Log Horizon A New World

The Apocalypse

Chapter 1: The Apocalypse

Elder Tale, a MMORPG game that has over 30,000 Japanese players and hundreds of thousand players worldwide. But, in 2018, all of Japan had been converted into the Elder Tale world. For these players, what was once a "sword-and-sorcery world" is now the "real world"! We'll see how Nayu and all of the other players survive in the world of Elder Tale.

In the realm of Elder Tale, many of the players have logged in, however, they all seem to have a confused look on their faces. Among the players, a young woman blinks her eyes as she gives a look of confusion as well.

"...What's going on?" The young girl questioned.

She began to look around before looking at herself as her eyes widen. "W-What is this?!" She begins to circle around looking at herself. "Isn't this my Elder Tale character Nayu? If it is, why am I wearing her clothes?!"

She stopped circling around and stood in place as she began to take in the area she was in. Looking around, the area had collapsed buildings with grass and moss growing on top of them. At the center of the collapsed buildings, there lies a big tree grown to reach the sky.

"This area, could it be..." She placed her index finger on her cheek and tilted her head as she closed her eyes and thought.

'The resemblance to Nayu, the people around wielding swords and staffs, and the big tree growing in the middle...!'

Opening her eyes and straightening her posture, she jumped and widen her eyes again.

'Wait, could it be...Is this Elder Tale?!'

As she discovers this thought, her eyes wonder and noticed that everyone else around her seemed to have the same look of realization. Everyone in that area all had the same thoughts, and that was that they are not in Japan anymore, but are in the Elder Tale realm.

"I can't believe it..." She sat down on a nearby boulder. "After logging on after so long, this happens...Why..." Gloom marks appeared on top of her head as she thought about her situation.

"...Wait, now that I think about it...This is a game, and all games have a exit." Nayu opened her menu from the game. Right in front of her, was the character screen for the Elder Tale game.

"Hmmm...the set up is exactly like the game, there's a status button and friends list...Huh? But I can't log off." When Nayu tries to press the log off button, the button shows a red X on top denying her access to quit the game.

"Guess that doesn't work, well I tried..." She looks up to the sky. "...Does that mean that we are all trapped here, stuck in our favorite game..."

As she says that, a man overhead her and began to walk up to her. When he got close, he tapped on her shoulder to get her attention. "Apparently we are all on the same conflict."

Surprised, Nayu instantly grabbed one of her cutlass swords on her waist and drew it so the blade was close to the man's neck. Before she land the hit, she stopped as she took a closer look at him. Looking closely, it was a man around his 20s, with round glasses, blue shaggy hair, a white cape draped above his brown sweater and holding a staff in one of his hands.

Recognizing that the man means no harm, she immediately takes her cutlass back placing it back in its holder. "I am so sorry about that. I thought you were an enemy."

"It's okay, in a situation like this we have to be on our guard." The man moves his free hand forward indicating a handshake towards the woman. "I'm Shiroe. What is your name?"

The woman looked at the man before giving a small smile taking his hand in hers. "My name is Nayu in Elder Tale."

"Nayu..." Shiroe sinks that name and look into his mind. "I see, nice to meet you. "