Chapter 2. The pit

Bamm!

I smashed the head of the white goblin under my boots, the disgusting feeling of bone and meat crunching echoing in the tunnels, as its purple blood splattered everywhere.

"Fuckin' disgusting."

I took the creature's pouch and looked into it, expecting the same disgusting stuff that the other had.

"Oh, jackpot."

There was a slice of brown bread. It was cold and slightly moldy, but I devoured it immediately as if it was the feast of kings.

"Oh god. This was worth it."

About ten goblins for a piece of bread. I call it a win. Well, ten goblins for a breed and…

I reached out into my pocket and checked to see if I still had it.

One of those little bastards had a shiv on them. It was made from a rusty piece of metal and wrapped in some dirty fabric- no idea why it had it, or why it didn't use it, but I wasn't about to complain, since I was getting tired of punching these fuckers with my bare hands.

"Now what should I do?"

I was already pretty deep in these tunnels; going any further would be suicide. But again, the promise of good food…

"What am I thinking? No way I am going to be able to kill something strong."

Laughing at my stupidity, I started walking back from the path I came from.

About halfway through, I suddenly stopped, my body tensing up.

Up ahead, I could hear footsteps approaching. Unlike the goblins' sounds, these footsteps belonged to a human, and judging from the noise around them, they wore armor.

"A knight? Is it a city cleaner?"

The city cleaners were a group of knights tasked with cleaning the monsters that managed to get inside the city. But they usually don't come down here, not until it's the breeding season of monsters.

"Something is not right."

Quickly, I moved back from where I came and, at an intersection, decided to hide in a crevasse near a pillar that held the whole ceiling up.

I found this hiding spot thanks to one of the goblins, who tried to ambush me a few days ago.

I killed the little shit, but not before it left a nasty scar on my back with its claws. Not wanting to get a disease from it, I had to ask one of the homeless people to burn the wound shut with a poking iron. It was the first time I learned that falling unconscious from pain was a thing.

Anyway, I kept quiet and waited, my knife at hand, just in case.

Soon, I saw it.

It was indeed a knight, wearing dirty bronze armor and a helmet, a lit torch in one of its hands. As he looked around the intersection, I noticed that there was a wooden crate-looking thing on his back.

"What are you?" I murmured to myself.

When the knight was sure no one was following them, he turned right and started walking.

As I observed him, my brain was already deciding my next course of action.

I need to follow. It might be stupid, but I need to follow. Whatever this guy is transporting, it's either valuable or illegal or both. If I can get my hands on it and sell it to the right people, I can earn many coins. Maybe enough to get my life back on track.

I breathed deeply and started following him.

He was going pretty deep, deeper than I would ever dare to go. At a certain level of depth, one might not only encounter goblins but ghouls as well. I have never seen one in my life, but I heard stories. Creatures born from the rotting bodies of the dead who were dumped into the canals, hunting humans to eat. No idea if they were true or not, but I didn't want to find out.

Thankfully, no such monster showed up, only a few goblins, but they quickly ran away since the little bastards couldn't handle the light of the torch.

After an hour of nerve-wracking sneaking and following, the knight finally stopped.

I quickly hid behind a wall and kept my eyes open.

The knight put the package down before a stone wall and kneeled.

From where I was, I couldn't see exactly what he was doing, but once he was done, I saw him put the package into the hole he just made, then slowly put the bricks back.

"Smart."

Knowing where the thing was, I slowly retreated to one of the tunnels we just passed by and waited.

I held my breath as I saw the light of the torch pass by, and when it disappeared, I didn't move until I counted down to a hundred, to be sure that he was gone.

"...Phew."

Breathing out, I quickly went to the place I saw him kneel and inspected the wall.

Even in this darkness, I could tell that there were some bricks that were moved near the ground.

"Alright, let's see what we got."

I slowly moved the bricks and looked inside.

The knight must have taken the crate with them because a big leather bag was in the hole.

Slowly I grabbed the bag and pulled it out, checking its contents.

"...Wow."

The bag was filled with different silver and golden objects, all looking like they belonged to a noble or a rich person.

"Why would a knight- You know what, who cares."

With a stupid grin on my face, I threw the bag on my shoulder, after I put the bricks back in their place.

"What should I buy first? Maybe some white bread. But it has been a while since the last time I ate cooked meat."

I stood up and with a dumb smile, I turned around.

"Why are you in such a rush?"

Behind me were three people, wearing leather armor, and their faces hidden behind hoods. The second I looked at them, my body tensed, cursing myself for not being more careful.

"Do you even know who you are stealing from? This is why I hate slum garbage," spoke the man in the middle.

The one on the right pulled out a short sword.

"What do you think we do to dirty thieves?"

I swallowed and with my calmest voice, I spoke.

"Gentlemen, I think there has been a miss-"

Quickly, I threw the bag at them and started sprinting in the opposite direction.

"CATCH HIM!"

As I ran, I could hear the sound of them running after me, getting closer and closer by the second.

"Who the fuck are these guys?!"

I turned and turned, running through tunnels I had never seen before, jumping over or straight up running over goblins when they were in the way, not even thinking about the loot. Glancing back, I saw one of them throwing a knife towards me, the weapon piercing the ground.

"HEY! That's dangerous!"

Quickly, I took a right and kept on running, but I had to stop.

Before me was a giant pit that went down and down to the darkness. Quickly looking around, I saw several other tunnels ending at the pit, dumping water into it.

"Come on! Why is this even built?!"

I turned around only to see the trio catching up to me.

"You shouldn't have run. Now we will definitely kill you!"

Before I could say anything, one of them threw another knife.

STAB!

Slowly I looked down, seeing the weapon's hilt sticking out from my stomach.

Horrified, I grabbed the weapon, then screamed louder than ever before as the pain finally reached my brain.

As I screamed, I felt a push, and my body became weightless.

With a shocked expression, I looked at the smiling face of one of the thief bastards as I fell to the deepest parts of the pit.

*****

-At an unknown location-

Up in a tower, a man in silver armor looked out from the balcony.

The black clouds that covered the area where the humans lived spread out before him, as the sun shone at him.

With a smile, the man sighed.

"This is the best."

He had spent quite some time down in the rain, and he had to admit he didn't like it.

The native humans, who were referred to as hyumans by the world government, were quite a grim people, who relied on imaginary gods to protect them.

When he and his guild arrived here, the locals practically revered them, calling them 'holy knights' or even angels.

Their reverence only grew when they started bringing food to them, albeit only stuff that can be found in this world since the government didn't want to make these people dependent on them.

At least that is what they said to the public back home.

The young man could see that each day, the hyumans depended on them more and more, to the point where they could not live without them.

"Sigh."

The man turned away from the balcony and ate a piece of grape from a silver bowl.

"What do I care about? These are only NPCs."

As he said that, he felt a vibration in his pocket.

He pulled out the smartphone and turned it on.

This was a phone that was modified so that instead of cellphone towers, it relied on the mana particles in the air to work. It was quite an initiative, it was a shame it only worked in the dungeon world.

"Hello?"

[Get your ass ready. We are going to hunt in 2 hours.]

"What are we killing?"

[Probably some weak wolves and the like. The guild has some new recruits, and they will probably want to make them experience what a real fight feels like.]

"Okay. I will be ready."

He turned the phone off and sat on a very extravagant sofa.

"....Ahhh, the high life is truly the best."

*****

"F-Fuck my life."

Lying in the sludge of the garbage, I held onto my wound as I tried to take shallow breaths.

It was gods sent that I landed on…whatever it was, breaking my fall. Still, I could tell that I had at least a few ribs broken because each breath I took was agony.

"I... refuse. I refuse to... die... like this!"

I survived losing everything. I survived the monster wave. I survived being on the streets for so long.

I refuse to die now when I see the light of a better life.

I refuse to die when I just got my hopes for the future back.

I WILL NOT DIE LIKE THIS!

'I will…. Not die… in the….sewers!"

Screaming between my teeth, I forced myself to stand.

The sudden effort brought agonizing pain through my body, but I kept standing.

I held onto the knife and breathed in.

"One… Two… THREE!"

Holding back a scream, I pulled the knife out, spraying blood all over it.

Breathing heavily, I threw the knife away, held my wound, and started to walk with uncertain steps-

I didn't care about the filth, the dark, or even the pain. My brain was locked on the action of walking.

"I will not... die. I will fuckin' live. I will... ugh... live even if it's the last thing I do."

I kept walking, not knowing what to do or how to fix myself up.

Warm blood kept dripping between my fingers, leaving a trail of blood behind me, but I didn't look back. I was afraid that if I did, I wouldn't be able to go forward.

As I completely lost my sense of direction, my sight started to fade, maybe from the blood loss. It became so bad that I had to use one of my hands to follow the walls.

That's when I saw it.

The thing that changed everything.

My green light.