Reborn Into A Dark Social Game World With Completely Loyal Friends. - Chapter 17: Sleep as a nightmare.

Sleep as a nightmare.

In the square where the villagers had stopped working, a scene unfolded because Minato was there.

“Hey, Minato-sama! So, what happened to that adventurer!?”

“I’m curious! They betrayed the protagonist so severely, they must be facing a tremendous punishment, right!?”

Around Minato, children looked up at him, while adults smiled indulgently at them.

“Well, calm down. As for what happened to that adventurer… of course, punishment awaited. Betrayed, the protagonist was wounded and awakened the power dormant within.”

“Wow!”

“Amazing!”

The children were thrilled by Minato’s story.

This happened because Minato, tired of walking and bored children, decided to read them a popular manga from his past life. It was the typical story where the protagonist undergoes an awakening, and it garnered such a positive response that they demanded to hear more.

“Does Minato-sama have a talent for creating stories?”

“There are many stories in books, but… this one seems fresh.”

Minato chuckled self-consciously at such remarks.

He was just reciting what he remembered, feeling like he was borrowing someone else’s achievement. If people from another world were delighted, Minato couldn’t help but think the original author would be pleased.

“And then…?”

Just as he was about to continue, a communication from Mia interrupted him, and Minato stood up with his Lyphon in hand.

“Sorry, everyone.”

With those words, he moved away from the children and joined Thanatos, ready to take the call. Yet, at this point, he had a slightly unpleasant premonition—that something had gone wrong.

“Hello, what’s up?”

“Hey, Minato-san! Sorry to bother you out of the blue. Are you okay right now?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

The conversation oddly reminded him of his original world, making Minato smile.

However, what Mia conveyed next was unexpected for Minato, confirming his unpleasant premonition.

“So… listen calmly. I thought you should know too—just now, we received a message. Somehow, Fenrir has appeared in the capital.”

“Huh?”

Minato’s mouth hung open in surprise. It was completely unexpected.

Though he heard clearly, he didn’t ask for clarification and quickly processed what it meant.

(Fenrir…? Fenrir is a raid boss, right? Why would it appear in the story like this… No, words like “this wasn’t in the game” don’t make sense now that the situation has occurred.)

Minato continued:

“At this timing, Mia, you contacting us is unexpected for both me and you… And most importantly, if Fenrir has appeared now, the kingdom can’t handle it, right?”

“That’s right. The kingdom has capable people, but with the fatigue from the coup, even the nobles aren’t up to dealing with it. What’s certain is that with the current commander’s forces, they absolutely can’t take down Fenrir.”

Right… through Mia, I have a rough idea of the commander’s forces.

There’s Le and Aesir, who are with the commander… and the knights who have been good to the kingdom.

“There’s no gacha here.”

“Nope. So, Minato-san, what should we do?”

“We have no choice but to do it… Hey, Mia, I have an idea.”

“What is it?”

“At this point, Fenrir is honestly almost cheating. Whether it’s for the commander or anyone else, it’s like a nightmare. So let’s turn it into a nightmare that no one understands. End it with one long-range shot from Thanatos, unseen by anyone.”

There will likely be considerable confusion, but since we don’t know why it appeared, we’ll resolve the situation without understanding why it disappeared… Minato’s idea is to leave how to handle and judge this to the kingdom.

“Haha! Isn’t that good? But I also contacted you relying on Thanatos’ power. I could handle it solo if I wanted to intervene, but I can’t.”

“Oh, so you can do solo hunting.”

“Of course! You raised me, Minato-san!”

“Haha, yeah, that’s right.”

It didn’t seem like a joke, so Minato wondered if his abilities had been inherited all along. But that’s something to ask about later.

“Alright, I’ll go quickly.”

“…Won’t you take me as a charm?”

“…You just want to come, right?”

“No need. Let’s go, master.”

“Wait, wait!”

It seems Thanatos wants to go alone with Minato.

Apologizing, Minato hung up and mounted Thanatos. Villagers, learning they were going out, gathered and cautioned them. Minato and Thanatos nodded.

“Not a bad feeling about this.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

And so, Minato began to move with Thanatos.

To eliminate the unexpected, which was normally impossible.

***

The town beneath the royal capital was in tatters due to the impact of the coup, with injured people visible everywhere.

This coup had been swiftly handled by the commander and the knights cooperating with him, and even skilled mercenaries hired by the nobles had been defeated through strategic tactics. However…

“Oh…”

“what’s that… why is something like that…”

The nobles and the mercenaries they had hired were stunned, their legs shaking.

In their line of sight, a large, three-headed guard dog was slowly, deliberately walking towards them.

Its name was Fenrir… a mystical beast wrapped in mystery, never meant to appear in such places.

“Grrrrrrrrrrr!”

Drool overflowed from its chained mouth, as if it desired prey.

Approaching while sniffing the air, its manner seemed to suggest that the humans of the kingdom were easy prey.

If such a creature were to rampage, the royal capital would be wiped out without a trace. Understanding this, everyone who had been in conflict now contemplated how to resolve the situation.

“Commander! What should we do!?”

“Just wait a moment.”

“We need your orders, anything! It’s frustrating, but we have no plan or power to handle that… Please… guide us!”

Suppressing unreasonable requests, the commander swallowed those words.

To respond to every possible scenario, he was brainstorming numerous strategies. However, all those were strategies that could only be effective against humans, not against a beast belonging to such mysticism.

Moreover… there was no way to anticipate such a delusional level where Fenrir would appear in this land.

(What should we do…? How can we kill that monster using any means?!)

Even as the commander pondered, Fenrir was steadily approaching them.

Thankfully, it was walking slowly. If it had started running at full speed, everything would have ended by now… Just that thought was enough to send chills down the commander’s spine.

“Hey! It looks like it’s trying to run!?”

“What!?”

Bending down immediately… Fenrir dashed forward.

“It’s over,” someone uttered in resignation… But such a nightmare would suddenly end.

In an instant… Truly, in just an instant.

Across the sky, something glimmered, and that glimmer turned into a streak of light aimed at Fenrir… And pierced through.

Fenrir, with eyes wide open in confusion, didn’t even let out a groan as it fell… And then turned into particles, disappearing.

“What… was that?”

What happened exactly… But the commander saw it.

A faintly shimmering shadow across the sky… Like a large, black figure resembling a dragon.

“Good job, Tana-chan.”

“What, that’s just a matter of course. But… for Fenrir, one strike is rather boring.”

“Don’t say that. It just shows how strong Tana-chan is.”

“Hehe, you could praise me more, you know?”

“Anyway, to think that was Fenrir. Not Cerberus.”

Somewhere, a conversation like that was being had.