching only the base of her nape. It was quite messy, giving it a somewhat spiky appearance. While it was mostly swept back, some bangs hung down her forehead, curving away from the face on either side. Her golden eyes drooped at the edges, and on the outer side of her left calf, there was a crest branded with dark red.

She was a very beautiful young woman, very, very beautiful, and coupled with her somewhat releasing outfit, often attracted problems in this world. But she cut down anyone who dared to do anything or behaved rather inappropriately towards her.

Her top consists of a simple red bandeau, with the upper edge embroidered with a flowery, white lace. She also wears loose, pin-striped red and black capri pants, the ends of the legs tightening around her calves. The hems of the legs are decorated with dark piping. Her left forearm is covered by a tight, dark bracer with a wing-like ornament attached to it beneath her elbow.

Her right arm is encased in golden armor. While the part covering her upper arm and shoulder is plated, the rest takes the form of a simple gauntlet. Her neck is protected by a gorget with a golden border, the color of which matches that of her bandeau.

A dark jacket with a light border is tied around her waist, allowing it to flare out behind her legs such that it hides her legs from view from behind but leaves them exposed from the front. The jacket had a large collar and lapels, and the arms were knotted loosely below her abdomen, with the ends hanging down.

The light cuffs were quite prominent, and each was encircled by a dark band with three rows of studs embedded in it; she completed her outfit with a pair of simple sandals. 

Traveling in this world was a pain in the ass because there were no vehicles, no trains, no Mahou Yorin, or anything. Either one traveled by foot or used a horse, something that she found rather annoying.

Still, Qohor was a good distance from the Forest of Qohor if she had to go on foot, but fortunately, from the killed Dothraki, she had horses, so the transportation wasn't much of a problem.

Hopefully, the journey to the city would go without many problems, but if she encountered some opponents, then they would have a taste of death and decay. Although she was rather humbled by her near-death experience, she was still the Warrior Queen of the Alvarez Empire, Dimaria Yesta.

***

Qohor.

Also known as the City of Sorcerers, it is the easternmost of the nine Free Cities located in western Essos. The city stands on the banks of the river Qhoyne, a tributary of the Rhoyne, on the western edge of the Forest of Qohor. It was seen as a gateway to the East or to the West, depending on the point of view in fact.

Dimaria arrived near the city after a few days of traveling on horseback and looked at the enormous stone walls that were protecting the city of Qohor. It was certainly a majestic sight, but compared to the cities of the Earthland and especially the capital of the Alvarez Empire, it wasn't anything special.

Interestingly enough, when she set her sights on the city, she noticed one peculiar thing. There were plenty of Magical signatures in the city, and even though they were extremely weak, this was for the first time since she had encountered other Magic Users in this world.

Based on their raw power, it was clear that they were weak, and some of them had rather nefarious auras that she could sense even from her, several kilometers away, as her Magic Sense was very advanced. 

She doubted that that anyone in that city would be able to stop her, so she made up her mind to capture a few of the city's leaders and extract information from them. Either about the world or the Magic in this world, because they were for sure better informed than the barbarians on the horses.

Dimaria needed someone who knew really something about this world and while learning about geography and some more common knowledge things like the fall of the Valyria and their overgrown lizards they called dragons wasn't really that bad, it wasn't enough.

At least, during her short stay in this world, she was able to tell that she was in a world that was several times weaker than the Earthland. However, what intrigued her was the fact that several religions and Gods existed in this world, and apparently, some of the Gods were even often meddling in mortal affairs.

Or at least that she was being told.

And it was something that she knew about because of her Magic. 

The [Âge Seal] and [Take Over - God Soul: Chronos]

Dimaria made a note to lay low in these places because of the existence of Gods and her very own weakened state. As someone who knew that Gods were a real thing, she was very wary of them and couldn't risk if they decided to descend somehow and kill her if she caused too much trouble.

Even though she was rather battle-maniac, she knew her limits were very, in fact. So unless she learned the state of the Gods in this world, she preferred to lay low in the places where the religions had their headquarters, like the Qohor and the Religion of the Black Goat.

And then there was that weird floating thing that was in front of her eyes every time that she said the word "System".

[Name: Dimaria Yesta

Title: Warrior Queen

Class: Mage

Race: Human

Rank: Level 3 (Dropped From Level 6)

Element: Time

Stats:

Strength - 25, Vitality - 25, Agility - 25, Endurance - 25, Magic Power - 25

Potential: (125/500)

-------------------

Arcane - 25, Insight - 10

Potential: (35/200)

-------------------

Martial Art: Skill - 75, Bloodtinge - 20

Technique: N/A

Magic: Time Magic - Âge Seal (Ex E), Take Over - God Soul (Ex Legend)

Uniqueness: Blessed by God of Time

Skills: Valkyrie's Swordstyle (U)

Equipment: Valkyrie's Revenge (Ex U), God Speed Dagger (???)

Items: N/A

NOTE - Unable to use the Take Over - God Soul: Chronos due to insufficient power. The God of Time Chronos has taken notice of you and gave you blessing in the defiance of Death. Recover your old power to initiate the Tests of the God of Time to obtain his full inheritance.]

She received information in her mind after she appeared in this world that this floating thing in front of her was called the "Dungeon System", and it was connected to the Dungeon or whatever.

The real problem was that she couldn't use the [Take Over - God Soul: Chronos] as the Magic was apparently sealed. The good news about this, was the fact that once she recovered to her peak, she would be able to initiate the tests of the God of Time and obtain the full inheritance of the God.

Such power wasn't something that she would let go that easily. She enjoyed the battle and war; it was something that she thrived on, and the recent defeat at the hands of that dammed Fairy Tail and near death at the hands of the E.N.D. made her more cautious about her opponents.

Previously, she believed that her [Time Magic - Âge Seal] was unstoppable and couldn't be defeated, but it was effortlessly disregarded by Zeref's greatest Etherious Demon as he left her half-dead.

And that was the moment when she heard the voice that belonged to God.

And it wasn't the one that belonged to the Chronos, that was for sure, but to a being that was even more powerful and mysterious than the God of Time venerated by the Mildians. She was given a choice, a deal to save her life and become even stronger.

All that she needed to do was to help the Champion of the said God complete some Quests for the God. 

Nothing else.

She agreed.

For her, it was a new start, and she knew that the Alvarez Empire lost the war for the Fairy Heart the moment when E.N.D. awakened. Most of the Shields of Spriggans were already dead even before, so there was no point in trying to turn the tides.

'Well, at least I have a new purpose... though I wonder, what kind of man could have caught the interest of that monstrosity...'

Dimaria thought as she continued toward the city. 

Due to its location, Qohor functions as the gateway to the Dothraki Sea and the lands beyond. Trading caravans bound for or returning from Vaes Dothrak provision themselves in Qohor before heading towards the Dothraki Sea. In turn, overland merchant caravans from Yi Ti head west over the Bone Mountains to Vaes Dothrak, where they trade with merchants from the Free Cities.

Due to this, it was relatively easy to merge into the crowd and get into the city without many problems, though she was rather surprised that the security of this place was almost non-existent as there was barely any.

While she saw a few of the City Guards and some different troops in mostly leather armor, she could tell that their military garrison wasn't anything great. Thus, without much complications, she snuck into the city and followed her senses to the area where the largest Magical Signatures were located.

She knew that they would have more information that she could use to solve her current predicament. Despite everything, she remained rather cautious about the entire situation.

Even though she believed in her own power and skill, she accepted the fact that she was currently in a very weakened state, and if many of the Magic Users attacked her at the same time, it would be highly problematic to deal with.

Still, she couldn't really say that she liked this place because it was rather barbaric. The entire societies and civilizations in this continent were presently built on the practice of slavery, and slaves were in constant high demand.

Not to mention, she was apparently in a world where women were seen as nothing more than just sex objects or breeding machines. That explained why several of the bandits wanted to capture her so much when she encountered them on the roads because, apparently, beautiful female sex slaves could be sold for astronomical amounts of money.

When Dimaria entered the city, she cast an illusion on her, a relatively simple spell that she attained a very basic mastery of, like many other rudimentary spells that she learned. She didn't really bother using it that much, but because she wanted to be as low-key as possible, she thought that this would be for the best.

What was better than moving through the city unseen she knew that her beauty would cause her unnecessary problems, problems that she would solve with her sword, and that would lead to conflict, and conflict led to attracting attention.

She thus strode through the city under the guise of the illusion; she noticed several priests of the Black Goat carrying out their sacrifice on the slaves. 

The Black Goat demands daily blood sacrifice. The Qohorik often bring calves, bullocks, and horses before the Black Goat's altars. However, on holy days, it is condemned criminals or slaves who go beneath the knives of God's cowled priests.

She observed for the time being as the priest of the Black Goat held his knife over a small child that was strapped on the altar; he stabbed into the boy's chest and started cutting out his still beating heart under the boy's anguished screams for mercy and then for death.

'Either an Evil God or a very weak one that is sustaining his own existence on the sacrifices.'

Dimaria observed the sacrifice as the ritual was finished when the priest tore out the beating heart of six a six-year-old boy who was a slave and showed it to the crowd of people who were chanting something in their native language.

She noticed that it was indeed some sort of Magical Ritual. The moment the priest started chanting and cutting out the child's heart, she saw that the Faith of the people, together with the Magic Power in the air, was growing and disappearing toward the Holy Symbol of the Black Goat on the altar.

'Perhaps an Evil God that is recuperating its power? Or just someone playing as a God?'

Dimaria, as someone who used the Magic of [Take Over - God Soul: Chronos] for her whole life and was Blessed by the God of Time himself, was very keen on anything related to the Divine.

She was able to tell when something was a real deal.