Server 1157

"Mmmmh…" Realizing that it was time to wake up, Mini groaned one last time and opened his eyes, getting into a supine position. All he saw was a lovely sight of the stars, still partially glowing in the dawn light. "What?" He sat up and looked around.

This was the cliff where he always liked to spend time alone. Located on one of the top slopes of the highest mountain in the region where he lived, this cliff allowed him to watch the whole city. He preferred to come here every week and watch for hours whenever he could.

"Ah, they are here." He happily noticed the set of 4 beers standing next to him and took a sip, opening one's lid. And immediately after, he spit the amount he sipped on the ground. "What the hell!" In fact, this brand of beer was his favorite, but it lacked an iota of flavor. It was as if he hadn't even had a drink. "Ah yes…" A pleasant smile appeared on his face, remembering what had just happened.

And right after, giant human silhouettes began to appear translucently in the middle of the sky before him. Pump… Canosfer… Buz… Scaar… Karmalita… Mini's friends in the game, who did not have many friends in real life, were appearing in the sky one by one with a smile on their faces.

Continuing to drink his beer, which had no flavor to him, he slowly raised his free hand and looked at it with a bitter smile. "So… I wasn't enough strong to protect them again…" But still, the happiness on his face did not diminish because he felt at peace in a way he had not felt in a long time.

"NO, ON THE CONTRARY, YOU WERE STRONG ENOUGH BUT YOU WERE DECEIVED!"

He heard a mixture of human and tiger shouts coming right behind him, but surprisingly, he did not panic and turned his head slightly to the side, looking in that direction with calm eyes. Ymir, Kamaitchi, Manticore… Countless monsters that the game copied from real Earth plots had come close to the cliff and completely surrounded him. He continued to stare at them blankly, not responding…

"YOU FOUGHT AMAZINGLY ON THERE! AND YOU EARNED OUR RESPECT! IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO JOIN US!!!" The Typhon monster, who seemed to be the most prominent and most powerful, continued to speak.

"What the hell are you talking about!? Did you think I was too stupid not to notice that I was dead? Stop your little illusion games and go somewhere else in purgatory and leave me alone!"

"ILLUSION!? DEFINITELY NO! YOU DID NOT DIE, MY PLAYER FRIEND!"

Confused by the monster's last word, Mini frowned, reexamining the objects that gave him the idea that he was dead. He sniffed the beer he was drinking, it didn't have the heavy smell it should have.

Then he looked again at the giant silhouettes of his friends in the sky. Something happened suddenly and the silhouette of the Pump, which had appeared first and foremost, slowly faded away. "What?" Getting more serious, he stood up from the ground and stared into the void left of Pump's vanishing silhouette. "W… Who was that?"

Something terrible had happened… He couldn't remember Pump anymore… He remembered very well what he had experienced before he came here. He remembered what he had experienced in the real world… He remembered what he had experienced from day one in the Erghon world. He had been defeated in battle by someone not long ago. Soon after, someone else came to him and forced him to drink Athena's blood. And right after, he opened his eyes here. But the persons… They were slowly fading from his memory… And his friends and figures disappeared one by one, waiting for short intervals of time…

"OHHHH… IT SEEMS YOU ARE STILL IN PROGRESS…"

"What!? What is this?"

"WE ALL LIVED THE SAME THING TOO… THIS IS HOW THAT PROCESS WORKS… SHORTLY… WE, MONSTERS WERE ALL HUMANS WHO HAVE FORGOTTEN THEIR IDENTITIES…"

"..." Mini didn't like what had happened and what he had heard.

"WE WERE THE PLAYERS OF THE PREVIOUS SERVERS…"

"Nonsense!"

"NONSENSE? HAVE YOU EVER WITNESSED A MONSTER ATTACK A HUMAN?"

"..." Mini hesitated because the monster was right. He had never heard of such a thing, except for a few minor incidents reported. The monsters were only attacking to protect themselves if they were attacked, other than that they didn't even approach humans. "Mostly, yes… But not zero!"

"YES, BECAUSE THIS WORLD FORCE US TOO… ANOTHER SYSTEM WORKS OUT FOR US. WHENEVER AN EVENT APPEARED ON YOUR LIST, A SIMILAR ONE APPEARS FOR US TOO. OUR EVENTS ARE MOSTLY ESCAPING-BASED. ALTHOUGH THE SYSTEM GIVES US MORE BONUSES IF WE KILL HUMANS. BUT BECAUSE WE WERE ONCE HUMAN TOO… AND SO THAT YOU DON'T SHARE THE SAME FATE AS US… WE ALWAYS CHOSE TO ESCAPE… OF COURSE EXCEPT FOR THE MINOR OCCURRENCES…"

"So how does this absurd system work?" Mini was beginning to be convinced and asked, implying his own situation.

" WHENEVER A PLAYER DIES, A MONSTERIZATION PROCESS STARTS. YOU FIRST BECOME A SHADOW, AND YOU ALSO WITNESSED THAT I ASSUME…"

Yes, Mini had remembered that. They encountered these shadow beings when they raided the castle with Pump and Hell on the night of Dark's enthronement. Although he did not remember Pump, Hell, and Dark in person or name, he did remember the events of that night very well.

"ALTHOUGH THE MEMORIES REMAIN, YOU FORGET ALL THE PEOPLE YOU KNOW IN YOUR LIFE IN THIS PROCESS. AND NEXT STEP WILL BE BEING A MONSTER COMPLETELY. NORMALLY THESE TWO PROCESSES TAKE TIME. BUT THAT LITTLE DEVIL DID SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY TO YOU. THAT IS WHY YOUR PROCESS RAN SO FAST. AND THAT IS WHY WE NEED YOU!

"Need me?"

"YES. YOU ARE THE FIRST HUMAN WE COULD COMMUNICATE EVER UNTIL TODAY. THE SYSTEM BLOCKED US ALL THE TIME. WHENEVER YOUR PROCESS FINISH, THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THAT YOU CAN COMMUNICATE BOTH WITH HUMAN AND WITH US!"

"So?"

"YOU SHOULD EXPLAIN THE REALITY ABOUT US TO THEM. YES, WE ARE MONSTERS AND THERE IS NO TURNING BACK FOR US ANY MORE. IT IS ONLY A KILL-OR-DIE MATTER… BUT STILL, WE ARE DOING EVERYTHING TO NOT HARM YOUR PEOPLE. BUT MY FOLKS' PAIN… IT IS NOT AN EASY THING ON THE OTHER HAND… LIVING OR WITNESSING… YOU SHOULD EXPRESS OUR SORROW TO THEM… AND WE SHOULD FIND A COMMON SOLUTION TO MINIMIZE EACH SIDE'S LOSS…"

"..."

"A WARNING SCREEN WILL APPEAR FOR YOU SOON AND IT WILL SAY THAT YOU HAVE TO CONTINUE THE GAME AS A MONSTER FROM NOW ON."

And it happened as Typhon said. A warning screen appeared before Mini's eyes that only he could see… But a complex one…

"Yes, something is here now…"

"SEE, DO YOU BELIEVE ME NOW?"

"But this is not just an information screen!"

"WHAT!"

"Yes, this is an optional selection pool."

"SELECTION, WHAT SELECTION? I NEVER HEARD OF SUCH A THING! WHAT DID THAT HUMAN DO TO YOU, BOY!!!?"

"It says "

"OK. IT SEEMS THAT YOU HAVE TWO OPTIONS AND THE SYSTEM STILL GIVES YOU A CHANCE TO REMAIN HUMAN…"

"No, there are five."

"FIVE!? HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? THERE AREN'T EVEN FIVE RACE CLASSES IN THIS GAME! WHAT ARE THOSE?"

"First one is . And next to it it says "If you choose this class, the functions will work to turn you back to human, but you have a 5% chance of survival".

The second one is . There is no comment around it."

"THAT IS THE SHADOW PROCESS THAT I TOLD YOU BEFORE. NORMALLY IT IS NOT AN OPTIONAL THING. SYSTEM TRIES TO TRICK YOU, IT IS A COMPLETELY SLAVERY PROCESS, NEVER MIND!"

"And the third one is "

"THAT IS IT, MY BOY. CHOOSE IT!"

Mini continued reading, pretending not to hear that last sentence. "The fourth one is . And there is a huge comment next to it.

"HAH HA! IT IS KINDA DELICIOUS THING. WHAT DO YOU THINK?" Typhon looked interested, but it was clear that he thought this option a disgusting one.

"Priviliges are my assss…" Mini didn't care either. "And the last one is…"

"WHAT HAPPENED, WHY DID YOU STOP?"

"Last one is !"

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?"

"I do not know either. Its comment is also weird.

"..."

"..."

"BOY… DON'T!"

Mini stared into space without answering.

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"...s…dsads…hhhHEAR ME OUT!!!"

A third voice suddenly rang out from the abyss, and both the monsters and Mini looked around, but they couldn't see anyone.

However, the external shouts and echoes continued. "hHEAR ME OUT, YOU BSTRD! HEAR ME OUT AND COME OUT OF THIS BLACK HOLE YOU WERE FORCED INTO!!! OTHERWISE ME, PUMP WILL KILL YOU PERSONALLY!!!"

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"Hey, Monster King! I was happy for a moment, thinking that I was dead and that I was now at peace after getting rid of this turmoil." A small smile appeared on Mini's face. "But now I understand better that this torture will never end. This system has captured us all forever, and even if we die, it will continue to torture us by transferring our souls to another race each time…"

"BOY, I WARN YOU AGAIN! DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!"

"Why? While the enemy of all of us is so clear, none of us have even made an effort to fight against this enemy all this time. We didn't deal with the real enemy and tried to kill each other all the time. Our only hope was to get out of this hell but look… There is no salvation in this way… So we are on the wrong track. So we need a new enemy…"

"STOP HIM!!!"

Acting at the behest of their leader, the monsters charged toward Mini to prevent him from making a choice on the imaginary screen.

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Five minutes passed and everything was calm again. Minotaur monster was holding Mini's throat with one hand and holding a big axe with the other hand, awaiting the leader's new order.

"So…" Blood trickled down from his feet, which were lifted off the ground. His clothes were torn, and he was staring at the sky against his will, as huge claws encircled his throat. "I could not win even in my own subconscious imagination…" At the same time, he continued to smile. "What kind of loser am I?"

"SORRY, KID. BUT I SHOULD DO THAT. IT IS NOT A JOINING US ISSUE ANYMORE. IT IS JUST TO KEEP YOU FROM BEING DRAGGED DOWN A DARKER PATH…"

"Thank you, Monster King. You are not a bad guy… But you were a little bit late…"

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[ race has been generated]

[The cooldown period of 5 minutes required for race change has been completed.]

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Mini had already physically made his choice before the monsters even reached him…