Hiding

There were 3 people underneath a safe location. They had beds, clothing, food, water, weapons, everything that one will need to survive an apocalypse.

"I've got to go save him! He's still out there!"

Jack tried to pry the iron doors open, but he was getting pinned down by Jasmine and Sam.

Jack thought that Will was still out there, which is why he wanted to go out there and save him.

"Don't be stupid. He's already gone."

Both of them tried pinning down Jack, but for some strange reason he was very strong, not even two people were enough to take him down. But Jack was not strong enough to open the iron door, which was locked unless they used a key. What they didn't know is that Jack is wearing an enchanted shirt underneath his clothing that gives him strength.

"WILL! DO YOU HEAR ME?!"

"Shut up! Those bloody locusts are still out there. If they hear you they eat their way through that door."

But Jack kept yelling and yelling. The doors are 4 inches thick, surrounded by brick, which made it impossible for anyone from the outside to hear him. But it was still safer to just be quiet and not risk anything.

2 other beings were not that far away, in the dark, comforting each other. It was obviously Will and Adaline.

As Jack kept yelling and screaming, Will heard him. He unknowingly dug a hole merely centimeters away from the secret bunker where Jack and the others were.

"Jack?"

Will got up and put his hands on the dirt wall. It was still so dark that he couldn't see anything, even after getting accustomed to the darkness.

Jack nor the others could hear Will.

"Adaline, do you know where my pickaxe is?" He remembered that he threw his pickaxe with him on the hole, but couldn't see it.

Adaline fetched the steel pickaxe with her beak and gently handed it to Will. She was blind so the darkness didn't affect her.

"Good girl. Now stand back."

Will began swinging his pickaxe at the wall, the small bits of dirt were hitting his face. It was something he got used to, but it still wouldn't hurt him to craft some goggles to protect his eyes, but he doesn't know where to buy them or craft them yet.

Jack stopped yelling when they heard something hitting the wall. They think that it's a monster trying to break in through the wall, even though it didn't make sense since they were underground. And not only that, the walls were made out of steel, which meant that it would take a powerful monster to take it down.

"Jasmine." Sam drew out his sword.

Jasmine pointed her staff directly at the wall.

Seconds later, they saw the tip of a pointy metal poking through the wall. Then it began making a bigger hole with each swing.

"Will?" Jack knew who it was.

Will made a hole big enough for him to fit in. He realized he breached through the wall as soon as light pierced the side of the wall.

Jasmine and Sam put away their weapons once they realized who it was.

"Hello." Will waved his hand at them. The light in the room was dim, but it was bright to Will. He would need to get used to it.

"I thought you were dead." Jack hugged Will tightly.

"..." Will.

"You could have just gone through the door when you had the chance. Now thanks to you, there is a hole in my wall." Sam began to complain, he spent a lot of gold building and designing this underground base.

"But, Adaline would have been dead if I didn't do this."

"Who's Adaline?" Asked Jasmine.

Behind Will appeared a monster. The others noticed and drew out their weapons.

"Woah, stop, she's mine." Will used his body to protect Adaline.

"Oh, so this is what you meant." Jack now knew her name.

"You tamed an organic monster?" Sam asked.

"Well, basically, yeah."

"Huh. Okay. I'm going to sleep now." Sam put away his sword and proceeded to mind his own business now. All they needed to do now was wait for the eclipse to be over.

After that, they just accepted this and acted like it was normal. In this world, what exactly is normal? They all soon got comfortable. But those who had family or friends outside began to get worried. Who knows if they were dead already.

At least now Will has enough food to last the entire week, and also enough space to move around. He also now had a new bed, clothes, water, and so on. He did not bring his old bed because if he were to die, he would at least spawn on his old bed, and he would know exactly where he was.

But if he didn't set a spawn point, then he will be teleported somewhere random in the world.

Jasmine and Jack thought how weird it was that Will could break through a steel wall using normal steel tools. It just didn't make sense.

Will did not put that much thought into it, because he knew that this was possible only because he had a steel pickaxe. Had he used a weaker pickaxe, like wood or stone or even copper, then he would have never broken through that steel wall. It's like his body follows its own laws.

Of course, Jack thought that it was only because Will has strength because he's a hero.

Meanwhile…

A soldier ran towards the villagers that were huddled together.

"Is anyone here a doctor?"

No one answered,

"The Chief is in grave danger. Something's wrong with him. Help us. Our jobs are at stake."

One of the villagers stood up, it was Rias. "Hold on, what's wrong with this man?"

"White foam came out of his mouth. His hand was all black and purple. And his body is jolting uncontrollably as if he's in seizure."

Rias and Radix looked at each other. Fear crept into their hearts. They knew what was wrong with him. This was literally the worst timing and place. They were in a very closed space, with very little movement, and with a lot of people in the room.

Even if they wanted to escape, they can't, unless they wanted to be eaten by millions of bloody locusts.

At this point it was a matter of choosing either zombies, or blood-murdering-sucking locusts.

"RUN AWAY! ZOMBIES! AHH!"

One of the soldiers managed to run away before a zombie could catch him. He quickly ran to the door with the intention to open it. Once he opens it, bloody locusts will flood the room and kill them all.

The soldier did not give a damn about that fact. He only wanted to not be near this area within 100 miles.

"NO! STOP!" The villagers tried to stop him, but they couldn't.

A long arrow pierced the side of his head and exited the other side. The soldier went limp and died on the spot.

"Anyone else here want to escape?"

Radix pulled the enchanted string on his bow and threatened to kill anybody who comes near the door. He also carried enchanted arrows, making him a powerful being.

Radix had no choice but to kill the soldier, otherwise they would have all been dead. He could have just pinned the soldier down, but he wasn't going to miss a chance to kill his first human in a long time.

Radix stood in front of the door guarding it.

"Rias, stand behind me."

Rias hid behind Radix, she's not that strong to begin with.

"Rah!"

More zombies came in while the people were too focused on the dead soldier. The first zombie was another soldier, he bit the very person that was the closest to it. Radix shot him right in the head.

Zombies started filling the area, and everybody else tried to escape through the door.

"Ah, dammit." Radix could not get a clear shot because the humans were getting in the way.

"I think you should use your magic, Radix."

Radix closed his eyes and cupped his hands together, he was very calm.

"Oh Lea, please lend me your power."

Then he placed his hands on the ground. And seconds later, giant vines popped from the ground and started binding down all the zombies and humans alike. The entire room was now covered in green vines.

Each vine had little, tiny spikes on them, and they had a type of sleep poison. One tiny spike could knock out an elephant in a manner of seconds.

The entire room was now silent. Only the zombies kept trying to bite people. The sleep poison did not affect them in the slightest because they were dead.

"To think I would need to use my magic on humans and zombies."

He closed his fist and attempted to crush the zombies head using his vines. But Rias stopped him as soon as she saw him.

"Stop! We need to keep these zombies alive… or dead. Whatever it's called. Just don't destroy their heads, I need to experiment on them."

Rias looked at her for a moment. He sighed and sat down grumpily.

"Hurry it up, then. Find this cure so I can crush their heads."

Rias placed her finger on her wooden bracelet, and so much stuff appeared out of nowhere.

The wooden bracelet may look ordinary, but there was a small, shiny stone on top of the bracelet . It was a magical stone. This stone had the same qualities as a space inventory.

This is why magical items are trickier, and more complicated to craft compared to enchanted items. Magical items look like ordinary items, but they're not. No one can really tell at a glance.

"I've been waiting for this moment for too long. And now it is finally here. We will be here for an entire week." She looked crazy at this moment. The opportunity to find a cure is practically on her hands.

Radix sat down angrily, like a little kid. He couldn't kill those humans, but at least he killed a zombie and one human today.

But as soon as Rias finds a cure for them, they can destroy the zombies before it spreads like a plague once more.

This made him realize something. How did the zombies get here in the first place? The last one was sighted 250 years ago. It did not make sense that it suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

'Either this is all just a weird coincidence, or someone else has somehow recreated those damn things. I really hope it's not the latter.'

Radix kept a busy eye on the zombies, keeping them all restrained. As soon as Rias finds that cure, then they won't have to worry about another plague spreading ever again... for now.

Meanwhile…

Nothing much was going on with July, Arbor, and Grace. They all camped inside a cave before the bloody locusts could see them. It was a small cave, it could only fit 20 people in it.

It took some work to get July on the cave. If it were up to her, she would still be headed to save her son, but she would be dead by now.

"Jack..." July looked out the entrance, praying that her son was alright.

Grace and Arbor kept their distance from July, because she was a human, and both of these elves aren't exactly on friendly terms with them.

"Lady, I am sure that your son is fine." Grace said.

They kept torches near the entrance. The bloody locusts for some reason die as soon as sunlight touches them, like vampires. And since they were stupid they thought that lit torches is the sun, which is why July and the elves haven't been eaten yet.

But that also carried risks. As a different kind of monster could see the light and kill them all.

"Maybe we should talk about something else. Like how was your day?" Grace added.

"I don't want to talk, Elves, I just want my son."

Grace tensed up. Did she see through their disguise?

"What's wrong?" Asked Arbor. He couldn't understand.

"She knows."

"I heard you guys mentioned Lea. And also I noticed that you two were speaking in elven tongue. You two are not really good at hiding your identities."

Grace gripped her bow tightly. But Arbor touched her shoulder to comfort her.

"Don't worry. If she does anything suspicious, I'll kill her." Arbor comforted her. He could kill July before she has the chance to do anything.

Humans and elves have always hated each other, ever since the first three heroes were summoned. It has been 300 years, and this grudge between them hasn't changed.

"I just want to let you know that I have nothing against elves."

"That's what you all say. But you humans are all liars. It's hard to believe in any of you."

"Not all humans are the same. We are all not evil or vile as you elves say."

"This coming from the blacksmith. Your profession involves using creatures so you can make yourselves stronger. Including using my own people for your selfish needs. And your profession also involves creating weapons that are used to kill."

"I will not deny that. But what about you elves? You also kill humans, take our stuff. Like those arrows you are carrying right now. Don't you think I wouldn't have noticed that those are from my store? If I were to guess, you didn't exactly pay for them."

"I…"

"That's enough." Arbor said. He couldn't understand them, but he thought that they might fight if it were to keep going.

"Grace, why are you angry? Before you left the village, you have never shown any signs of hostility towards humans. What changed?"

Before Grace left for her adventures, she went to accomplish one goal, living with the humans. Something about them fascinated her. Their inventions, clothes, food, history, culture, etc. She read about them in a book that she took from her elvish school.

Elves have always remained the same, only living in the forests, using arrows and magic, eating fruits and vegetables. They literally haven't changed in the last 300 years. She was getting bored of this.

But, then she realized how humans really are. On the outside, they're fun, beautiful, good. But on the inside, they're the complete opposite.

Greedy, lust, power-hungry, idiots, murderers, rapists, torturers, liars. Her reality was shattered, and replaced with an ugly one.

At least in her mind, elves were better. They might be boring and they might be the same after hundreds of years, but at least they're not like humans.

Grace did a good job hiding her hatred towards humans. Even Arbor was fooled. She only acted friendly towards July because they needed to get back the Adalis, and she's the only one who knows the way.

Grace over the years has grown to hate humans, which isn't surprising since the majority of the elves feel the same way, but not to the point of wanting to kill them like Radix.

There was a long awkward silence between the three of them. None of them spoke for the whole night.

Meanwhile...

"How did you do it?" Asked Jasmine.

"Pardon?"

"How did you manage to tame a monster?"

Right now they were in a living room. Will used Adaline as a pillow, she was very soft to begin with. He also kept feeding her goblin parts.

"Well I happen to have some food, and she was hungry. After that she recognized me as her master, I think." Will petted Adaline's head again, something about it just felt right. Adaline loved being petted and would cuddle with Will. Somehow their bonds grew closer in the last few hours.

"All it requires is food to tame a monster? Is that it?"

"Well it was like that for me. But I don't know how to tame other monsters. I guess I was just lucky."

"Hmm…" Jasmine left the room.

"What's her deal?"

"Oh, Jasmine is just mad because she's been trying to tame a monster for the past year."

"Why?"

"It is one of the requirements of becoming a King's guard. A sorcerer or sorceress, needs to be able to kill 1 dragon or two-horned cyclops, and tame 1 monster as well, but the higher layer the monster is on the pyramid scale, the more chances she'll have to become a king's guard."

"The pyramid who?"

"Oh right, I didn't mention it. So imagine this." Jack prepared for another speech.

"Oh great, more info dumb." Will jokingly complained but still listened.

"There are 5 layers in this world that are used to define a monster's ranking and strength, it resembles that of a pyramid. The monsters at the lowest level are the weakest and most common. But as the monster ranking layers go higher, the more fearsome and powerful a creature is."

"The lowest layers belong to species such as goblins, imps, deer, crocodiles, horses, mules, and such. I won't be mentioning all the creatures in each layer, just a few examples."

"The fourth layer lowest belongs to ogres, giant eagles, giant serpents, organic creatures."

"Third layer belongs to elves, one-horned cyclops, hobgoblins."

"The second layer belongs to two-horned cyclops, and 50 foot tall Dragons, and 20 meter tall giants."

"And at the top, which we call the Apex layer, are Dragons that are taller than 100m, and three-horned cyclops, and sea serpents. Oh and mutants as well."

"Aw." Will felt sad.

"What's wrong?"

"I just thought that it would have a different ranking that's all."

What Will meant is that back in his home world some video games and even manga use the classic E-SSS class ranking. He just thought that this world would have one as well.

Not only that, but this layer reminded him of something that he read in a science textbook, something about animals and stuff.

"Wait, what's with the 'mutants' part?"

"Mutants are monsters who are stronger than others on the same layer. Their appearances are different, some are made out of pure gold, some are powerful, some are fast, shiny, have an extra head or limb. It depends. But they're really rare to encounter."

"And these horned cyclops, can one of them produce lightning by any chance?"

If he was correct, then those 3-horned giants that he saw at the top of the mountain are cyclops.

"Yeah, I'm surprised you know that. 1-horned cyclops are usually weak, but still fearsome. They can shoot lasers out of their eyes, which makes them dangerous. Their favorite foods are humans."

"Two-horned cyclops are taller than 50m, they're smarter than most creatures and can communicate with other creatures and even command them at times. Their height and weight alone can cause small tremors. They also breath poison out of their mouths, which can melt your skin and insides. But the good thing is that they don't eat humans, due to the difference in size. But they still kill humans for fun."

Will shivered. He didn't remember that when he read about them in a greek mythology book.

"And finally, the strongest creature, after the dragon, is the three-horned cyclops. They can reach heights taller than 80 meters. They can conjure lightning from their hands. Their size and strength can rival a dragon. They can still breath gas and shoot lasers, but they prefer to shoot lightning. Their natural enemy are dragons. You do not want to mess with them, because you'll die."

"80 meters… what a world to live in." Will was not excited in the least. If he were to encounter something like that, how can he possibly deal with it?

Adaline noticed Will's mood changed, so she rubbed her head on his chest to comfort him.

"Hey, Hero, can I ask a question?" Asked Jack.

"Sure."

"How will you feel when you're reunited with your hero friends?"

"My hero friends?"

"Yeah, I mean, there are 100 heroes that were summoned from your world, including you, which means that you must at least know some of them."

"I never had friends. I did have a best friend but he died during a store robbery. Wrong place wrong time I guess. And I also had a girlfriend, but she's probably back in her home mourning my death."

Will was not stupid, he had made the obvious connection between the missing kids and this world. It wouldn't surprise him if he met some of his classmates in this world.

But why should he bother checking if that's true? He had other important things to worry about. And besides, he never really knew any of them.

Any thoughts about his ex-girlfriend crossing into this world has also crossed his mind, but the chances of that happening are almost zero.

Even if that did happen, he believed that she did not want to see him. After all, he broke her heart.

"Did she break up with you?"

"No, I broke up with her."

"Why?"

"Because I loved her. That's why."

"???" Jack did not understand what he meant by that.

"Then what about your other friend, what was he like?"

"I don't think It's a smart idea to talk about my dead friend. It might bring up some terrible and sad memories."

"Sorry."

"But if you must know, he liked anime a lot, he ran away from home after living in an abusive house. He killed his father, and never saw his mother again. He was a nice guy. He lived with me for a couple of years. But those years were short lived.

"What was his name?"

"His name was Alexander Anderson."