Reborn Into A Dark Social Game World With Completely Loyal Friends. - Chapter 0: Prologue.

Prologue.

“What… happened?”

In bewilderment, the young man muttered to himself.

He found himself in an eerie forest… so dark that only a faint glimmer of sunlight penetrated through.

“…”

With no other choice, the young man began to walk, reflecting on the scene from earlier.

First, he was on his way home from work.

Just a little more, and he would have been at the apartment where he lived. Then, suddenly, a blinding flash, as if a bomb had exploded right in front of him… and the next thing he knew, he was in this forest.

“Thinking back, I still don’t understand.”

It was utterly mysterious.

Still enveloped in fear, he continued walking through this inexplicable forest because there seemed to be no other option.

But… if he continued this way, he could get out… or rather, he felt a strange sensation as if he remembered this path from somewhere.

“Why do I know this?”

A distant howl of a beast echoed, making him shiver.

If it was a forest, it could be a bear… Being attacked by a bear would be disastrous, so the young man hurried towards the exit — and in no time, he reached the outside.

“I really got out… wait!?”

The moment he left the forest, the young man exclaimed in further astonishment.

Because this time, an incredibly vast wilderness stretched out before him.

“This… isn’t Japan, is it!?”

Yes, this scenery was definitely not Japan.

He pinched his cheek, thinking he might be having a bad dream, but the pain was real, so it wasn’t a dream… this was undoubtedly reality.

A strong gust of wind blew, showering him in sand and dust.

“Nooo! Come on, my suit’s going to get dirty… sigh.”

His brand new suit was ruined… he sighed and then remembered, taking out his smartphone from his bag.

“… Still no signal.”

No signal… which meant he couldn’t contact anyone.

He had been suddenly transported to this unknown place… something unimaginable in reality. Despite thinking so, because the young man was fond of fanfiction and novels about transmigration to other worlds, the thought that this might indeed be happening grew stronger.

“No, it can’t be… I’m not a fictional character, am I…?”

Even so, the situation… a sense of unease began to spread.

“Help me, Mia.”

Mia, the name of a girl character on his phone’s wallpaper.

She was a character from the app game he played — Dark Resonance, also known as Dakurezo.

Dakurezo recently celebrated its third anniversary and was known for its immensely popular characters set in a bleak world, with both beautiful men and women. Its story was also highly acclaimed, spawning numerous fan creations.

Among them, Mia had won first place in user popularity polls, and she was the young man’s favorite character, so he had spent money to raise her trust level to 100.

“…”

Being out of range meant he couldn’t even launch the app, and he couldn’t hear Mia’s voice or see any movement… In fact, the fact that he couldn’t even participate in the ongoing event made the young man feel melancholic.

Considering the current situation, it wasn’t the time to worry about such things, but perhaps it was positive thinking to believe that he had enough mental composure to do so.

“Well, I guess I’ll just keep walking.”

Even the Mia on his wallpaper seemed to be encouraging him to do his best.

With that in mind, the young man started walking again… Whether it was a blessing from the gods for such a forward-thinking action or not, he soon arrived at a village.

But, the condition of that village was too terrible.

It’s hard to describe in one word… It was so desolate that it could only be expressed as extremely poor.

There were a few children, and a fair number of adults… but everyone seemed thin as if starving.

“Ummm, who are you?”

“Um…”

“You’re wearing nice clothes… Are you some kind of noble?”

The man who approached him had an unkempt beard and wore tattered clothes… His complexion was pale, and he seemed unsteady on his feet.

“Well, you see… I’m—”

“From the looks of you, you don’t seem like a noble—”

With that, the man raised his voice.

“Hey everyone! A well-dressed man has wandered in! If we strip him of his clothes, we could make a good amount of money, and if we sell him as a slave, we’ll surely make even more!”

“W-Wait a minute!?”

At the man’s words, all the adults in the village reacted and approached.

Startled by the sudden turn of events, the young man tried to run, but an arrow flew with a ‘whoosh’ sound and pierced the ground at his feet.

“Huh!?”

If he had been just a little off, it would have undoubtedly pierced through his foot.

Frozen with fear at the sudden terror, his legs gave out, and he fell to the ground with a thud.

(Why… why am I going through this…!)

They… their eyes, as they looked at him, were hungry.

There was malice there, of course, but more than that, there was a hope that somehow, he could provide something to alleviate their current hunger.

But even so, no matter what circumstances they might have, if they tried to attack him, the young man would resist.

“Damn it!”

Managing to stand up somehow, the young man found himself already surrounded.

What to do… what should he do… he was pondering this in his mind when it happened.

“Aaaah!!”

“Thieves!!”

“Childern inside…. AhhhhH!!…!!”

Once again, before he could even think, it all happened in an instant.

Thieves had attacked the village — taking advantage of the chaos, the young man managed to hide behind something, but even with his ears covered… even with his eyes closed, he couldn’t shake off the screams of the villagers and the sight of blood splattering.

When the commotion died down after a while, the young man came to understand that all the villagers had died.

“Hey boss! We’ve got a survivor here!”

“Hmm? …Oh, you’re dressed quite nicely.”

“What should we do?”

“Kill him. I thought about selling him as a slave, but he doesn’t seem useful.”

It was a merciless decision.

As they removed the straw he had used to conceal himself, a large group of men with cruel smiles looked at the young man.

(Why… why am I going through this…)

It was… an anger with no outlet.

Having lived a normal life in relatively peaceful Japan until now, he suddenly found himself transported to this unknown place along with this incomprehensible phenomenon, and now he was about to be mercilessly… killed without even knowing why.

Was this okay? Was it okay to have such a worthless, miserable fate? The young man clenched his fists tightly… so tightly that his nails dug into his skin… tightly, tightly…

“Ha, he’s trembling.”

“Finish him off with one blow so he doesn’t suffer. It’s the least we can do.”

“…You’re kidding.”

“Huh?”

The young man opened his mouth, letting out what he had been holding back.

“You appear out of nowhere, kill people as you please, and talk about mercy? You’re not human!”

“What, got the guts to talk back, huh? Despite your knees shaking like jelly, you’re quite something… Alright, I’ve decided. First, I’ll cut off one of your legs, then the other… and then your arms… and finally, I’ll end it with your head.”

Telling the subordinate-looking man to step aside, a burly man stood in front of the young man.

At the moment the man raised his weapon, something thunderous… something like a roar echoed through the air.

As if splitting the world, cutting through the air, it appeared.

“What the…!?”

“The sky… is getting dark?”

“You idiot, it’s night, of course it’s dark… but…?”

“…W-What!?”

Something was flying in the sky.

With eyes shining like crimson blood and large wings flapping, it looked down on them.

“…A dragon?”

Yes… it was a dragon.

A creature that didn’t exist in the modern world, the crystallization of mystery was right there.

“…Ah.”

The young man let out a dumbfounded voice as he looked at the dragon.

But it wasn’t just because he encountered this unknown creature called a dragon, but also because he recognized this dragon.

“…Tana-chan?”

Tana-chan… that’s what he called the dragon, who seemed to smile slightly.

“Indeed, that name hasn’t changed. But it’s good to see you, Minato… my master, in this hopeless and despair-filled world.”

A dignified female voice was heard, and Minato widened his eyes.

Tana-chan… or rather, her true name Thanatos — the dragon looking down on Minato was the Black Dragon implemented in Dakurezo as a super high-difficulty event.

Known by many names such as the Destroyer and the Absolute Ruler, her tone became more casual as trust increased, and despite being initially assumed male, the revelation of her gender as female made her quite popular among players.

“…Could it be, I’ve…?”

Entered the world of the game… the world of Dakurezo?

Minato finally began to understand what had happened to him.