“H, huh?”
Was he dreaming?
Vegetation and flowers bloomed in front of him.
However, there were no signs of habitat, nor were there any buildings.
Was he in a wildland? At any rate, an ambiance and scent that couldn’t be found in the city reached his nose.
(If I don’t hurry and wake up from this dream…I might be late for school.)
However, his haziness soon cleared up.
When he pinched his cheek, he felt pain and didn’t wake up.
That is to say, perhaps the scene he was looking at was real.
Unable to grasp the situation, Suguru looked restlessly around until…
“Ah! You’re there! Hey, Suguru.”
“So you really are here.”
Suguru was relieved upon hearing a couple of voices enter his ear.
Kaede approached while waving her hand.
Seiki, optimistic and bright as ever, was there as well.
The three of them were fated to be together no matter what.
However, Suguru noticed something.
There were other people there as well, not just Kaede and Seiki.
He didn’t notice them when he had woken up, but when he walked to where Kaede and Seiki were, there were a lot of people.
He knew the people there very well.
“This is…”
“Yeah, did you notice? I don’t know how, but it seems that everyone in the class is here.”
“Right! I don’t know the reason how we got here, even after asking people…”
The classmates gathered at the mysterious place. They were all in one spot.
According to what Kaede said, she tried asking people about the reason for why they were here. They had no idea how they got here.
The two exchanged glances while having a troubled expression.
It seemed that Kaede, nor Seiki, nor anyone else knew what was going on.
Suguru looked up at the white clouds in the sky while pondering.
(Is this the afterlife? No, that can’t be it…when thinking about it, it would be impossible for all of these people to die at once.)
Suguru was thinking about it.
Suddenly, A red light appeared within the center of where the classmates were.
It was extremely radiant to the point that everyone closed their eyes involuntarily.
For a brief instant, Suguru spotted a magic circle on the ground.
“W, what?!”
“A, an old man?!”
An old man with white hair appeared.
He held a cane in one hand and his eyes were blue like jewels.
The classmates were bewildered. They were discomposed.
Anyhow, the situation wasn’t normal.
Kaede and Seiki were cautious about the old man who appeared, but Suguru only stared at him.
(Who’s this guy? I’m getting bad vibes from him.)
The old man then struck the ground with his cane.
A peculiar noise echoed within the venue.
Everyone fell silent upon that sound. The old man began talking and faced everyone so that they could see him.
“Ohohoho! It’s good to have young warrior candidates.”
“Huh?”
“What’s that guy saying? He said warriors, but what does that mean?”
The old man glared at Suguru and the others as if looking down at them, or as if he was staring at a set of dolls.
It gave a bad first impression.
They could feel a sense of intimidation. Furthermore, his blue eyes looked as if they could swallow them.
At first, they couldn’t understand what he was saying, but Suguru soon suspected something.
“You must have brought us to this world while we were sleeping by using that magic circle…so by warriors, do you mean to say that we will be fighting here?”
“Hoho…it’s good that someone can already guess what’s happening.”
“I see, it might as Suguru says, but there are a lot of things I have a hard time believing.”
“But it’s quite amazing! Could it be that Suguru’s a genius who can comprehend the situation from just a few words?”
Seiki was impressed while Kaede praised him.
The surrounding classmates also stared at Suguru with surprise.
Though a bit embarrassed, Suguru stared at the old man.
He was quite surprised at how calm he was.
Then, the conversation switched over to the main topic.
“It’s as you say, you all have been summoned to this world, ‘World End,’ in order to fight the invading monsters, ‘Gariud’.”
“T, there are a lot of unfamiliar terms. I need some time to sort things out.”
“Simply put, we were summoned here to defeat monsters? That’s pretty scary…”
“What’s going on in the real world? If all of us are summoned here, it’s going to cause a panic over there.”
Suguru had that concern.
His father died when he was young, but he was indebted to the mother who raised him up until now.
It would far too cruel to her if he suddenly disappeared after she faced hardships in order to raise him.
It was on Suguru’s mind, so he asked the old man.
“That has already been taken care of. I’ve tampered with portions of their memories…and once you defeat the Gariud, I will restore them.”
“How convenient, well whatever.”
“What a relief…mom and dad won’t be worried.”
While everyone was feeling relieved, Suguru stepped backwards without saying anything.
As the saying goes, the nail that sticks out gets hammered down, so he didn’t think it would do well to stand out too much.
He decided to stay silent and listen to the old man speak.
“Now then, back to the main topic. In your current state, you cannot defeat the Gariud, but you have been given powers called ‘End’ right after you came to this world.”
The old man spoke of powers called “End”. It seemed that each person could use an ability in World End.
Thereupon, a sheet of paper appeared in front of everyone while the old man was explaining.
Suguru took it and found game-like parameters written on it.
At the end, it listed the type of power his “End” had. It would probably be necessary for him to have it in order to fight in this world.
While Suguru carefully read it, there were cries of joy sprouting up.
“Oh yeah! Awesome! I can shoot up water from the ground!”
“I can make fire appear!”
“Look look, I can make my body float in the air!”
This ability called “End” was more potent than Suguru thought.
People could create water or fire instantly, they could manipulate gravity or wind.
Each person had something unique, but they were all fascinating.
Furthermore, Kaede and Seiki had top-class End abilities among everyone.
“What’s this End Rank ‘A’ ‘Hero’?”
“Hoho, you’ve hit the jackpot with your End ability.”
“Err, is that so?”
“Nice, as expected of you, Seiki! However, I won’t lose to you!”
Suguru looked at the excited Kaede’s ability. End Rank “A” and “White Mage” were written down.
It was clear that the two were strong.
Their abilities seemed more like professions, but according to the old man, they were almighty and had superior End Ranks.
The Hero of legends and the White Mage who would have no foes once mastering magic.
Suguru realized at this moment that those two could be depended on.
“Oh right! What about you, Suguru? What do you have?”
“Let’s hear it! You’ve got a strong one too, right?”
“N, no…”
“Hmm? Could it be that you’ve got the worst one among the rest? What a disappointment.”
Curious about the statement the old man said, Kaede and Seiki looked at Suguru’s ability.
Written down were each of Suguru’s hopeless assets.
Sasamori Suguru
*Ranks range from G to S
End Rank “G” “Force”
Details…unknown
Parameters
Stamina G, Attack G, Defense G, Agility G, Magic G
Dexterity D, Luck D, Command F
“I forgot to mention this, but my name is ‘Lukiross’…and now, I’m going to transport you all into a village to live in.”
Within the strange atmosphere, the old man who called himself Lukiross made a cold smile while transporting Suguru and the others into a village.
If one thought about it, perhaps this moment was the beginning of it.
The beginning of the countdown to despair.
Next