"Hero, please save our world!"
That was the voice that had been ringing in his head since the moment he opened his eyes, but the problem is… where does this voice come from? All Julian could see was darkness, or maybe he was just blind, but he was one hundred percent sure he was not, because he couldn't feel any physical touch around him, as if he was floating in space, cold and aimless.
"Hero, please save our world!"
The voice sounded in his ears again, but this time Julian could hear it clearly. It sounded soft and feminine, but there was also a hidden desperation in it. It seemed like the voice was struggling to speak.
"Hero… p-please… save… please… my family!"
This time, the intent of the words changed... now it was to save the family. It seemed the owner of the voice was experiencing a dire situation where her family's life was in danger. However, no matter how desperate the voice was, Julian couldn't do anything about it. After all, he didn't know how to get out of this place.
"I don't know who you are, but unfortunately, I couldn't do anything right now. I don't even know if you can hear me, and also I'm sorry because I'm not a hero…"
Indeed, Julian was not a hero or a kind knight in shining armor riding a horse. He was simply a college student who was struggling with life. He was just your average student with nothing special about him. However, even so, he still had humanity in him, so seeing someone struggling, he would help if he could. But in this situation, no matter how the owner pleaded, in the end, it would be useless.
"If I can hear you, maybe God could hear you? Why not try to pray to God instead?"
Julian muttered, even though he didn't know if the voice could hear him.
Suddenly, a blinding light shone before him, covering his eyes as the light engulfed the darkness around him, and he could feel himself moving toward the light.
"A light? Am I finally getting out of this place?"
A small smile formed on his lips, and when he removed his hands, he finally found himself staring at the sun. But his joy was cut short when a familiar voice reached his ears.
"Hero?! It is you, hero?"
Julian turned to face the woman, already imagining her beauty because, judging by her soft and feminine tone, she must be a beautiful woman; he was one hundred percent sure. But when he saw the "woman," the image in his mind shattered like glass, and he was frightened to the core and took a step back in shock.
"What the fuck!?"
Instead of a woman, it was more like a monster that stood before him, a pig that stood like a human, with long white hair like a woman's and dressed like a woman. However, its eyes were round and cute, looking at him with a pleading gaze.
"I'm sorry if my appearance frightened you, hero, but please save my family! I will do anything!" the woman pig pleaded.
His reaction must have hurt her, yet she was still pleading with desperation. However, there was no time to think because if this pig woman was in a dire situation, then he was as well.
"So what do I do?"
He didn't wait for an answer when his question was already answered by a boom that sounded, shaking his ears. The earth shook as Julian stumbled and gazed at what was happening. He was surprised.
"He-y… I-I think what you need is God… because…" Julian's lips twitched. "H-how in the world can I defeat that!?"
Roar!
A terrifying, gargantuan monster, a behemoth of destruction, destroyed everything in its path. Its eyes were filled with fury. Fighting it was a group of pig men trying to fight back, but clearly, all of their effort was useless against the monster.
"How about using your power, hero?" the pig woman asked.
"Diana! Did you finally summon the hero?! You need to hurry up, we can't hold on anymore!"
Leading the group of pig men was a muscular pig, larger than the others. He was holding an axe and shield, shaking from the impact, with wounds all over his body. The reason they could only hold on against such a monster was that the behemoth was sealed with thick chains so that it couldn't use its full power.
"What should we do now?!" Julian panicked. He could clearly see that the chains holding the monster might not last long; a crack had begun to appear on the chain and the ground. He wanted to escape and run away, and in fact, he could have run away the moment he saw that monster, but for some reason, he didn't.
Maybe because he was a hero, or maybe because it was pity for these pig people who needed help, or maybe because he was needed.
"Hero, please use your ability."
"What ability?! Tell me right now!"
"Hero, please close your eyes and try to sense it! According to legends, each hero that is summoned into this world has what is called an Innate Authority. It is similar to Unique Skills to us monsters, but only you can know what your power is, hero!" the pig woman explained.
"Alright!"
Julian closed his eyes, but the shaking ground and the roar of the monster made him unable to focus. His eyes kept twitching. 'Focus, focus. Focus.'
Suddenly, everything quieted down. Once he opened his eyes, he was standing in the darkness again, except there was a ball made of pure light radiating an intense glow, but not enough to dispel the darkness.
As he raised his hand to touch the ball of light, a voice of information surged into his mind, and then words began to appear before him like a status screen.
[Innate Authority: King of Monsters]
Only the name of his Authority appeared; there was no description, but it felt like he already knew how to use it.
"But why King of Monsters? Strange…" he narrowed his eyes, then shook his head as he realized he had no time to think about it. Immediately, when he opened his eyes again, he was back.
"Hero?"
"I already know my Innate Authority, thanks to you. Now it's time to use it."
"Really?! Thank you so much, hero!" The pig woman smiled as relief washed over her.
…
The Nocturne Child, the monster that her family was fighting, was a dangerous being that suddenly appeared out of nowhere and attacked their village. Their village lost many lives, including her brothers, sister, and mother, and now the only remaining family she had was her father, who was leading the fellow survivors to defend them. But even she knew they were only waiting for the inevitable. Anxiety and panic surged in her heart every time she saw her father and the others wounded. If not for the chains, they would have died already.
When she was about to lose hope, she suddenly remembered the legend of a Hero who came from another world. In the end, she kept praying and praying until her effort paid off. A young man with listless eyes and black hair appeared before her. His gaze was so bored, as if he was tired of his life.
The problem was, would the Hero even save them? The hero was a human while they were demi-humans. Humans hated them. However, she didn't have a choice; it was her people's lives at stake.
Her thoughts were proven right when she saw the reaction of the Hero, and she was also afraid that the hero would abandon them. But he didn't run away, and instead he listened to her. She was now grateful to this hero.
If she were human, she would have followed this hero for life.
"Alright, I will name you, and you help your people fight the monster!"
"What?" She was shocked. "H-hero, what do you mean?"
"I mean, I will name you, and you will help your people fight!"
The hero was strange.
"But… but!" She wanted to say, "You are the hero, shouldn't you be the one fighting?" out loud, but she kept it shut.
"Don't worry, it's my Innate Authority. I cannot really explain right now since we are out of time," the hero said, and then he pointed at her. "Then, in the name of my Authority, King of Monsters, I will name you Sofie!"
The pig woman, or now Sofie, couldn't understand what the hero was doing, but when she heard the Authority King of Monsters, it was probably related to his power. She was confused. What was the point of naming her? But suddenly, a warm feeling rushed through her body, and she could feel her mana increasing.
'I'm evolving?'
—THUD!
The hero before her fell to the ground. She quickly rushed to his side in panic and realized he was only unconscious. She sighed in relief.
"I don't know what the hero means, but I feel like I'm getting stronger."
Sofie raised her arms, and pink fire emerged from her palm, the fire that kept burning, fueled by life force. It was her Unique Skill: Life Flame, and now her skill seemed to be getting stronger, and she knew the reason.
"I don't know what's going on, but I will trust you, hero."
With her newfound power, Sofie raised her hand and hurled the burning pink fire into the monster.
…
Julian opened his eyes groggily.
"You are finally awake, master."
Julian saw two melons blocking the ceiling and suddenly realized he was lying on the woman's lap. He sat up and saw the woman's full appearance.
She had pale turquoise skin with red tribal patterns along her shoulders. She had snow-white, messy, layered hair with a short braid tied in red near her shoulder, and her large pink eyes were staring at him, occasionally blinking, with a small tusk peeking from her lower lip.
"Who are you? Where am I?"
"I'm Sofie, master."