1 Chapter 1: The Sudden Realization

A spark came by and my mind was awake. I did a quick feel on my surroundings and found that I was lying on the hard ground with my belly touching the surface. My head throbbed painfully as a soft groan escaped my lips. Yet it somehow felt different this time. My throat croaked in a way that was inhumane and the sound that accompanied it startled the soul out of me.

"Kruaagh…"

But I didn't have the time nor energy to spend thinking on that matter. Though I was stunned and my senses dulled, my ears could still pick up the cries of battle and slaughter. So I bent my elbows to prop my torso up, then twisted my ankle to find balance and stand again.

'I can't lay down any longer. They need me. My comrades need me.'

My body felt lighter than ever before. Was it the adrenaline? Perhaps, since there's no way that a man with half a step inside the grave could feel any lighter than he should be. In fact, I knew that the blow landed upon me moments prior should've struck me dead. So if Lady Fortuna gave me another chance, it would be a shame not to use it.

Moments passed and finally my other senses started to come by. My eyesight that was blurry began to clear up. My nose also started to pick up the stench of blood and iron.

Nonetheless I was taken by surprise. In a battlefield, I knew firsthand that things could go either way, but this … this looked like a completely different battle than the one I was fighting in!

'Wait...where is this?'

The battle that I was fighting in was supposed to be within the ruins of Barcuh. Yet this place was indeed within a city. The fight I was caught in was certainly small in scale. It was but a handful of people against the doomed creature known as Kalvarki. This battle however, was a full-blown siege where to one side stood the men in armor and adventurers, the other, consisted of monsters of the hundred races, including creatures such as goblins, orcs, minotaurs and many others.

My head spun rapidly. This was not good. I couldn't grasp on anything within this situation. The mind that I had, kept popping up questions one after another in bombardment.

'Why am I here?'

'Is this another trick of the enemy? An illusion?'

'And why does this place look so familiar?'

My thoughts however were cut short as I saw a man in full armor. He looked injured as he became out of breath whilst holding onto both his shield and sword with dear life. Instinctively, I approached him. Though, it was strange that he seemed so big and tall. Were the natives here giants of some sort?

The man noticed my presence and as I was trying to ask for further clarification on the situation, my back felt the cold permeating all over. At a last moment decision, I tilted my body to one side as it ultimately created enough momentum for me to roll over to the side.

A split second after, I heard the sound of metal clashing onto the ground, the spot where I previously stood.

"Die, green scum," the man howled.

'Huh...what?'

My eyes widened. Things became much more complicated. All that dizziness came back to me as I couldn't comprehend the situation.

'Did he just tried to kill me?'

I was stunned. But before I had the time to collect my thoughts, the man was already upon me. He brandished his blade, ready to strike down as if it was the last thing he would do.

I was unarmed, confused and tired, mentally speaking. So I merely held one hand up as a weak sign of struggle. Though my brain still caught on that something was wrong, I had to convey to the man to calm down first. So I opened my lips.

"Kruaagh."

!?

It then dawned upon me. This wasn't my voice. Though a momentary thought came by to debunk it, that perhaps my throat was crushed, yet when my eyes shifted to my hand that was held up, my mind concluded to one, objective truth.

'This is not my body?!'

At the same time the man roared as he swung his blade down. I, in turn, screeched at the top of my lungs, hoping for him to stop. But the blade was already on its way.

The moment of judgement came, and a head flung out. To the point that the spine, that connects the head to the body, came out in blood-iron for all to see.

Not mine, but his.

The perpetrator of this gory sight, was an orc. As apparently he took advantage of the chaos and came behind the poor sod to strike the head like a baseball with his jagged club.

Assessing the kill he had done, the orc basked in the glory as he bellowed and smashed one hand to his chest, a bold claim to a near victory. The others after seeing this, also began to howl with him and pushed the humans even further back. Morale was extremely high for the hundred races.

The people defending this part of the city seemed to be the last line of defense as hordes of monsters alike were concentrating their manpower in this path. Alas, that too couldn't last as long and when a few breaking points were made, the whole line crumbled like broken bricks.

Cries of triumph and conquest became the rage and the humans bitterly surrendered.

Amidst of it all, I was silent for the most part. My eyes focused on the grin skin of my hands as I then touched the surface of my face.

'There's no doubt about it.'

'I'm now a goblin.'

I felt a piece of me begin to crack as I even wondered whether I should feel sad about this whole situation. Me becoming a goblin, and the fall of this familiar city.