The monster's black and beady eyes flashed white. A white glow covered its body. It's muscles tensed. Its body stiffened. Through the blue box, Ryan could see its mana decrease to fifty percent. Was it using some sort of magical ability? A skill?

The soldiers didn't want any of it. They knocked more arrows to bow strings. They aimed down at the monster. They pulled their bow strings back. They quickly muttered something in a strange foreign language that Ryan didn't recognize or understand. Their arrows glowed green. Another skill he didn't know. They shot down at the monster.

But by then, the white glow faded from the monster's body. Its eyes turned back to black. But something changed about the expana bear's appearance. Its scales appeared thicker. Tiny spikes grew onto the surface of them. The monster then leapt up the pit.

The field of arrows blurred as they hit against the expana bear. But it wasn't knocked back at all. The arrows just bounced off, not phasing it.

"Damn it!" a soldier exclaimed. "This monster is way stronger than the others today!"

"I think this might be one of the strongest yet!" another groaned.

They summoned people and monsters multiple times? What for? Mass producing humans and monsters?

Ryan fearfully glanced down at the monster as it smashed its paws against the walls of the rocky pit, sunk its claws into the stone, and then began to climb up. Whilst the soldiers seemed to be inhumanly strong, their arrows couldn't do anything to the monster. He couldn't just stand around and wait for the soldiers to kill it for him. He needed to help them.

Maybe if they quickly told him how to use the game-like system that governed the world then he'd acquire the same inhuman strength as them. Hopefully it was instant. Probably not since he just got there, but it was worth asking. Maybe he'd be born with an overpowered ability right off the bat that'd help him? He nearly chuckled at the thought.

"Fill me in on what's going on," Ryan said to them. "Pass me a weapon, and let me help. The more soldiers, the merrier, right?"

All of the soldiers turned to him. They scowled at him. "Who gave this monkey permission to talk?" one of the soldiers spat. The soldier glanced behind Ryan. "Why haven't you branded and cuffed him yet?"

What the fuck? They wanted to brand him? Why did they want to cuff him? Couldn't they allow him to help? But then it began to click when he heard a soldier come up behind him, sabatons clattering against the stone.

"I'm on it," the soldier behind him said. Ryan turned to the soldier. Cuffs swung around the index finger of one hand. Carvings in the same foreign language could be seen on them. The other hand held a glowing and smouldering metal rod with a circle and specific symbol on the end.

An intricately carved wooden stick rattled by her belt. What was that stick for? Why the cuffs? And more importantly, why did he need to be branded?

"Whoa there," Ryan said, stepping away from the soldier and eyeing the brand she extended towards him. "I mean no harm. No need to cuff me."

"Don't waste my time," the soldier said. She snatched Ryan's shoulder. She threw him to the floor. Ryan's chest smashed against the rocks. She crouched over Ryan's back. She shoved the brand against his skin.

Ryan screeched in agony as a burning sensation flashed across his nape. He ground his teeth together. His body wriggled and rattled against the rocky floor. His eyes stung and burned. After she pulled the brand away from him, she clicked the cuffs around Ryan's wrists. What an afterlife. From one hell to another.

She pulled Ryan up by his hair with one hand, covering his head with pain, till he stood back onto his feet."Repeat after me," she said.

Ryan nodded.

"Torolla ermung thi kappa," she said.

"What's that for?"

He groaned as she hit him on the back of the head. "That isn't what I told you to say," she growled in his ear.

He clicked his tongue. "Torolla ermung thi kappa," he said.

He didn't notice a difference. Shouldn't it be some kind of spell? Why didn't anything change?

She pushed Ryan away from the pit and towards another part of the cave. Where was she taking him? What did she want? When he saw the group of people that stood there, that's when it all finally came together.

Light pooled on the ground from within an archway that appeared to be the only exit from the cave. There were a group of humans standing near the exit. They were all naked just like Ryan. Except two who stood at the front were wearing brown and dirty rags. They were tall and muscular. They looked like bodybuilders back on Earth. Maybe even a bit bigger.

Stationed at the four corners of that group of humans were elven soldiers, just like the others. Except they all had intricately carved wooden sticks strapped to their belts. What were those sticks for? Magical batons? Wands?

Adjacent to that group stood an elven woman. Her silver hair and snow white dress shimmered in the dim light of the cave. Silver earrings, chokers, medallions and rings gleamed against her spotless and pale skin. Four soldiers stood by either side of her. And one young man wearing white robes and holding a large wooden staff stood next to her. Considering her comparatively flashy and glamorous apparel, that elven woman was clearly the leader of this operation.

These elves seemed to not be fond of humans and even called them apes, implying a level of perceived superiority. Considering the strength of these soldiers, that perceived superiority could be true.

Or maybe not considering that there seemed to be some sort of game-like system governing everyone's physical properties. Which meant that a person's strength should be determined by the acquisition of XP. Or at least through some other means within your personal control, not through your birth. But even then, it could just be a case of elves being born with higher stats than humans. He'd have to figure that out later.

It was clear that this elven woman was using the Mystery Summoning Orb to accquire human slaves. Whilst the cost of each summon was the summoning of a hostile monster, the soldiers earlier implied that this current monster was abnormally strong. Which meant that most of the time, the monster that they summoned would be weak enough to easily kill by shooting it down with arrows.

If slavery was common in this world, it sounded like a pretty cost effective strategy of accquiring slaves. Not only did they get a free slave, but they also got to harvest resources from the theoretically easily killed monster. He was sure they could sell the scales that covered the expana bear for a decent amount just based on how they looked. Or maybe not. Who knew what would be valued or not valued in such a bizarre world?

But of course, there was a catch. The type of human was random, but most importantly, the type of monster was random. There was always the chance that the monster could kill the human that they summoned. Or worse, kill fellow elves. It was a gamble. Looking at the group of shivering, dirty, and naked slaves that the soldiers pushed Ryan into, he hoped the latter would occur. Seeing the widened eyes and sweating faces of the elven soldiers surrounding the pit, it only appeared more and more likely. Amazing. He couldn't believe he was rooting for a damn monster to slay a group of elves.

Ryan nudged one of the slaves next him. She turned to face him. "Do you know what's going on?" He asked. "As you can see, I just got here. I'm very confused. I'd appreciate any information at all."

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She shrugged. "I have no idea," she said before sighing and shaking her head. "Considering how the people who locked us up have treated us, all I know is that whatever's going on is terrible."

"You really don't know any more than that?" Ryan asked. His expectations were low, but if that's all she could glean thus far then even he'd be suprised. "Any guesses at all?"

"Our impending doom is the limit of my guesses." But then she lit up as if she just remembered something. "Another thing I know as that those two big humans at the front are much more experienced than us. If you're interested in learning more, then better ask them."

"Thanks," he said to her with a smile. He walked around and beside the slaves surrounding him until he stood behind the two veteran slaves.

"Both of you are familiar with this world, right?" Ryan asked the two of them.

The veteran slave with a scarred face narrowed his eyes at Ryan. "What do you want?" He asked abruptly.

"Could you fill me in on what's going on?"

"Why would I waste my time filling you in?"

"Ignore him," the other slave said before turning to Ryan with a smile. "I'll fill you in later. But whilst a giant monster is trying to kill us all is not the best time."

Ryan nodded and sighed. He stepped away from them and further into the middle of the crowd. He'd have to wait until later to get definitive information about this world. In the mean time he'd have to figure things out on his own.

Ryan stared at one of the soldiers near the pit.

Race Elf Level 18 Class Archer (Foundation) Mana 100% Blessing ??? Blood Skill ??? Skill (1) ??? Skill (2) ??? Enchantment (1) ??? Enchantment (2) ??? Strength ??? Defense

??? Agility

??? Magic

???

Seemed like the question marks weren't just restricted to the monster. Ryan looked at the other soldiers standing near the pit and the soldiers standing around the slaves. He couldn't see detailed stats of anything. But he could tell that all of them either possessed the Warrior class or the Archer class. He assumed that would affect their base stats and alter the types of skills they could learn.

But most importantly, all of them seemed to have levels between 15 and 20. The expana bear should be able to kill all of them with ease. Hopefully the expana bear would kill enough of them to give him a chance to flee. Ryan smiled at the thought.

The elven woman turned to the robed man standing next to her. "They seem to be having some trouble," she said, pointing at the pit. "I think it'd be best to block this one up, Robar"

"Yes, Countess Gladine," Robar said to her with a bow. He turned away from her and brusquely marched up to the pit.

"That should hold the beast off for a bit." Countess Gladine turned to one of the soldiers by her side. "Head back to the barracks and bring reinforcements. We'll need them if it breaks through."

The soldier bowed. He jogged out of the cave.

The robed man approached the pit, gesturing for the soldiers to stand aside. Ryan stared at him.

Race Elf Level 25 Class Mage (Foundation) Mana 100%

Ryan snorted. He may have been five levels higher than the strongest of the other soldiers, but it was still nothing compared to the expana bear. Why didn't they just run away? They were clearly outmatched. Hopefully there wasn't something he was missing, but there probably was. Actually, who was he kidding? He just arrived in this world. He didn't know anything.

Robar chanted something in that same bizarre and foreign language he couldn't recognize. Must be some sort of incantation used to activate skills. Blue sparks flashed around him. An aqua glow covered him. Some sort of spell? It wasn't a projectile, so did it strengthen him in some way?

Countess Gladine stepped forward a few paces and pressed her palms together, as if in prayer. She chanted an incantation. A golden glow surrounded her body. She pushed one palm away from the other, and forwards. It pointed towards Robar. A golden glow covered him, mixing with the blue, enveloping, entering, and swirling around it.

Ryan gulped. She seemed to be the leader of them all, so she probably had a higher level than them and was the reason they all didn't flee. He stared at her. Her stat screen appeared in front of him.

Race Elf Level 56 Class White Mage (Iron) Mana 75% Skill (1) ??? Skill (2) ??? Skill (3) ??? Skill (4) ??? Skill (5) ??? Skill (6) ??? Enchantment (1)

??? Enchantment (2)

??? Enchantment (3)

??? Enchantment (4)

??? Enchantment (5)

??? Enchantment (6)

???

She wasn't level 100, but close enough to have some sort of effect. She even had 6 Skills and 6 Enchantments compared to the others who only had 2. Was it because she was Level 60? She especially had more Skills and Enchantments than the Expana Bear that seemed to have none. Did that mean elves and possibly even humans were stronger than Monsters of the same level? Or were Monsters balanced out through some other sort of advantage? Maybe they had larger Strength, Defense, Agility, Defense, and Magic stats? He'd have to figure that out later.

Most importantly, her magic seemed to be utility focused, so whilst she couldn't directly damage the expana bear she could enhance the weak stats of her lower-levelled minions, enabling them to do damage to the monster. He could see the blue aura surrounding Robar brighten and increase in size and density. Hopefully it wasn't enough to allow them to kill it too quickly.

Robar stood by the edge of the pit. He pointed his staff at the air above it. He closed his eyes. He began chanting another incantation. A blue glow covered the staff. A spark of light flashed in the air where his staff pointed, above the pit. When the flash faded, a gigantic boulder, with a diameter equal to the pit, fell down and into it. It left no space for the expana bear to squeeze past. It looked too big for the monster to break.

Ryan sighed. The world didn't even give him the chance to see these rotten slavers suffer a bit, let alone escape from slavery. What an awful new world.

As the boulder fell into the depths of the pit, everyone relaxed. The soldiers surrounding the hole sighed in relief and wiped sweat off their faces. But then an ear-splitting roar burst out of it. It came from under the boulder. Was that a scream of agony?

The boom of an explosion burst out of the pit. Fragments of the boulder scattered across the cave.

A beam of swirling and crackling fire shot up and out of the hole. It smashed into the ceiling. The impact rumbled the entire cave. Shards of shattered stone showered the ground.

Countess Gladine froze. The soldiers shuddered. Curiously, the two large and muscular slaves that stood in front of the group didn't appear fazed. In fact, the one with scars covering his entire body and face smirked at the sight of the elven soldier's trembling legs and the elven woman's look of concern.

The monster didn't roar with pain. It seemed to have roared whilst it shot an explosive skill at the boulder. It survived. And considering the boom of its paws hitting rock that rumbled the cave, the sound of which got closer and closer, and louder and louder, it was climbing up the pit.

Countess Gladine prayed once against and covered her Archers with a golden glow. Their muscles enlarged. They pulled their bows back further. Their arrows shot down faster, whistling through the air. Ryan couldn't see the expana bear at the bottom of the pit or what the arrows did to it, but he didn't hear any squeals of pain. He only saw the anxiety continue to smother and infest their faces, and heard the boom of paws bashing against the rocky walls of the pit. The sound got louder and louder. It got closer and closer. It sounded like the expana bear was climbing up the pit.

And there was clearly nothing that could stop its advance.