I was born in a dungeon of the darkest corners. Left to fend for myself since birth but that’s just the way it is for goblins. Parental bonds mean nothing to us. We don’t even know who is responsible for giving us this life.

Although I have no memories of my mother but I'm sure it must be an unfortunate female of other race.

That's just how it is. We goblins are an all-male race. We breed by "borrowing" females form other races.

With or without their consent.

I loathe my kin's ill practice but I'm a hypocrite.

You gotta admit, there's some unfathomable pleasure in taking a woman against their will. While I'm repulse by it, I have lost myself to my unearthly desires a few times.

I was never like any other goblins. I have felt the error in our ways ever since I was old enough to wield a sword. I’m not just different in those aspects, I am a rare variant too. A Mage Goblin. I am able to utilize the Mana flowing within my body.

I later learn that every sapient races and individual possesses Mana but only few can utilize it.

While most tribes see this as a proud thing, not mine. My leader shuns me instead. Jealousy and envy written all over his face. Although he would very much like to discard me, he knows that a mage variant goblin is an important asset to the tribe.

Thus, I was left alone, for now.

We goblins live only up to twenty years unless we evolve. Which is why we cared little for petty morality. We indulge in what we want without any mind to the says of others. Such behavior probably stems from our short lives.

Still, I felt guilt unlike my kin.

Everyday, every night, I closed my eyes, drifted into sleep with those horrified and despair eyes of the women I raped. I hate myself for finding pleasure in it but I can’t help it. It just felt too good.

I thought I would never have the courage to rebel nor to disobey the way of my kind.

Shortly after I became an orc at the age of ten, I met four peculiar goblins.

Since monsters are born without names, I don't have any way of addressing them. I'll just call them the four as a collective.

The four also share my views on our ways. In fact, they have never once touch a woman before. They were considered odd, incompetent, and defective. Like me, they are shunned by the tribe.

They reached their breaking point when our tribe caught another group of adventurers. This group was different. Normally, we have to brave through the dungeon, use a few teleporting circles to reach the surface but this group came to us from the surface.

Our clan head mobilized the whole tribe to ambush the adventurers.

It was a big haul that day with little casualties.

Though we may seem to indulge ourselves in every female we get our hands on, we are actually quite fickle with our choice of female.

There were these two adventurers. A tanned skin and a yellow skinned. Their bodies resembled more of a man's than a woman's. Thus, my tribe used them as sports instead of breeding.

The harsher than usual treatment for this two became the turning point for the four.

The four goblins decided to save them when they could no longer watch. They begged for my help as they know I share their views.

I didn't want to. I was afraid.

As I planned to have a taste of the yellow skinned, the way she looked at me, it trigger something in me.

I found strength then albeit temporary.

I immediately said my sorry and proceed to untie the two. I want to save the others but there wasn't any time. There wasn't even enough time to save the two. The leader had saw right through me. They were waiting at the exit.

We were caught. The two human females, me, and the four goblins.

As punishment for betraying my own kind, we were all used for sports.

I begged for the female humans’ forgiveness in my heart. I can tell that they think that I set them up.

I keep begging and begging.

I didn't want it to end like this.

Why?

Why didn't it go right?

Just when I started to listen to my heart, I'm bestowed with such accursed luck.

Is this how everything it’s meant to be?

Is it so wrong for me wanting to be different?

I hate this.

I hate my life.

I hate that I was born an orc.

I hate everything.

Forgive me, everyone.

I can't save you all.....

And then, he came. A boy with wretched appearance and drenched in the blood of his foes. Possessing an absurd amount of Mana that his own body can barely contain, he nonchalantly stepped into our lair.

The human expression that perfectly describes this boy’s demeanor would be, "no fucks were given".

While my kin and tribe saw a reaper, I saw my salvation.

Fear lingers in his eyes but instead of letting the fear control him, he let it fuel his actions and rage.

I knew not of his purpose in stumbling into a goblin lair. One would think he came to rescue his kind but he looked a bit surprise at seeing the women. He looked lost to me.

With unbelievable dexterity, celerity, and strength, he slaughtered my kind. He slaughtered them all. Without a single shred of mercy.

When his eyes rested on me, I can tell he hasn't had enough of bloodshed.

I thought I would be afraid but I'm not. Instead, I welcome it. I wished to atone for my sins. If my death here is my atonement, then so be it.

As I close my eyes and awaited for retribution, she spoke out.

The woman that I have tried to have a taste of, she defended me.

She and her friend begged for my mercy.

I didn't quite understand her goals in that action but I guess she is just that good of a person.

Although this boy, Hyx has yet to completely trust us, he does not look at me like I'm a repulsive being like every other humans.

I think he actually even like the company.

I was surprised that he even knew Helix and monster language.

He's one surprise after another.

And thus, my new life begin.

It wasn't a pretty one though.

Monsters kept coming at our way and so did misfortunes.

I have thought that Hyx was just a cold and uncaring person but I was wrong.

He's just afraid. I realized how he never looked at us in the eyes if he doesn't need to. He was afraid of being different to our eyes. He realized how unusual his strength is. In many ways, he's just like me.

He held back a lot when demonstrating his strength. Whenever a fight is over, he would always glance back to see our reactions.

Like me, he doesn’t want to be different. He seeks acceptance.

Hyx Atlas. I will never hate you. You have given me a new life and saved the ones that I can't. You are not an evil in my eyes. If anything, you are a benevolent angel to me, my savior and salvation. You have my eternal gratitude, Hyx.

We monsters never truly believed in Gods. I never did either. I don't believe in such things.

But now I do.

I believe in you.

From now on, you, Hyx Atlas, is my God.

Though, I hope you won't shot me a terrifying glance when I tried to call you master for the first time.

"It...i...is C...close." I said, in Common. It's hard for an Orc like me to pronounce any language other than monster language. I thought it would annoy my master but he didn't said anything of it. He might not look like it at first glance but master is a very tolerant person.

"Close? There's still at least a hundred meters away from the exit." Lubac said, a human and an alchemist. A boorish person but always forgiven by master, after some veiled or direct threat. I think master kept the human alchemist around to quench his boredom.

But.... I can't be sure nor can I ask master.

Why, you ask?

Just moments ago, master has fainted. We don't know why. He just suddenly collapsed. With the whole dungeon's collapse just behind us, we need to make haste but master, forgive me for saying this, is slowing us down.

We thought this would make us unable to keep up with our guide, which is a wisp but I was wrong. The wisp isn’t matching our pace, it is at is own. And its pace is slow. Dragging master puts our pace perfect with the wisp’s.

At Barthy and Cormy's suggestion, the four of us are dragging master along by his limbs since none of us is strong enough to carry him. Please forgive us after you wake up, master. I will at least be prudent enough to not touch your tail. I heard animals are sensitive with their tail. I don't know if master shares the same trait but I don't want to find out.

Having said that, it won't actually be any different if master is awake. The wisp, our guide is not moving any faster. Even the collapse is nearing to where we are, the wisp is not rushing. Does the wisp not fear death?

What was that?

Have we tried to wake master up?

Of course, we did.

.....

We did....

In fact, we tried various methods but none seemed to wake master up. I hope the red mark of my hand print on master's cheek disappears by the time he wakes up.

While the human alchemist is complaining about everything, I'm wondering if master had finally give in to his exhaustion. It wouldn’t be any wonder if that is indeed the reason. Whenever we stop for breaks, master was always the one to volunteer to stay watch. If anyone oppose, we are offered a deadly glare. I wonder if master distrust us as an individual or of our abilities.

I hope master simply fainted due to exhaustion. However, that wouldn’t explain the strange occurrence of master’s Mana flow.

Even though I don't have the means to perceive Mana in its purest form like master, I can feel master's Mana flow being very unstable. I think the human alchemist also noticed but he said nothing of it. He's afraid, a rational fear of making things more complicated.

Dragging master along took more time than we thought but we managed to pull him out of the passage before the collapse caught up. As soon as we are out of the passage, it completely buries up behind us. There is no turning back now.

Although we're out of the dungeon, we aren't exactly happy. We have thought that this was the way out because of the bright lights pouring in and it is where the wisp is guiding us to but....

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

We're still underground.....

but....

Before us, is a city. What's left of one. It is deserted and run down. A ruin.

A city as big as the capitals I heard from the whispers among my kin.

The ceiling, the roof, there has to be at least some hundred meters distance from the roof to the ground.

Are we really still underground?

There are no cyan vines here and the traces of the miasma I have been feeling ever since birth is no more. It's like this place is a completely different location.

The source of light is from the ceiling. Orange flowers as large as a human are growing on the ceiling. They shine as bright as the sun itself. Sunflower? I could be wrong but I remember reading about a flower already named sunflower. Since I'm not that interest in flowers, I can't remember.

This city is way too huge and vast. The radius.... or is it diameter? I think it's diameter. It's about five killy meters from here to the other end.

Killy? Or was it something else? I'm not sure.

""Wow~"" Barthy and Cormy lets out such sounds upon witnessing the vast city.

"What the fuck?" The human exclaimed something rude. He behaves more like an orc than me.

Eh human, mind your language please. Master is the only one that can be pardoned.

"How is this possible?" Dropping master's limb without caring, he walks towards the city. "It must be at least five kilometers wide in diameter."

Oh, it's kilo.

"And the architectures, it's.... it's ancient but.... advanced?"

I cough to remind the human of master.

He looks back and mumbled an "Oh."

While we're standing here exchanging words, the wisp has went on ahead of us.

There's a ramp with sharp turns at every end that leads down to a forest. To reach the city, we must go through the forest. The wisp went down the ramps without a shred of hesitation. It's not well-paved. It might be even more terrible than the paths in the dungeon. I hope master wouldn't wake up with a sore on his back.

I have to point out, it takes a weight like master's to have us match our speed to the wisp. Can you please be faster?

The forest we need to go through is at least half a kilometer. The vegetation is dense. It has overgrown till the paths are no longer in sight.

There are some trees with exceptionally large leaves and a comb of long and thin yellow fruit. We pluck the leaves and use it as a slide to drag the unconscious master.

He looks so cute and tamed when he's sleeping. You would never realize that he's the same person who have killed hundreds of monsters.

"Banana trees?" The human mumbled something unknown to me. I ignored it and asked him to help with master.

Throughout the forest, the human keeps mumbling some names unfamiliar to me whenever some kind of new plant came into sight. Although, I did saw some trees that resembles the ones I saw on the surface. I have been to the surface many times but never too far from the dungeon.

“Curious. No monster. No animals. Nothing.”

As the human said, there is nothing in sight but trees and more trees. They only people here are us. There’s really no monster.

There are bugs and insects though but they are of small sizes. I use to thought bugs are suppose to be at least the size of humans but my constant trip to the surface told me otherwise. I think that's one of the reasons I hate living down here. They have small bugs and insects. Like me, master also has an aversion for bugs. He is always quick and efficient in dealing with monsters but when it comes to bugs, they always ended up in at least three pieces.

And being spilled by blood from various monsters, he only ever wiped clean of bug's blood. I don't know if master realized but he is very obvious his fears towards bugs.

“What’s wrong?” Cormy asked.

I looked to Cormy and sees him asking the baby Wyrm. It has coiled itself around Cormy’s neck but he’s not complaining, so I guess it’s alright? The baby Wyrm is looking around restlessly.

“What’s wrong with it?” I asked.

“Citra thinks there something stalking us.” answered Cormy.

“Citra?”

Cormy and Barthy points at the baby Wyrm at my question. I see. They named it, Citra.

“Who’s stalking us?”

Cormy did some face gesture at Citra, the baby Wyrm but from the looks of Citra’s response, the answer must be unfavorable.

“She doesn’t know but she sense something is following us.”

She?

Not minding the Wyrm’s gender, I turn to the human for confirmation.

The human didn’t pay much attention to my slow words but advises us to just make haste.

The human really hates us goblins.

By the time we made it out of the trees, we are covered in sweat and dirt. We made it out of the forest in one piece and without any encounters. Citra might just be overly high strung after loosing her parent. Still, I won’t completely neglect the fact that there’s actually something out here with us.

After walking on a short natural well-paved path of dirt, we arrive at a large twin gate. They are made of wood and metal but they are in shambles. They stand in our way but the large hole on the middle of the bottom defeats the purpose of having gates.

We manage to enter the city ruins without any problem. The human has suspected this place being booby-trapped but no such thing happen.

And as I assure myself with that thought....

We heard a loud sound coming from behind us. Smoke of dust came gushing out from the passage we just exited from. The destruction of the dungeon has finished. I hope it will not extend to this place.

Like the gates, the buildings along the cobblestone streets are made of some highly refined wood and metal. Magic formation and circuits run across almost every planks and bars. It is like....

"This whole city seems to run on magic and Mana as its fuel." The human said in awe "Such old and ancient design but their magic...." as he inspect closely on something that looks like a furnace use for heating meat just on the side of the street. We have those back in the lair but only the clan leaders uses it. The smells of roasted lizard meat is always very alluring. Mere foot soldiers like us never get to taste such delicacy.

Although this furnace is different from the one I know of. This one is carved with some interesting markings and lines. The human is tracing his fingers on every one of those weird markings and lines.

After the furnace, the human moves on to another object that is one of the scattered things on the ground.

Oi. What about master? Come back and help..

My experience with magic maybe little compare to others real mages but I can tell that these circuits and formation are too complex for just anyone.

Besides the buildings, some kind of poles or posts are aligned parallel to each other as far the street goes. A lantern is fitted on top of these posts. Are they perhaps the infamous streetlamps found only in prosperous cities?

After walking for a bit more, Cormy stops and raises his hand up, Citra crawls along Cormy’s stretched out arm to point with her head at something in front of us.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Movements ahead?” Cormy relays Citra’s suspicions to me. The two exchange looks then Cormy turn to look at me. “Three, I think?"

"What's wrong?" The human shot us a look.

"A...anyone e...else h...here?" I did my best to be as clear as possible with my words. Let's hope the human can understand from my stuttering.

The human looks blank for a while before asking back "You mean is there anyone else here besides us?"

I nod.

The human sighs. "Well then. We shall see." The human said and chanted some wind magic. A wave of strong breeze spreads out from him while he has his eyes closed.

Is this a scouting magic? Is what I wanted to ask but knowing his attitude, I refrain.

When he opens his eyes, he shakes his head. "Nothing. No one else besides us is within the vicinity, in five hundred meters at least."

I relay what the human said to Cormy and he told Citra so in a peculiar way.

Citra looks at the human’s way to snarl.

“She insisting that she saw something.” Cormy told me.

I ask Barthy if he saw anything but his reply is unfavorable to Cormy's.

The human rolls his eyes with another sigh and said "Come on already. Lets keep moving. We're wasting time here."

Easily like that, the human brushes aside all the worries. Does he truly not worry about the possibility of something else out there?

What’s more, it’s strange.

I wonder if this human ever gets hungry. Me, Cormy, and Barthy ate whenever we stopped for me to remember the paths but Lubac and master didn't. I understand master's reason but not the human's. Does a real mage need not to eat?

"Ah? What happened?" The boorish human lets out another complain.

I sigh and turn to see the reason for his complain. When I saw the reason, even I felt like making a complain.

The wisp has stopped. Its wings has retracted and the light became faint. It's just hovering there without moving.

The human tries to poke it.

"Ouch!" Something repels his finger as he does so.

I can feel Mana rallying to the wisp. It reminds me of the times when master meditates. Is this the same thing? Did the wisp ran out of Mana and it's now replenishing?

"Orc, you know what's going on?" Without any grace, the human asked.

"Re...repleni..nishing..."

Unlike masters who can instantly understood my words, it always takes the human a while to understand it. "Did it ran out of Mana and it's now replenishing?"

Finally. I nod.

And like always, the human groan as loud as he can. It seems to be his habit.

Across from us is a three floored building with red bricks and some light purple metal fittings. Out of all the other buildings, this red building looks the most accommodating. On the ground a little bit front of the non-existent entrance door, is the sign, perhaps? It is written in some language I have no knowledge of.

The human paid no mind to the sign and stepped on it as he entered into the building.

With just me, Cormy, and Barthy, we follow the human into the building. Of course, we didn't forget about master or the wisp.

Haish! Master is very heavy indeed despite not looking like it.

----------------------------------------

The furnace just now is called a stove.

And yes, those are streetlamps. They light up at night.

And the plants here are the same as the ones on the surface.

The buildings here are of old design but with very valuable materials and very refined arkitecty or something, it seems to mean the way a building is build.

These are what the human told me, indirectly. I didn't ask the human of any of these. He didn’t said all those to let me know but more like he was thinking out loud. He kept quiet after realizing he was actually saying everything out loud. I even saw him blush.

Eew. Not cute.

We are currently taking shelter inside the red brick house while waiting for the wisp to finish its rejuvenation.

An awkward silence loomed over us.

We are all sitting on the floor in a circle, facing each other.

There's still no change to master. He is still unconscious.

The human never took his eyes off of us if he can help it.

Barthy and Cormy are sitting side by side, playing with Citra. I don’t know how they did it but they managed to befriend a baby Wyrm. Though Citra has squinted eyes but it can be wide at times. It took me by surprise when our eyes met by accident.

The human is looking at Cormy and Barthy with wariness but at Citra with interest. At first, I thought it was fondness but the mild malice behind those eyes made me think otherwise.

As for me, I'm staring at master. I'm not thinking of any weird by any means. I'm just trying to gauge what's wrong with master. If he had simply collapse from exhaustion, he would be simply be sleeping but master does not look like someone who is sleeping. His breathing is slow and steady, excessively.

Everything about master right now can only be described with one word, still.

It is almost like he's in deep meditation.

But I do not believe master is meditating. I can feel the Mana around him isn't being absorbed, it's just circulating him like a drain hole is plugged and the water is left to chase each other into becoming a whirlpool.

From master's facial expression, he is not in complete serenity nor in a flaring rage but somewhere in between. Standing upright on a thin line of serenity and rage, that was how a book I read described it as. That's also what I felt from master.

What's happening to you?

And then a growl broke the veil of silence.

I thought it was a monster but I was wrong.

It came from Barthy and Cormy. They are hungry. I guess the same goes for Citra. She’s looking at me with those sad widened eyes.

It hasn't been that long since our last meal but our meal are little yet frequent. This is to prevent from feeling drowsy from over consuming substance but we have ran out of provisions.

I got myself off the floor and the human's eyes follow my movements. "G...going to g...get f...ood." I told the human.

The human raised an eyebrow but narrows it later.

Why such reaction? Does taking the initiative offense you too?

"You will go and look for food?"

"Yes..."

"And where will you be looking and what will you be looking for?"

The human asked some very logical question. I don't have an answer. I can't just answer that I planned to look around until fortune smiles upon me.

The human sighs.

"Then, I'll go. I know where to look and what is edible."

I stare at the human.

"What? Surprise that I volunteered?"

I give a half shrug and half nod.

"Well, it would just be very spiting to hear the growling from the two without stop. Might as well help to get back the peace faster." The human said while scratching the back of his head. A bashful response. I can’t tell if he’s actually shy or he really is just irritated.

I have heard master always muttering the word that sounded like "Tsundra...?" whenever the human showed such behavior. I wonder what it meant?

As the human is about to leave, I stop him.

"What?" He asked with his eyes crossed.

"T...take B...Barthy..."

"What?"

"What?" Barthy seemed to catch the meaning in my words that I have said in Common. Must be because he heard his name being uttered.

"Why?"

"H...help g...gather. M...much f...faster."

The human sighs. He sighs a lot and so did master. A common human trait?

"Fine.” He lets out another groan as he scratches his head. In just a short amount of time, the human has groaned and sighed a lot. “You have a point there." Although he acknowledged but he went out of the door without waiting for Barthy.

I motioned Barthy to follow and assures him it’ll be fine and I'll be staying here with Cormy to take care of master. He wishes me good luck and follows after the human. Citra was about to follow after Barthy but Cormy caught her in time.

The baby Wyrm is quite agile and quick but I’m even more surprised at how fast Cormy reacted to Citra’s sudden movement. Perhaps Cormy has some hidden potential?

I hope the human doesn't do anything stupid while master is out....

"Geh?" Cormy exclaims suddenly.

"What's wrong?"

He points at master.

Huh? Did something happened or is something happening?

When Cormy realizes his point isn't getting through to me, he holds up master's hand to me and points near master's back.

Only then I realized what Cormy is trying to point out.

Master's claws are gone. Even if he retract his claws, the sharpness of the nails and the slight deform shape to his fingers can be seen but no more. His hands are normal like a human's and his tail is missing.

I apologize in my heart as I lift master's upper lip. Hm. Just as I suspected. Like his nails, his teeth are sharp anymore too. I peel back his eyelids too, his eye color have changed back into black from the pale black.

Is he... Is master transforming back into a human? I have never really seen master as a human because he is too astonishing to be one.

"He? Not good?" Cormy said as he lifts up combs of gray hair, master's hair. Master has lost all his hair. Balding, I believe that’s the word for loosing hair.

Even the black veins on master's skin is subsiding.

Cormy pokes master's forehead but I rebuked him immediately.

I don't know what's happening but I don't think it's something bad.

Speaking of that, I have been hearing repeating sounds of something banging on a wall. I realize it's coming from behind me.

When I look back, I saw the wisp, glowing its radiant cyan once again like a star. It's trying to get out of the house but it can't. Rather, it’s not?

It’s just hitting itself on the door.

The more it tried and the more it failed, the harder the wisp bangs on the door.

What is it trying to accomplish by doing that?

I put my rough hand between the wisp and the door and it stops knocking itself on the door. The wisp turns to me. It maybe without face but I feel like its glaring at me.

I can feel its anger and frustration but it's mild.

After staring at each other for a small amount of time, I poke the wisp. It shines brightly in defense and repel my finger.

"Geh? Bad?" Cormy asked in a panic when he saw me getting hurt. I quickly assured him that I was the one at fault.

"Hmph!"

What? Did the wisp just make a sound?

The wisp is still glaring at me. It knocks itself on the door and return its stare back at me.

Does it want to go out? But we can't move yet, the human and Barthy are still out, y’know?

{N...not yet.} I told the wisp in Helix language.

Although I'm not as fluent as I am in monster language but it is still better than Common. The words in Helix are much easier to pronounce. Master had asked me before of where I learned Helix and I told him I learned it from reading one of the many unfortunate adventurer's book.

I remember reading a scholar’s words about chanting. The scholar states that chanting in Helix is much more efficient in Mana consumption and gives more strength into the spell. The scholar based his theory on that the civilization from the Helix times created the Arcane Arts and therefore using the original language that created magic gives more power.

When I told these to master, he grabbed my shoulders, leaned his face forward to mine -- I had told master has some weird desires but he is just very curious on what I did with the book. I told him I left it back the lair. He then let me go with a dejected look. Master at that time was the most terrifying of all times.

{Gununu.....}

Hm? What’s that sound?

It’s the wisp.

It is making some strange sounds now.

As I'm about to ask it what's wrong, the wisp shines as brighter than normal before my eyes, dying the room its color.

When the lights died down, a short girl with cyan hair with twintails dressed in a blue dress is kneeling on the floor while holding both of her fist up.

She looks adorable with her swollen cheeks and squinted eyes.

Who is this girl.....?

"Mou~" The girl made such a sound.

Mou?

"I want to go out already and finish my task so I can go back already. Mou~!" She said with a vexed tone and her cheeks are inflated. She's pouting.

Huh? She's speaking in Common.

The girl has a weird manner in speech.

Like master.

Just who is she?

And where did the wisp go?

I don't even know what's going on anymore.