Volume 1
Chapter 1: The Four-Man Isekai Squad
A dim, leaden sky pressed down over the wasteland. Above a stretch of ruins that looked like something out of an ancient dig site, the clash of steel rang without end.
Two figures were locked in a vicious fight. The larger one swung a massive halberd, driving its blade cleanly through the smaller opponent's body before flinging him toward a cliff!
"Urgh—AAAH!"
The smaller figure let out a furious, unwilling scream. "Screw you, Gundyr! Just you wait! I'll be back to kill your ass!"
In the depths of darkness, a faint flame rekindled.
The man called Yu Jin—Ashen One—opened his eyes. Instinctively, he patted his chest. The bloody hole left by Gundyr's halberd was gone.
Then the torrent of complaints burst out of him like a geyser.
"Come on, man—Gundyr, I'm coming back to kill you right now!"
He yanked the broken longsword from the ground and charged full tilt. Any Hollow in his way was nothing but a speed bump—one clean slash, and he was already barreling toward that gatekeeper who stood like an iron tower.
A few minutes later…
Ashen One opened his eyes again.
"I'm gonna throw up!!"
He howled in despair, flipping two stubborn middle fingers at the ashen sky. "You thieving heavens!!"
"I'm not linking any damn fire! Whoever wants to link this trash flame, go do it yourself!!"
"Can't you pick someone who can actually fight? Why me?! Gundyr's killed me a thousand times—he's not sick of killing, and I'm sick of dying!"
It hurt. It hurt so much.
He regretted everything.
If time could rewind, he would never have gone out for that late-night snack. If he hadn't, he wouldn't have been struck by that so-called "isekai shuttle" that had clearly been waiting just for him.
Truck-kun, I'll kill you! I'll kill you!!
If getting isekai'd was all it was, fine. But why the hell was it Dark Souls 3?!
Why?!
He'd imagined a sweet, easy slice-of-life romance—preferably with a system.
If there was no sweet romance, then at least give him a system! Then he could go full overpowered protagonist and steamroll the world!
His fantasies were beautiful. Reality was brutal.
First, some Hollows killed him five or six times. He finally managed to kill one, and great—there were packs of them behind it.
After dying thirty or forty more times, he finally made it to the tutorial boss. He'd wanted to skip the cutscene. Gundyr was huge, standing there like a tree—whoever wanted to fight him could fight him, right?
He wanted to get to Firelink Shrine, find the Fire Keeper—not for any noble purpose. Hell no. He wanted to max out his levels and blow everyone in this world to pieces.
Only to discover he couldn't skip the damn script. The moment he entered a certain range, Gundyr would awaken, lock onto him, and murder him.
"If you'd tossed me into Elden Ring, I wouldn't even bother with you—why'd you dump me in DS3?!"
Ashen One gritted his teeth so hard they nearly cracked.
Dark Souls 3 was a world of despair—numbness, hollowing. Desperation was the soundtrack of this place.
He'd even thought about just killing himself. Who'd want to stay here? But reality didn't give him that choice. He'd died hundreds of times already, and yet not only was he not dead, he kept popping back up lively as ever. Maybe that was one of an isekai'd person's "cheats."
He was cursing up a storm, about to go back and pick another fight with Gundyr, when—
Ding! Welcome to the Dimensional Chat Group.
Ashen One froze mid-step. His mouth twitched uncontrollably.
"Hold it… don't laugh… damn it, how am I supposed to hold it?!"
"HAHAHAHAHA—!!!"
His laughter echoed across the hopeless ruins.
"A cheat! I knew it! It might be late, but it never stays absent!"
"A dimensional chat group—that thing, right? A group that links multiple universes! You can talk to people from other worlds, and even travel there?! Awesome!!"
"A multiverse chat group that lets you hop into different members' worlds—yes! Anything is better than this hellhole!"
Right then, Ashen One felt like doing a full-on tap dance. Any world would be ten thousand times better than this damn Lothric. He was out! Let someone else deal with this place!
Besides, he was only one isekai'd guy—if he left, the world wouldn't miss him. No chosen Undead? Isn't that what "Lord of Ash" is for?
"Let me see who my group mates are."
"Romance and daily life, romance and daily life…"
As he eagerly opened the group interface, the other members typed in with confusion.
Programmer: "What is this thing?"
College Student: "…Same question."
Stellaron Girl: "Did this just appear in your head too?"
Programmer: "Yeah, same here."
"Heh-heh. You guys really don't know anything, huh~" Ashen One smirked at their messages.
He didn't recognize the other two at all, but he knew the Stellaron girl. Honkai: Star Rail, right? He got that.
Just as this veteran weeb was about to explain what the chat group was, a system prompt chimed in every member's head.
[Initiate dimensional travel?]
Everyone: "???"
Dimensional travel? That sounded like getting tossed into another world. Unknown risks everywhere. A rational person's first reaction should've been to refuse…
—
Rainy night.
Cold, sharp rain slapped against skin.
The ground beneath their feet became hard asphalt.
Ahead lay a highway overpass stretching into the curtain of rain, barely lit by yellow streetlights.
Four drenched figures abruptly appeared on the bridge, staring at each other in shock.
Who could resist the temptation of "well, let's just try it," especially right after getting a golden-finger cheat?
With rain dripping from his hair, Ashen One burst into laughter again.
"I'm finally out of that cursed place!"
"Link the fire? Screw that."
The path to salvation lay within.
Watching Ashen One in the rain—arms spread wide, looking like a lunatic, yet grinning like a man reborn—the other three instinctively took half a step back. Their eyes all screamed the same question:
Is this group mate… mentally okay?
Kevin hesitated, then reached out carefully, voice tinged with concern. "Uh… you… okay?"
"I'm fine. Not just fine—I feel better than I have in my life." Ashen One slicked his wet hair back.
"So it's real! But where are we?" the Doctor muttered, mind spinning.
Only then did Ashen One take a real look at his three group mates.
A Kevin from Honkai Impact 3rd.
A Doctor from Arknights.
A heroine from Star Rail.
"Great. I know them. Easy—now I'll use my genius nerd knowledge to mess with them."
Stelle looked at her soaked self with open disdain.
"I think we should go back first. Getting drenched like this sucks."
Kevin nodded. He still had work left to do.
But the Doctor's doubtful voice reached them.
"How do we go back?"
Ashen One looked relaxed, like he was talking about taking out the trash. "The way we came, obviously?" He tried calling up the chat group in his head, searching for a return option.
A few seconds later, the easy smile froze on his face.
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