The Rift

"Mr Sword Hero. I believe you have been brought up to speed regarding the mysterious rifts opening up worldwide."

"Yes, your shadows have told me about them."

"Is there anything you can do to save us?"

"I don't know if my power allows me to do anything about it, but I can defeat the enemies within the rifts. We need more help, though having only me puts the whole world at risk."

The conversation with the king went on for a little longer until we reached an agreement about my funding. 

The Avalon Crown would sponsor my travels to guarantee people's safety. I didn't mind money, so I accepted the job. Ever since I got summoned, I have been treated rather nicely by everyone, but something bothers me to this day.

My team was such a sausage party that no woman wanted to join. It isn't weird since there are barely any women in the adventure trade, but man, I wished for at least 1 girl, and I didn't even have that.

On the other hand, having the boys was a relief; I could at least joke around with them and treat them more like friends instead.

It's been a whole year since I got summoned into this world, and so far, it has been all good. This world is similar to some MMORPGs I had played before, so getting the hang of it was easy.

This world was so similar to a videogame that I found some drive to max my level as high as possible.

It's only been a year, but I've already reached the level of elite adventurers, which took a life of hard work. But because I had a legendary weapon, it took me way less time. It really felt like cheating.

Everything was going so well that I began to doubt if the world would ever need me. After all, this world has very few problems already.

Yet, of course, in good old fashion, the rifts appeared as soon as I opened my mouth. Nobody knows what they are, and I also have no clue, but we know that monsters are summoned within a rift.

It is precisely because of the monsters that I always requested that the nations summon more heroes, but my requests were always dismissed as the nations thought the rifts were fine. 

In my experience, I thought the rifts had more meaning than simple summoning portals. I couldn't explain it, but something felt wrong about the area around a rift. It was as though you were always being monitored while fighting the monsters from within.

It was an eerie feeling like the one you would get from playing horror video games at 2 a.m. and then having to go to bed immediately. It was that type of feeling. One of my subordinates' voice cut my train of thought,

"Master Matt, While you were talking with the king, a rift was spotted near a coastal village not far from here. What should we do?"

"We have to go check it out right away."

"Alright, sir! You heard him, Zell. Get us there with your magic."

"I was already on it, you know?"

"Thank you for your help, Zell; having you makes it all the more easier for us."

I wasn't a sweet talker, but making all my party members feel important or like they had a purpose was vital to a good team. If I ignored minor details like complimenting someone, they might build hatred toward me or their teammates so I always tried to treat all of them with respect. 

Zell opened a portal for all of us to use to get to the coastal village, and sure enough, the area was beginning to be raided by monsters. I jumped into action right away, and my party followed me. We cleared the village streets quickly and efficiently.

We had good synergy, so it only made sense that uncoordinated monsters wouldn't stand a chance, so soon we were at the rift itself. Killing monsters as soon as they came out of the mysterious-looking, void-like portal.

I was intrigued by the rift, but I didn't want to risk anyone's life to see what was on the other side, so I mostly waited outside until it closed. 

The rifts were getting dangerously familiar. The first one was 4 months ago, and the second took 2 months, but now it has reduced to a weekly rift. It's getting out of control quick.

What if the rifts become a daily thing? Even my men and I couldn't keep up with it, so something had to be done about them, but what? We didn't even know what they were, so the solutions were unknown.

Right now, all we have is a group of high-level wizards and professors desperately trying to find any records about similar previous events. 

Progress is staggeringly slow, though. So much so that I would instead investigate myself rather than wait. The rift was still open, and I knew it had at least 1 more hour before it closed based on the previous ones, so I did the unthinkable.

I crossed to the other side of the portal and was immediately greeted with a warning. [Warning!] [The Sword Hero cannot invade another world.] [Warning!] [Due to particular circumstances, the Sword hero may now be allowed to invade another world. Transfer completed.] 

I was suddenly transported to another realm of white lights alongside Zell, who had chosen to accompany me in case we needed to travel out of the rift.

What fools we were. Zell and I were in what looked like a castle garden in the middle of nowhere. Royal knights soon took notice of us and thus rushed to us with swords in their hands.

"Intruders! Drop your weapons, or you will be killed for trying to commit treason against your majesty!"

"I come here in peace. We are not trying to kill anyone."

I said as Zell threw away his staff in a heartbeat. 

Ugh, this kid was so stupid. Couldn't he use common sense to summon a portal for us to escape through? What a dummy!

"Drop your sword NOW!"

"Alright, that's enough. We are doing this the old-school way. Sword teleport!"

[No teleport points registered. Teleport failed]

"Hehehe uhm, hello."

I was arrested right after my embarrassing realization that I was in another world. I guess that was why Zell didn't choose to use his portals, as he needed to know how the place looked to find it, and since this was another world, he had no idea where to go. Well, shit, that was just great. 

"Hey, Master Matt, how will we get out of this one?"

"I don't know Zell. Our stats have been dropped back to level 1, and our skills are too high to use, yet we need to convince the crown that we are good guys."

I was in deep trouble now; if Zell couldn't use his magic, we couldn't return to our world. Could he even do it? Oh man, I screwed up big time today!