Kill The Old Ones!

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"It’s time..."

Ren felt the fluctuations of space nearby before a chaotic swirl of a portal completely manifested. He wasn’t the only one. The kings, the emperor, and Diana also felt it ahead of time too, and they’re all looking at where it was coming from.

About a minute later, a sharp sound echoed out. It sounded like glass mirrors shattering to pieces. When everyone else looked over, they saw a visible crack in the surface of reality not too far from where they are, and shortly later, the cracks peeled off, revealing a portal leading to the secret realm.

The portal itself was dozens of meters high and wide; it was large enough for armies to walk right through without squeezing.

Ren could feel the tension rose amongst the participants. Even the kings and the emperor himself looked solemnly at the portal.

Emperor Christopher cleared his throat and spoke to them once more.

"Dear representatives of my beloved kingdom, it is time. The entrance to the secret realm—’The Stairs’—is here."

"Once you reach the other side, please be alert. We have no way of knowing or confirming whether you are dropped off to a safe location or not."

"Sadly, we also can’t confirm whether this entrance could also be used as an exit for you to return from a year from now."

"The only way to know that is a portal shows a sign of manifesting at the edge of the secret realm a month before the ranking war ends. If they appear, they will manifest in time like what happened here, and you can use them to return here, to this very space. From here, you can return to your respective cities safely."

"If there’s only two weeks left before the ranking war ends and none of you have seen any portals manifesting, then that means this is a one-way passage. Do not worry, once the event ends, you’ll be automatically transported to the 1st floor lobby, and from there, if you work hard enough, you’ll discover a way to return here—to the Basement Floor."

"As for the criteria and mechanics of the Imperial Ranking War, all of you will learn about it once you emerge on the other side."

"I’d like to remind you that you aren’t competing with each other. All 51 of you are a team. Your contenders are the representatives from other empires. Try not to cause conflict against each other; focus on what you can do to contribute rather than what you can do to take advantage of your teammates."

"I’ve said all I need to say," the Emperor declared. "From here on out, the rest depends on you. Go, and do your best. We await good news from you."

Ren stepped forward once the emperor was done speaking. He clasped his hand and bowed to him and the kings before looking back briefly at his team and tilting his head towards the portal, signalling them to follow him.

He didn’t wait for their response. He began marching ahead, bravely stepping into the unknown territory without any hesitation.

Lily, of course, followed him. She was nervous, yes. But Ren’s broad shoulders and his aura of responsibility made her feel secured.

Since he’s the leader of his team, they had no choice but to follow him. They can’t exactly show cowardice now and lose face for the kingdom they represent.

King Petyr wore a barely hidden smile of approval and pride at Ren’s attitude.

Then, Diana followed them. But not before nodding to her father before doing so.

What Ren did created a domino effect. He led, and the rest followed. Nobody wants to be looked down on for not following or showing a lot of hesitation, so they did their best to keep up, even though deep down, they still harbored hesitation in their hearts.

**

Going through the portal wasn’t a pleasant experience.

Even though most of them have experience being teleported to another location from their experience in the dungeons, this one felt more intense and heavier for some reason. As such, everybody felt like it was their first time experiencing teleportation again.

Some felt nauseous, some hurled and heaved, some felt weak and needed a moment to stay still to recover from the dizziness, and only very few people managed to remain perfectly fine.

Ren was one of those, and he noticed that Diana was one too.

But he didn’t pay her too much attention right now because there were other things that are far more important than her.

For one, Ren noticed that his clothes were gone.

They were replaced by a simple leather tunic, brown pants, and wooden slippers. Even his underwear wasn’t spared. He could feel his nuts hanging low.

It wasn’t just him.

The rest were also wearing the same leather clothes. There’s a uniform design for males and for females. Nobody was unique from each other.

’This was fine,’ Ren thought to himself. Losing his comfortable clothes and his underwear wasn’t a big deal. At least he’s not completely naked upon arrival here; that would’ve been more annoying.

Next, he tested another thing, and that was inventory.

He tried summoning it to see its contents. But after a couple of attempts, there was nothing, not even a peep or a sign that it’s heeding his summons. He also tried getting items from it anyway, but that too failed, which led him to another discovery.

’Inventory’s sealed. Annoying, but not the end of the world. Wasn’t expecting it to be an exception, to be honest.’ He sighed inwardly.

The next thing he did was to scan the environment.

The warning of the king and emperor was still fresh on his mind; their safe arrival wasn’t guaranteed. So, he didn’t hesitate to immediately scan their environment to confirm their safety.

He did this while also working on spreading his sensory network. It will take time, but at the very least, he could eventually map out the secret realm.

Ren closed his eyes and focused on the feedback.

They arrived on top of a hill surrounded by rainforest. Aside from wild game and weak monsters nearby, he couldn’t sense any real threat.

"Where are we?"

"Wait! What happened to my clothes!?"

"Oh my god! What’s this ugly thing we’re wearing?"

"Shit, what’s that sound?"

"This is so cool!"

"My underwear’s gone. How about you?"

"Same!"

"Hey! I know that my nipples are poking through my shirt, but that’s not an excuse for you to ogle at him. Keep that up and I’ll gouge your eyes out!"

"Guys! Can you open your inventories? I can’t open mine!"

"Holy crap! Same! I can’t open mine either!"

"Me too!"

"No! This can’t be!"

"This isn’t happening! My luggage is in there! My spare clothes and food! How can I live without them!"

"I bought enough supplies to last for a decade, and now you’re telling me that I can’t even grab a single one? You’re killing me here!"

"Fuck that! We don’t have weapons!"

"Yeah! And they said that there are monsters here. How are we supposed to survive?"

Panic and fear were sprouting as the participants noticed their situation. With their clothes and gear gone, and their inventories inaccessible, they felt exposed and weak.

Nobody warned them about this. They weren’t prepared. They thought that, at the very least, all they’d worry about was how to clear monsters and stop the representatives of other kingdoms from getting ahead.

They were prepared to cleave through hoards of monsters, prepare traps and ambushes for enemy representatives, and compete with each other on who’s going to contribute more for the empire.

They weren’t prepared for the fact that they will have to build their own shelter, hunt their own food, and be disarmed and left vulnerable to this strange and undoubtedly dangerous world.

Scree!!

Suddenly, a loud screech echoed above, which was then followed by a large shadow looming above them.

When they looked up, they saw a humongous hawk flying above them. It emitted a heavy and hostile aura, and they definitely felt targetted.

This huge bird definitely saw them as worms sticking out from this lump of soil, and it’s getting ready to dive and to pluck them out to feed them to its chicks.

"Oh, no! No!"

"Gods! Get me out of here!"

"We’re going to die!"

Panic descended among the group, and they hurriedly scrambled to escape from the eyes of the big hawk. However, they’re a little too late because it was already diving down.

But just as they’re all about to collapse in despair, somebody made a move.

"Oh, look! Dinner’s delivering itself to me. How nice."

Ren’s casual voice echoed out, and they saw him walking towards the bird with a confident gait.

They thought that he had lost his mind out of fear. But he proved that wrong when he stomped one foot forward, clenched his fist, and threw a punch that broke the sound barrier.

His punch had a strong penetrative force that turned the bird’s brain into paste without damaging the rest of its body.

It lost control of its flight and fell right before Ren, kicking up a cloud of dust that obscured both him and the bird for a bit.

When the smoke cloud cleared, everybody could only speechlessly look at the heavily tatted guy crouching on top of the bird’s dead body, whistling a tune while systematically harvesting it for its value.