“Are you familiar with Lunatic Abyss?”
It came out of nowhere.
One moment my consciousness was sinking into darkness, and the next it snapped awake — and I found myself in an unfamiliar place, being addressed by a beautiful woman.
I took a breath and turned the words over in my head. The title she was asking about — that was a game, wasn’t it.
“That’s a game, right? The one that’s famous for having an absurdly overpowered final boss.”
“You knew of it. How convenient.”
Apparently I got it right.
But this was a problem. I’d barely played that game at all…
I’d heard from a friend that the final boss was obscenely strong, and that there was a hidden boss even stronger than that — but that was the extent of my knowledge.
“…I see. You know of it, but you never cleared it… A dud, then.”
“A dud…?”
The woman who had been smiling just moments ago went cold.
Wait. All I did was answer her question. I hadn’t said anything else.
So how did she know I hadn’t cleared the game.
…Did she read my mind?
“Yes, I did. It’s a bother to explain piecemeal, so I’ll say it all at once — I am a goddess. You will be reincarnated into the world of Lunatic Abyss. Your body will be prepared from the local races to match your soul. Think of yourself as a character with no connection to the game.”
“W-wait a moment. That’s too much to take in all at—”
“The body suited to your soul is… oh, you really are a dud, aren’t you. You.”
The self-proclaimed goddess pays my words no mind and presses on, matter-of-fact as ever.
Reincarnation? Into a game world? The world where that outrageously powerful Demon Lord lives?
For what purpose.
“At least tell me the reason!”
“Sigh… Reincarnates are to clear the game. Toward that end, skills are also granted. In your case… Dungeon Master. A real dud, through and through.”
Clear the game.
I think I understand now why the goddess is so disappointed.
I’m about to be reincarnated into a game world, and I’ll have to clear it.
Which means someone like me — a person who only knows the title — is someone she can’t expect anything from.
“Do you understand? There is nothing to expect from a dud like you. Now then, do your best in another world.”
The moment she says it, everything around me shifts — like a blackout.
Why a game world of all things, does clearing mean defeating the Demon Lord, and in the first place what about this body she said was suited for my reincarnation?
There were all kinds of things I wanted to ask, but none of it came to anything, and I was ejected from wherever the goddess had been.
“Well then… let’s hope the next soul can actually defeat the Demon Lord.”
◇
“This is insane…”
That’s the only thought I have.
Yanked without warning into whatever space that goddess inhabits, written off as a dud, and thrown into a game world with next to no explanation.
Come to think of it, maybe that really was a god.
Steamrolling the conversation without any regard for what I wanted — I get the very real sense that she’s a being from a completely different dimension, one that simply doesn’t operate on the same wavelength as people.
“Defeat the Demon Lord, she says…”
Part of me wants to believe this is just a bad dream, but if it is, the bad dream clearly isn’t over yet.
Around me, jagged rocks sharp enough to slice your hand on at a touch are stacked up like small mountains.
And what’s flying overhead isn’t birds — it’s reptiles. Big ones.
“This is… a game world, I guess.”
It feels like I’ve been dropped into some hostile territory straight out of the final act of a story.
Either way, I can’t stay in a place like this.
Fortunately it looks like I’m at the base of a mountain, so I waste no time and start walking away from it.
The scenery shifts into something like a deep forest.
No paved roads, but at least it’s more manageable than that jagged mountain range.
Worried about running into wild animals — or monsters — I move carefully, and with some luck I spot a human figure.
“Th-thank goodness… Hey, excuse me!”
I call out at full volume, and the person seems to notice me too, and—
An arrow grazes my cheek.
“Wh-why!?”
“A demon got all the way out here…”
“Looks weak, though. Just the two of us should be enough to kill it.”
Kill…? Demon — are they talking about me?
I break into a blind sprint away from the men closing in with murder in their eyes.
I weave between trees and into the underbrush, hiding my presence as best I can and running back the way I came, no idea where I’m going.
“Don’t run! Demon scum!”
“Tch… hard to use a bow in here.”
“Chase it down and gut it.”
“It looks weak, no need to bunch up. I’ll keep following straight — you two split left and right and cut off its escape.”
I run desperately from the threatening voices at my back, but my limits are coming fast.
The forest is ending. Past here it’s back to that jagged mountain.
Nowhere left to hide…
There’s pursuers behind me, and from the voices it sounds like they’ve already flanked me on both sides.
Then the only option left is to head into that mountain…
“No time to hesitate!”
At minimum, the odds of surviving have to be better than staying in the forest.
That’s what I decide, and I take off into the mountain — and then voices ring out behind me again.
“Thought so — Demon Lord’s army!”
“What do we do? We’ll be in trouble if we push too deep and end up fighting them.”
“The Hero should be on his way to defeat the Demon Lord right now. Weak-looking thing like that, the Hero’ll take care of it soon enough.”
They gave up? The words Demon Lord and Hero — hearing them makes it all sink in. This really is a game world.
As I push deeper into the mountain, the bloodthirsty presence at my back fades and disappears.
“For now, somewhere safe…”
That’s the top priority.
Rather than thinking about what comes next — first get away from this obviously dangerous place.
If I don’t at least do that, I won’t have the luxury of thinking about anything at all.
“Hissss!”
“You’ve got to be kidding me!”
I’d just decided to move somewhere safe, and I immediately walk straight into a massive lizard.
Staying out of sight and moving carefully — that’s out the window now.
All I can do is run. That’s all I’ve got.
“Wait — no. There might be one other thing I can do!”
I was so suddenly nearly killed earlier that I hadn’t had the mental space to think about it.
But looking back — “I’ll also grant you skills” — the goddess did say that.
That skill of hers made her write me off all over again as a dud, which isn’t exactly reassuring, but maybe, just maybe, it might be the thing that gets me through this.
“Dungeon Master!”
…Nothing happens.
Because I’m a dud? Some condition not met? Wrong way to use it?
There are several possible reasons, but sitting here mulling them over leisurely isn’t a luxury I’m being given.
“Oh, COME ON!”
So it comes down to this — running from a giant four-legged lizard.
Apparently that’s the only thing I’m allowed to do.
I just run.
The one piece of luck is that the lizard seems to move at roughly the same speed I do.
That means it can’t catch up and maul me, but I also can’t pull away.
Somewhere to hide. Somewhere I can shake this thing…
I’m thinking that as I run flat out, and I spot a large hole bored into the rock.
…Actually — the hole is the only option, because everything else is solid rock on all sides. There’s nowhere else to go.
“Then I’ve got no choice but to go in!”
It might be a dead end inside. But climbing that jagged rock face has even worse odds.
I make up my mind and plunge in, and the hole turns out to be a cavern inside the mountain — spacious enough that I can’t see the back of it.
“Ah — of course it followed me in!”
Some kind of warning call, maybe — behind me I can hear that distinctive sound, like air being pushed out through a pursed mouth.
Naturally, it’s the giant lizard, still on my tail.
Another chase scene, I think, and I’m about to start running again — when something catches the edge of my vision. Faint letters, floating in the air.
Like a touchscreen display hovering in midair. It feels weirdly futuristic, which doesn’t quite fit the aesthetic of that game…
“No, that’s not what matters right now!”
I zoned out, and the lizard has closed the gap.
I need to run. I know I need to run, but — amid the letters floating in the air, there’s one that stands out, glowing. And I can’t look away from what it says.
Create Wall: Mana Cost 1
Without forgetting to keep moving, I reach out and tap it with my finger.
My reasoning, such as it is: it looks like a menu from a phone or tablet, and maybe if I tap it, it’ll work.
A shallow thought. But this time, shallow turned out to be right.
“Whoa!”
I feel it before I see it — a rumble from behind — and then a solid-looking wall appears, cutting me off from the lizard.
Impacts slam against the other side of the wall, one after another, and then the sound stops entirely.
Apparently the lizard battered the wall, found it wouldn’t budge, and gave up.
“I… I’m alive…”
Exhaustion crashes over me all at once.
Maybe because I’d just barely escaped with my life — I found myself sinking to the floor right where I stood.
◇
The gap in power is overwhelming.
The sheer pressure radiating from the being before them — whether it’s the weight of its presence or simply the density of its magical energy — is enough that any ordinary person would struggle to stay on their feet.
And rightly so. This is a being worthy of the name Demon Lord.
“But we will never bow to you!”
And so the one before it must be called courageous.
No matter how powerful, how terrifying the enemy — that is no reason to yield.
At the Hero’s voice, the companions who had flinched, even slightly, in the face of the Demon Lord find the strength returning to their eyes.
“We will defeat you and restore peace to this world! Demon Lord!”
The Hero doesn’t stand alone. The Battle Commander who leads the kingdom’s armies. The Archmage who has spent a lifetime pushing toward the heights of magic. The Saint who carries the divine protection of the gods.
The finest warriors humanity has to offer, united as one to bring down the Demon Lord — the battle is joined.
“Haah… you’ve had quite a time of it, haven’t you. My strongholds taken. My subordinates all cut down. Now there’s no one left but me.”
But none of that desperate resolve from the heroes reaches the Demon Lord at all.
“And now even my enemies are gone, and the only one left standing here is me… is it.”
Humanity’s hope. The bane of demonkind.
The Hero’s finest party — the best the world had to offer — was wiped out without ever laying a hand on the Demon Lord.
“Ugh, I’m done. I have had it. After being put through all that, you can’t possibly expect me to still have any motivation left.”
In that place emptied of everyone but herself, the sole remaining Demon Lord let those words fall.