The Runic Alchemist

[Unknown place on the unknown planet, Alex's POV]

Alex was facing two Highsword knights at once. He could barely even manage just one, being a first ranker in his third job. He wasn't insane though. Beside him were Karl and Evante. Otherwise risking their lives for some dumb commoners who didn't even have two bits of brain to understand what was right for them and what was wrong was a stupid thing to do.

The fourth prince of Dawnstar, in his splendid golden armor, was jumping around them—managing to fight against the elite second-ranker Highsword knight alone with some difficulty.

Alex just ignored the guy and channeled his sword with dark blue aura once again and continued the fight without any distraction. A voice suddenly resounded in his mind, and in the next second, a massive red wall of glowing red was seen coming toward him from a distance.

For a second, the whole battlefield stopped fighting, confused as to what was happening. But when the first some people hit by the red energy wave started to disappear into nothing right in front of their eyes, they all made a wild run for their lives. Needless to say, they couldn't run far before they too were hit and blacked out.

It felt weird—like an endless fall with no one around and no light to see. But it ended at last, and with a groan, Alex was finally back in control of his own senses.

It smelled bad!

Before his eyes focused, Alex was hit with a smell that made his stomach churn. Soon, he saw what smelled so bad—and it was people! Alex found himself bound to a weird black cage. His hands were fitted with thick black chains, and he was surrounded by many awake and sleeping men.

"Alex! Good thing you woke up.." Maelor's voice came from beside him.

Alex turned around and saw not just Maelor but also Evante and Karl bound with the black metallic chains, left to hang from their hand chains, bound to the black metallic cage bars. They were not conscious. Many other knights surrounding them were also not awake.

But some were—and all wore a somber, depressing expression. There were others too.. Weird monster creatures? With rags for clothes, red skin, sharp curly horns, and pig-like noses and mouths.

Wait! He remembered seeing something like this before.. Right! Maximus watching those drawings—it resembled them somewhat. They were truly thrown out of the dungeon, as that divine voice had said. But where exactly did it throw them?

"What is going on? Where are we? Who captured us?" Alex started asking questions, and many knights turned their faces toward the two. He just ignored them though. It was impossible to tell among them who was from the attacking group and who was just a victim of their companion's betrayal.

Why weren't they breaking out of the flimsy metal chains though? The light chains shouldn't even take an effort for second rankers to break out of.. unless something was stopping them from doing it. Alex felt wave after wave of anxious thoughts. This did not look good! His gut was screaming for him to break free as soon as possible!
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"I don't know.. I just woke up minutes before you and found myself like this." Maelor replied.

"Why aren't they breaking the chains?" Alex asked the obvious question. Many people looked at him with anger and annoyance in their eyes.

"It's not iron.. The metal is freakishly strong, not even the second rankers can break it.. Also, it zaps you with lightning every time you touch it. I saw that knight scream in agony when he tried to break it." Maelor answered in a calm voice.

"So we just hang here? For eternity?" Alex gritted his teeth.

"I am open to suggestions, your highness!" Maelor said with equal annoyance. "I just opened my eyes for barely five minutes!"

Alex didn't reply and just looked away from all of their ugly faces. When he turned back to see what was outside the cage, his heart almost leaped out of his chest. They were suspended high in the air through some dark ceiling with huge chains, and under them was a massive, endless dark stone cave. Only a few rays of light trickling from whatever was above, gave them somewhat of a vision. And.. they weren't alone. There were endless cages hanging around them from the dark ceiling—and that was just as far as his eyes could see. Just in front of his eyes, some cages were being lifted up to the dark ceiling that revealed blinding light for a while and closed right after.

Alex decidedly turned back. The ugly faces were better than abyssal dark caves seemingly going for hundreds of kilometers down. The other knights started to groan before opening their eyes slowly and repeating the same questions as him. But to them.. no one answered. He understood others' annoyance now.

After a few more minutes of silent lamenting, Evante and Karl also woke up. Maelor explained the situation with patience to them. The new ones paid attention to him, while the old ones just hated the constant reminder of their miserable situation.

Alex too tried to break the chains himself, but it was fruitless. He could access his spatial storage and other runic and enchanted tools on his body, but there was nothing with him that could cut or burn the chains without damaging the whole cage. If he did that, no one would even find their bones in a hundred years in that abyssal darkness.

After what felt like years but were merely a few hours, suddenly their cage started rattling and they began moving up. It was time for their cage to be pulled up. They inched closer to the dark ceiling with bated breath, all captured inside wide awake by now.

"As long as we stay together, we can manage to survive!" Maelor said from beside him. Alex wanted to tell him to shut his brave act.. but looking at others, he stopped himself. Even fake bravery would do for now. They needed something to believe in.

Once close to the dark ceiling, the circular entrance opened up, assaulting them with blinding light and scorching heat. It was really, really hot. It felt the same as the upper sand levels in the dungeon. Then came the noise—countless shoutings and tattlings, from shouting to animalistic roars—it was so loud they couldn't even hear the cage's metal chains rattling as it came to a stop.

None of them could open their eyes, but after some minutes of this assault on their senses, finally Alex could open his eyes a little and got a glimpse of where they were. It was a whole other matter whether this was any better than the dark underground though.

It was a massive stone structure. Thousands of red-skinned pig people were shouting excitedly, flailing their arms toward them. But not exactly at them. Alex turned and saw hundreds of red-skinned pig people fighting giant, ugly monsters with swords, spears, and every type of weapon possible. Some of them were even using spells!

They were standing in the middle of the chaos undisturbed! But it was purely because of luck. The cage was wide open, the four sides flat on the ground. Any monster could have squashed them to juices in the earlier few minutes!