“Kikiii” I heard the roar of these despicable dirty creatures for the umpteenth time while hiding in a small hole inside the stone walls. These small, bald and green things with a tendency to litter around wherever they go, and a very weird temper to top it off. Their pointy noses and even pointier ears, fully naked and green... yes you have guessed right, they were indeed goblins.

It was my fifth day since I found myself here, and let me tell you, I have seen better days. Even that day when my mom divorced my dad was way better than these five days inside this place.

Before anything let me introduce myself,

I am Alex, your average white-collared office slave. I lived happily with my little friend, a golden retriever named Coco, inside a small apartment. My everyday boring life of waking up, then toiling away my youth inside a cubicle and then return, only to repeat the same the next morning changed abruptly when I was summoned to another world. That day I was standing on the balcony of my apartment, enjoying a rare peaceful evening with my Coco.

As cliché as it sounds, it really did happen with me. One moment I was feeding Coco some biscuits while eating myself every now and then, suddenly a light flashed before my eyes and boom, I found myself in a hall with many old men in white robes surrounding me…us… in a circle. After a close inspection, I observed that I wasn’t the only person around as many people like me were also dragged into this vintage-looking hall, surrounded by what looked like members of a shady cult.

Confusion was the first-ever thing I felt at this abrupt change in scenery. Initially, I thought I was kidnapped but that flash of light was weird enough and couldn’t come into a concrete conclusion. Then suddenly one of the old men came forward and flashed his hand before us. I recall seeing a flash of light emerging from his index finger, and then I felt a splitting headache. Not only me, everyone surrounding me started to moan and groan as they rolled around in pain.

The headache subsided after some minutes and then a person in glittering gold chainmail came forward and announced in a loud voice, “King Aurii III has demanded your presence in the main hall. Follow me or face punishment.”

Perhaps we were still confused by our surroundings or perhaps the man in chainmail was that intimidating, we all followed behind him obediently without making much of a farce. After traversing through a series of twists and turns, we finally arrived in a huge hall filled with expensive-looking decorations and a dome ceiling gilded in glittering metals. The hall itself was not empty. Series of chairs lined in a neat fashion to one side, and a huge luxuriously decorated chair placed at the end from where we stood.

The chairs were all occupied by people and a middle-aged man was sitting on the luxurious chair which was different from all others. He had a long yellow beard and a pair of ferocious-looking eyes. Those are a pair that one wouldn’t be able to look for long. This man’s aura was kind of heavy and tangible, so much so that, it compelled us to bow down before him.

“Hello, people from another world. I am Aurii III, 17th king of the Aseavell Empire. Right now I know you must be confused about your condition, but first, hear me out. A month ago, our people discovered unusual movements from the monsters residing beyond the Swordpeak Mountain range. Before long, the monsters started to scale the mountain and come to this site. Within a few days, all the neighboring dynasties and kingdoms surrounding the mountain range were conquered and destroyed by these rampaging monsters.” The person who identified himself as the king, took a small break, allowing us to digest until this point. There was a varying reaction among the people who were with me, including me. Some were feeling interested, so seem to be annoyed and a few like me, who were just listening for the sake of listening with no visible reaction on their faces.

Seeing that no one voiced out anything, the king smiled and continued, “now that all the surrounding kingdoms had fallen, the next place standing in their way is my Aseavell Empire. This whole month, my army had tried their best to fight against those bloodthirsty monsters but it wasn’t enough. Thus, to protect ourselves, we dug out the ancient method of summoning heroes of legends and did the ritual and that’s when you are summoned. In other words, you are brought here to help me fight with the monsters and the Devil Emperor behind them who incited this. That’s all.”

When the man said about war and monsters, I felt a chill running down my spine. Not only me, almost everyone felt a similar chill on their backs. We people gathered here, are from an era where war could only be seen in history books and movies. Hearing that we are going to fight a war, our complexion paled as sweat began to pour from our glands. However, no one dared to voice their thoughts out due to various concerns.

The king then signaled one of the men in white robes standing behind him. The man nodded and came forward “By the orders of King Aurii III, from now on you will be transferred under Captain Leo and will train with him in arts of warfare. Your status is also currently that of volunteer soldiers.”

“Wait a damn second!!!” unable to hold it in, a man with cropped hair and tattoos all over his body shouted loudly. Since the huge hall has only a few people in it, his voice echoed around loudly. He stood at the front so I was unable to see his facial expression. However, I am sure he must have popped a vein in there. Even I, who was a mild-tempered individual, am gritting my teeth behind many people at that time.

That’s because, the way he spoke, sounded like ordering more than informing. At the same time, the tone he used, it sounded like a superior person talking to a lower person. Not many people could digest it.

“Who are you, people!? What is this place? I don’t believe in the bullshit you just spouted, just tell us the truth!! Is this a mass prank? Is there a camera hidden somewhere?” he looked around, trying to find the so-called camera.

Boom!

Suddenly an explosive sound was heard, as the man who was behaving aggressively was kicked across the hall by a golden armored guard who was standing behind one of the people in the chair below the king. How did he came all the way to the front and even kicked a grown man weighing no less than seventy kilograms like it was a football, we weren’t sure.

“Impudent dog! How dare you behave wantonly before the mighty king? I will slaughter you like a pig.” The man had his face and head covered by a golden helmet, but, we were still able to hear his voice loud and clear. What little resistance we had vanished that moment when we saw the broken neck of the man that voiced out just now.

Without a doubt, he was dead.

For this person to actually kill and even able to do so with a single move… well, it’s hard to explain how I felt at that time. If I have to explain, I guess it should feel like standing before a tiger that hadn’t eaten for days. Not that I have ever faced a tiger-like that, it was just a metaphor.

Nonetheless, now that the uprising was nipped from the bud, the man in white robes continued to narrate everything about this new place. While listening to the man, by mistake my eyes fell upon the king and I saw him smiling at the armored man who killed one of the people summoned. And then I understood, the king approved of this. In fact, perhaps he ordered something like this to be done as an example.

Once again, I felt a cold chill running down my spine.

…

The things I was able to get from the explanation session were thus;

This world is a fantasy-like world where monsters and magic exist. Various races that one would only see in a game or book existed for real here. People are able to harness the magic that circulates inside their bodies as well as surroundings for various feats. Offense, defense, and even regular household usage, magic is completely integrated into people’s lives in this world. Monsters are a source of strength. Killing them and collecting materials they drop after their death would increase one’s strength if used in a proper way.

Professions like charmer, alchemist, enchanter, blacksmith, and gem-embedding master… all these professions exist in real life in this world.

And finally, as we were summoned from another world, our status was equal to a slave captured from the border of the country. Only by proving our worth and contributing to the empire could be gain a normal citizenship of this world.

I couldn’t help but feel at daze after digesting it all. That’s when the gravity of the situation started to sink into my consciousness making me feel faint. I could care less about others around me, I am more worried about my wellbeing. I have such a wretched luck…

After the man finished with his explanation about the world and various powers, he clapped his hand twice. The armored man who kicked the guy to death returned and stood before us imposingly. We all shrunk down by his mere presence.

“You all follow me!” he ordered. His loud voice rang in our ears, giving us a splitting headache for a second. Timidly, we all followed behind him, leaving behind the king and his assembly to plot and conspire.

I could have denied obeying under the premise of human rights entitled to every human being. However, unfortunately, I was no longer in my own world so human rights and shit held no meaning here. The man took us to a dungeon, a place where monsters were sealed by someone, together with others summoned with me. We were given an order to only come out after clearing it of all the living monsters. Claiming it as a form of training, the armored man threw us to the pit without any prior warning.

But, as afraid as we were, we couldn't do anything against hundreds of armored soldiers standing in a neat line, holding weapons like bows and swords.

We have played games before too. Which 20th-century kid hasn’t? Therefore, most of us knew what to expect inside this dark and damp place. While most of the people forced inside were thinking of ways to survive, going as far as pleading and groveling to the soldiers, a few decided to come out and take matters into their own hands.

Alma was one of those people. She was probably still a teenager, which explained her courage as she was the first one to step out of the group and face towards the dark corridor of the dungeon. Looking at the darkness of the unknown before her, not a shred of fear was seen on her face. Hell, I even saw a trace of excitement hidden behind those blue eyes.

“You guys are for real? Don’t you know the situation we are in already? Do you think groveling like dogs will help? I, Alma De’Cruz, would rather die than do such an embarrassing thing!!” Saying this outrageous line, which probably meant to be a motivational speech, she walked away from the group and into the dungeon.

“She is right. It’s better to struggle than to beg here. They won’t listen to us anyway...” following her, a man around my age stepped out, following behind the girl. This was just the start though. Little by little, twelve people left the group of forty, and went inside the dungeon.

I later found the source of their courage. It was our transmigration bonus so to speak, that gave us access to a system that would allow us to become stronger by killing monsters. Of course, their own determination also played a part in their decision.

However, I wasn’t among these courageous people. As ashamed as I am to admit, I am a coward. I feared the unknown. Therefore, even though Alma gave such a motivational speech, it meant nothing to me... like the rest twenty-eight who was groveling on the ground.

“You otherworld dogs, go in or we will shoot you down.” the commanding man, probably captain Leo bellowed at us, who were yet to step inside. He held a long silver sword that shined brightly even though the dungeon didn’t have a natural light source.

“Please Lord, don’t let us go in there. We will do all the menial work outside without complaint. Please have mercy on us!” an aging man, probably some boss of a company from the way he dressed, kneeled before the gold armored man, begged him for mercy.

“Menial work? Do you think we lack workers? We have invested precious resources and materials of the kingdom to summon your dogs from your own dog holes. You think doing menial work gonna cut it?” the captain snorted in disdain before giving a kick to the old man, sending him sprawling across the tiled, uneven floor of the dungeon, “You can either go in and clear the dungeon or get killed by us here and now, it's your choice.”

At this time the old man who was kicked away, crawled back again, holding to the captain’s legs for his dear life, “Please lord. If you simply kill us, won’t you lose all the money and resource? If we do menial work, at least we could bring back the cost somewhat...”

But the armored man only laughed coldly, “You imbeciles don’t know this but after your death, we will recover your body and our magicians and alchemists refine your blood and flesh to make teleportation crystals. Each teleportation crystal will sell for an amount that you dogs couldn’t even earn in your lifetime. You guys are worth more to us dead than alive, hahaha!!!”

I felt like I was standing outside on a cold day and fully naked. My palms were sweaty and so was my whole body. This new word’s climate wasn’t that humid and for some reason, the insides of the dungeon were very cool, yet I was sweating like standing under the sun on a hot summer day. It was not only me, even the others beside me who were kneeling also felt this. It was the feeling of helplessness, the feeling of losing all hope.

“The king has decreed, if you successfully survive this dungeon and come back, he shall grant you imbeciles citizenship so that you won’t be treated as slaves. Now hurry up, or else we all here shoot you dogs down.” as soon as the captain said these, the armored soldiers behind him all aimed their weapons, from swords to bows, towards us. Frankly, it was intimidating. Until yesterday, I had only seen such a thing in movies and seasons. Now it was happening before me in reality. Despite myself, I unconsciously backed away a little from the sight alone.

I didn’t even have the courage to plead anymore.

The soldiers and the weapons in their hands were enough of persuasion for us to take our weapons and march inside the dungeon. We took our first ever unsteady steps in this new world and into the unknown, while hopeful in our hearts that we might due to some stroke of luck will survive the ordeal and come out alive.

But soon we realized our mistake. Hope was a luxury in this place.

No one dared to speak anything as we walked through the dark corridor. Our hearts were heavy and it reflected on our slow steps. Fear gripped our mind, but the thought of those soldiers shooting us down kept us from just turning around and run back. I don’t know if it was the fake sense of hope that kept us from succumbing to our fears, but we were able to reach the first checkpoint of sorts without meeting any monsters or the like.

This checkpoint was a huge hallway that looked like it could accommodate at least five hundred if not a thousand people. Huge pillars were extending to the ceiling, supporting it perhaps or perhaps it was just plain decoration, I didn’t know then. After entering the place, we saw one of the twelve who went ahead of us claiming that they won't bow down to anyone. It was the middle-aged construction worker, who still wore his construction uniform. As soon as we entered, he stretched his lips to a smile that screamed fake from miles away. He approached us with steady steps, dragging his sword behind him which was painted red and blue... perhaps from the blood of all the monsters he slew.

“Ho, you guys are finally here. I was getting bored waiting for you.” his voice contained barely concealed hostility. I had a troubled past and mingled around with all kinds of people during my teen years. I had seen gang fights that escalated out of hand. I kind of developed a sort of sixth sense. I was able to detect if someone had some kind of hostility towards me in general. This man who came towards us while dragging his sword behind him rung all the warning bells in my head. I was vaguely able to tell that something would go south in the next few minutes.

And I was right. My intuition proved itself once again when the construction-worker-looking man pointed his sword towards us and shouted “I know you are hiding in there, Smiths. Come out, you shitty bastard!!”

No matter how you look at it, this was a revenge situation. The society was divided by classes and statuses, you can deny all you want but deep down we all know... money is power. Them with money can easily buy status and become the so-called elites of the society. Even the government and its laws said to be impartial to all, close an eye to their doings. Even though these people run amuck no one could do nothing of them as long as they don’t go too far.

This construction worker might be one of those victims of elites. Back on earth, he must have suffered by the hands of this Smiths; so much so that he harbored murderous intentions towards him. A murmur broke out among the people gathered as everyone talked about the identity of this so-called Smiths. Things had already escalated to this far, how can there be compassion in people’s hearts? Everyone's thinking about their own survival, even it meant to take part in something that obviously going to be a murder case.

Before long, some lady exposed the old man named Smiths, while the rest of the people pushed him to the front.

“You bastard, son of a bitch Smiths.” Adam threw the sword to the ground and lifted the old man by his neck. Glaring holes at him he angrily threw a punch to his face, “You old bastard! It's because of you I have lost everything that should be mine. My inheritance, my money... everything was supposed to be mine, yet given to those government dogs and I became a lowly construction worker... how humiliating is this?”

“D, don’t blame me for this Adam. Everything I did was in line with your dead father’s wishes.” even though he was choked by the man’s strength, Smiths was still able to explain himself. He looked afraid and almost pleading to the man as if asking him to let him go. I could tell from the face of that Adam, regardless of whether this Smiths did something or not, today he would kill him for sure. On the other hand, my initial guess was way off the mark.

“You bastard, I wi...” Adams never get to finish his speech when one of the walls behind him was destroyed to bits. Naturally, it attracted everyone’s attention towards it including me. What stood beyond the wreckage was something so grotesque that I nearly vomited on the spot. It was a purple creature vaguely resembling a human without skin like what we have seen in our biology books during our school years. Around ten meters was its height and it was holding what looked like a huge mace with spikes.

A monster appeared out of nowhere and from the looks of it, it was one of the stronger ones.