A Reincarnated Man Unknowingly Plunges the Highly Humid Heroines Into a Chastity-Reversal Death Game World ~Saving All the Heroines Who Are Destined for a Death Ending in a Death Game World, and Making Them All Gloomy~ - Chapter 13

There’s Despair Waiting Ahead

◇◇◇◇

Every day just rushed by in a blur.

I worked hard again today… Lately the kids I’d been tutoring had gotten way more touchy-feely, and after that I did my part-time serving gig at the adventurers’ guild…

I lay down on the hard bed in my room.

Right now it was Dragon Calendar year 200. The main story was supposed start in 210.

“Ten more years… huh.”

All to prepare for the main story that would kick off in a decade—

GONG—OOOOOH. GONG.

A huge noise. What the hell was that?

It was awfully dark? When did I even fall asleep? No, if I was sleeping, why was my mind still spinning…

Hmm??

《Ashes to ashes》

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG, GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG.

There was this massive sound, or at least it felt like there was… I got sleepy, so I just let my consciousness slip away.

《dust to dust》

《Full-body crush injury ● instant death from cranial crushing ● hemorrhagic shock from rupture of thoracic and abdominal organs ● respiratory arrest from complete cervical dislocation, accompanied by multiple fractures and instant-death-level torso compression damage》

《Y●　D●●D 》

GIGIGIGIGIGI

《All-cause adaptation commencing, releasing the above cause records》

《Impact Resistance I　Crush Resistance I　Suffocation Resistance I　Heat Resistance I　Acquired the above resistances》

CLANK

《CONTINUE?》

“Huh?”

My eyes suddenly snapped open.

This wasn’t my room.

The bed and desk were gone—no, they’d been burned to nothing.

Everything was reduced to ashes, charred black. The bedroom I’d been sleeping in just moments ago had vanished.

It was still burning. Still collapsing.

I had been buried under the wreckage of my own house.

Did I somehow survive by some miracle? Strangely calm, I crawled out through a gap in the debris.

“What the… is this…”

A massive boulder had crushed and burned down my house.

I must’ve dodged a direct hit. Otherwise I’d have been dead ages ago.

It was the middle of the night.

The starry sky was ironically beautiful. The triplet moons floated huge in the sea of stars.

“…What just happened?”

This was Karel the Trading Town.

It was still Dragon Calendar year 200. The time before the main story of Ashes to Ashes even began.

Nothing was supposed to happen here yet.

My breathing grew ragged.

I headed for the hill on the edge of town, the one that overlooked everything.

It’s fine, it’ll be fine, nothing’s happening, nothing’s gonna happen, there’s no way anything could—nothing nothing nothing nothing—

“…Eh?”

From the hill I could see the whole trading town of Karel.

Red light glowed against the night sky.

It was fire. Black smoke, red flames, and people’s screams—

Flames spreading across the town.

Winged monsters wheeled through the air, filthy creatures clung to the buildings, their cackling mixing with the screams of humans.

A monster horde attacking the town—one of the random events from Ashes to Ashes…

“A stampede outbreak…?”

No way…!

A stampede hitting Karel Trading Town before the main story even started…!?

I didn’t know about any event like this…!

“Why… how…”

This can’t be happening. Why don’t I know about any of this.

The town was burning.

Karel Trading Town was swallowed in a sea of fire. Even the noble district where I worked my part-time job had been turned into a pile of rubble.

I kept moving through the streets.

What happened to the girls I tutored? What about Neil and the others? That’s right—Nia. I had to find Nia…

She was the protagonist of Ashes to Ashes.

She wasn’t supposed to die until ten years later when the main story began.

If I could just meet up with her, somehow things would work out.

Deep breath.

Do what needs to be done. Separate emotion from action.

I had no way to check if the girls I’d been tutoring were safe.

From the hill, the noble district looked like it was being hit even harder by the monsters.

Heading there without a plan would definitely get me killed.

Rejected.

What I needed was fighting strength and information.

First stop: the adventurers’ guild. Right now, the safest place had to be where the adventurers gathered.

Nia and Neil were probably there too. The noble girls might have evacuated there as well.

Okay, I’m calming down.

I can move, Licht Tetogman.

Stay cool. If I panic, it’s all over.

“Shit, what the hell is even happening…!?”

I pushed forward through the town.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, AAAA, AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!

Screams—human voices.

Mixed in with them were the cries of something that didn’t belong in this world.

Even though it was the middle of the night, the flames and magic light spreading across the town made everything bright.

Piles of rubble, the smell of corpses, bloodstains, fire.

Corpses. Human bodies were scattered everywhere in the streets.

I chose paths with fewer monsters, sometimes hiding, and kept moving.

There were way too many different kinds of them.

Goblins, harpies, griffins, even ogres… it was like some kind of army.

The town was being murdered.

GOOOOOOOOOOONG, GOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG.

The ringing bells sounded like the town’s death throes. Someone was still ringing them to warn everyone of the danger.

On the main street, almost every brick building was in flames.

“This is… ah.”

I stopped without thinking. Oh yeah, this spot was near the adventurers’ guild.

No way I’d forget it. I’d been invited to so many dinner parties there.

Memories came rushing back, but no—stop, please stop.

This kind of thing was only supposed to happen in the game.

Ash swirled in the air. The world I was born in, the world I had been living in, was ending.

Burned and collapsed buildings.

Scattered around were what looked like the remains of sundries.

On a scorched sign that was still barely readable:

[Rice General Store]

For some reason, right then, the game’s catchphrase popped into my head.

“What the hell is this world…!”

Scream out the despair—

“What the fuck is this world even supposed to be!!!!!!!”

《Crisis Soul: Ashes and Despair Dark Fantasy》

“GOBRRRRRRR”

A monster.

Munch, munch, munch. Goblins were eating something. Munch, munch, munch.

Three goblins, right next to the ruined general store, were tearing apart a headless human corpse with their hands and eating it.

There were two headless bodies.

One was a woman’s corpse, and another body lay piled on top of it.

“Chomp, chomp.”

The corpse was wearing the same clothes as Neil’s mom.

The other corpse was wearing the same clothes as Neil.

“Slurp, slurp.”

One goblin was sucking on a collar with the same design as the one our dog Robo wore.

“”Gob?””

My eyes met with a big goblin.

It casually tossed aside the ball-like thing it had been gnawing on like it was trash.

It was a human head with the same white hair as Neil’s— “AAAAAAAAAA, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!”

Gulp. Heat boiled up from the pit of my stomach, spreading through my veins to my whole body.

What do I do? I have to let this heat out fast or I’m gonna die.

Enemy.

Right in front of me, these creatures that were still breathing were living without a care.

“GOB”

“GOOOB”

“GERERERE”

What do I do? What should I do with these things?

I can’t win, I can’t win—in this world, a guy against monsters—

“Shut up.”

I didn’t even need to think about it.

In Ashes to Ashes, what us dead-game players did with these fucking annoying monsters was already decided.

Win or lose—that kind of low-level question didn’t even exist.

“Kill them…”

The words slipped out of my mouth surprisingly easily.

Even if they were opponents I couldn’t beat.

“Beat them to death.”

Right now, the one thing I had to do more than anything else was.

“Absolutely slaughter every last one of them.”

To end their lives as quickly as possible.