灰と幻想のグリムガル [Hai to Gensou no Grimgar] (Light Novel)

When Haruhiro came to, he was in darkness with no memory beyond his own name. What he and others found when they emerged was a world that felt just like a game. To survive, Haruhiro forms a party, learns skills, and takes his first steps into Grimgar as a trainee volunteer soldier. A tale of adventure born from the ashes.

Haruhiro and his companions continue their lives as trainee volunteer soldiers in Grimgar, learning skills and fighting to survive in a world that operates like a game — one where every battle carries real cost.

Haruhiro and his comrades have earned unexpected fame for achievements no one anticipated. With growing confidence in the group, more experienced volunteer soldiers approach him — among them a girl whose name still lingers in Haruhiro's memory. At the same time, the town of Alterna moves to retake the Deadhead Watching Keep from the orcs, and Haruhiro's party joins their first large-scale raid alongside Renji and Choco.

Haruhiro's party has survived a major battle, though not without loss. Unable to celebrate fully, they face new complications as some members receive offers to join other teams. As Haruhiro struggles with leadership, he must reckon with what his party actually wants — and guide them into a new stage of their adventure.

Months into exploring the Wonder Hole, Haruhiro's party finds a mysterious new passage that wasn't there three days earlier. It may lead to an unexplored area — highly profitable for whoever claims it first. Hesitant to enter alone, Haruhiro's party joins forces with Team Tokimune, a group known for being eccentric but capable. New encounters await in the continuing tale born from the ashes.

The Dusk Realm has become a viable hunting ground, and Haruhiro's party can now slay the white giants that once forced them to flee. But the actions of one clan dramatically raise the danger level. When Haruhiro re-encounters Souma, head of the Day Breakers, the party is drawn into a large-scale mission involving multiple clans — and Haruhiro must see what fighting alongside truly powerful soldiers reveals.

Having escaped the Dusk Realm, Haruhiro and his party enter another world where the sun never rises. With no information to guide them, they discover a town of this new world's residents and secure temporary safety. But the environment is harsh, problems mount, and they have no leads on how to return to Grimgar — or whether the place that flashes through their minds as home is truly where they came from.

After many trials, Haruhiro and his companions succeed in returning to Grimgar — but they land far from any human settlement. Scouting ahead, Haruhiro and Yume encounter members of another party, the Typhoon Rocks, who are mid-battle against orcs and undead. The returning party is swept into the fighting. More comrades, encounters, and battles await in the world they've come back to.

As the battle against the orc Jumbo and his group Forgan descends into chaos, Haruhiro's party faces a crisis unlike any before: Ranta has defected to join Forgan. Split up and fighting a desperate retreat, each member confronts what the others truly mean to them. In the misty Thousand Valley, facing an enemy called solitude, this tale of adventure begins to weave a new act.

A volunteer soldier deep in the mountains, near death, recalls fragments of another world and asks: what is Grimgar? Meanwhile, Haruhiro and his party, fleeing toward Alterna, are attacked by massive ape-like monsters called guorellas following a leader known as Redback. Their desperate flight leads them into a hidden village of outcast orcs — and a deepening truth: there is no guaranteed tomorrow.

Haruhiro braces himself and faces the guorella onslaught once more, clinging to a sense of purpose against impossible grief. Then a mysterious man named Jessie whispers that there is a way — just one. Meanwhile, Ranta, having left Forgan, flees his former keeper Takasagi in Thousand Valley. Pushed to his limits, he finds something unexpected returning to mind.

Pushing through enemy territory toward the sea, Haruhiro and his party reach the shoreline and find a lone ship — crewed by a girl with a fake mustache calling herself Momohina. Swept up by their encounter with the mysterious would-be pirate, the party heads for the Emerald Archipelago, long said to be home to dragons, only to find a pirate haven thrown into chaos by a dragon attack.

With Yume having parted ways, Haruhiro and the remaining party travel by pirate ship to the free city of Vele, then join a caravan to make progress toward Alterna. Their journey goes surprisingly smoothly — until they encounter what may be the legendary Leslie Camp and are led by a mysterious raincoated figure into the next world: Parano.

Split apart in Parano — a world where dream monsters and mages run wild — each member of the party can only rely on themselves. Sharing strength with Alice C and Io's party, who also wandered in, Haruhiro must find his comrades and uncover the key that lies with Parano's king if they are to escape. The concluding chapter of the Parano arc brings the tale of adventure to a major turning point.

Haruhiro and the others wake in darkness with their memories gone — all except Merry, who inexplicably remembers everything. When they emerge, Alterna is in ruins. Racing across Grimgar's frontier using only the skills their bodies still remember, they encounter the Kingdom of Arabakia's forces preparing to retake Alterna. The tale enters its endgame.

Alterna has been retaken at great cost, and Haruhiro is crushed by loss. Caught between the Expeditionary Force's general, the Volunteer Soldier Corps survivors, and the mysterious residents of the Forbidden Tower, Haruhiro's party has a member taken hostage and is forced into a dangerous mission: forging an alliance with the goblins. Then a familiar face reappears, and the bonds forged in Grimgar become their strength.

The newly independent Frontier Army has allied with the goblin king and now moves to conquer Mount Grief, held by an orc army. Haruhiro's team is tasked with an infiltration mission, working alongside Shinohara's Orion, Team Renji, and the Tokkis to break through the Graveyard beneath the mountain. The mission proves far more dangerous than anyone imagined — survival is not guaranteed.

After capturing Mount Grief at great cost, the Frontier Army receives an envoy from the dwarven Ironblood Kingdom, imperiled by orcs and undead. Learning that the dwarves possess a new secret weapon, the general dispatches a delegation — including Haruhiro's party — to negotiate. Their journey across the Quickwind Plains and through the treacherous Kurogane Mountain Range will change everything.

The party suffers crushing losses fleeing the Ironblood Kingdom. Kuzaku falls; Setora is taken. No one had the power to prevent it — except the No-Life King sleeping inside Merry, whose awakening brings great upheaval. Now the sekaishu overruns Grimgar, consuming the world. Every faction scrambles to survive and pursue their own desires as the world is stained black.

Haruhiro awakens in darkness among strangers who can only remember their own names. When they find their way into the light, they discover Grimgar — a fantasy world that operates like an RPG. Without skills or knowledge of their surroundings, Haruhiro and his newfound companions must cooperate and learn if they hope to survive in this dangerous land of monsters and magic.

振り返るな、前へ進め 星落としの結果、二柱の神が再臨し、人の子らは神の下僕に成り果てた。 さらなる宿命を背負わされたハルヒロの旅は、まだ終わらない――。 “――目覚めよ《アウェイク》。〟 そして「彼」は声を聞き、目を覚ます。仲間の姿はない。ここはどこなのか。 目の前には仮面の男が。 「きみの名前――なのか？　マナト……？」 光明神ルミアリスの帰依者と暗黒神スカルヘルの従属たちが果てなき闘争を繰り広げる戦場と化したグリムガル。 死が蔓延する新たな地平で、マナトは生きる。 巡り合う新たな仲間たちとともに、この光と闇を切り裂いて征け……！

Caught between the fiend Chegbrete of Penitence and the saint Taidariel, Manato is separated from the group and meets a being that is definitely not human — three-eyed and mysterious. What lies beyond the cave where they met may hold the key to saving Grimgar, as Manato encounters the gnome race and the undead and searches for a way forward.