by E C Chii
As loud as he could he screamed hoarsely, “THIS IS SPARTA!” as he kicked the nearly two-meter tall goblin off the edge.
All but one of the larger goblins had fallen to their doom leaving him the only one left. This hideously ugly goblin screamed in impotently with rage as he started barking something to the smaller goblins. At first none of them did anything and hesitantly backed away.
Wolf laughed as taunted the large goblin, “Hey Fugly. What’s wrong can’t get over here?”
As soon as he called him ‘Fugly’, the goblins eyes glazed over a bit as if a window appeared in front of his face. Several moments passed with the goblin motionless and not even reacting to anything else that he said.
“Aww. It’s no fun to tease you unless you react. Are you as dumb as you are ugly?” Wolf asked.
This question seemed to break the goblin’s mental absence. Screaming in rage it picked up the nearest goblin and tried to throw him over the gap only to watch it only cover half the distance and fall screaming to its death. Drool and spittle began to pour from its mouth as it continued to bark orders or insults at him. With the goblins on the other side Wolf had time to wonder.
‘I thought they said that everyone spoke the same language here. Why don’t they speak Algonian?’
Figuring it was time to get moving he flipped ‘Fugly’ the bird and grabbed his bags heading into the dark tunnels.
Chapter 22 – Running Man
Initially, Wolf would summon a ball of light to illuminate the corridor as he was running. After a minute of this his head began to ache from mana usage. Constantly going through the rotation of running then stopping to regenerate MP he was not making much headway down the path. During one stop he considered how he could generate light much easier while conserving his mana usage. Unable to come up with an adequate solution he was forced to continue this routine of running then resting. Each cycle of rest and then running spanned a little under sixteen minutes, where he would run for one minute the rest for fifteen while he regenerated his MP.
On one of the cycles Wolf came across a small room with multiple thirty-meter statues that acted as pillars jutting up from the walls holding up the ceiling. These grotesque facades looked like they were carved eons ago. Gawking at the intricately carved pillars he noticed that there were three other openings splitting off into different directions. With his MP running low, he decided it would be a good time to rest for the night. Setting an alarm trap at the entrance with some rope and tins of metal, he climbed one of the statues and nest up in a crevice behind the heads of them. While he was up there he ate a large meal of smoked meats and trail rations. During the hours of his flight through the corridors the pack had become exceedingly heavy, and began to tire him out faster than normal.
After his meal, he settled in as best he could, covering himself with a blanket in a seated position facing the entrance he had just came from. Tucked in between the arm and neck of the lizard thingy, he had clear line of sight while being able to hide well even if the room was well lit. While he waited for sleep to overtake him, he thought long and hard about his MP problem. Several ideas came to mind as he thought of ways to use the magic he had, though they would remain theories and ideas until he could test it out. A more pressing concern was something that would be much more detrimental to his long-term survival, sleep.
Waking to the sounds of feet slapping stone, the alarm trap, and a familiar hooting of the pursuing goblins echoed off the walls of the tunnel’s smooth polished walls. He didn’t know how long he was asleep, but it felt like it was not nearly enough. Worried that the goblins would end up staying in this room rather than move on, he climbed down and randomly chose the left tunnel to continue his escape. Aside from the occasion pile of scree or rubble on the steadily sloping tunnel, with the conjured light orb they posed little obstacle in his flight. Soon he came to a split, one going left and up the other going right and down. Unable to discern the proper path Wolf was left no choice but to leave it up to chance.
Considering that this would be a great time to invoke some much-needed luck he added the two free stat points into luck in the hopes of a good resolution. Wolf pulled out a coin and stared at it for several long moments.
“Who ever happens to be Lady Luck here, I hope you help me out on this one. Heads right, Tails left.” Wolf said as he flipped the coin.
At the same time of the coin toss he was met with a familiar shriek and the clattering of metal and wood impacting stone immediately behind him. It was hard to tell the distance of sound in the tunnels as everything would cause an echoing racket. The sound of bare feet of his pursuers pattering against the stone pulled his attention from the coin as it rolled down the right path. His hand immediately going to the longer sword preparing for battle.
Four goblins wearing makeshift armor pieced together with the exoskeletons of Plains Stalkers, short spears made from their fangs leveled at him. Edging the sword an inch out of its scabbard, one of the four barked something and turned back to run as the remaining three inched forward closing in for the attack.
Wolf was as still as a statue watching for an opening between the spears, his only chance would be to get inside their reach limiting their effectiveness in the enclosed tunnel. Seeing no other option but use some of his dwindling stamina he used ‘Shihogiri’, targeting the left most goblin first. With the slowed perception of time he dashed at the trio using the wall to rebound over the slowly rising spears he leaped over them landing with his slash downward. His sword descended cleaving through the strange helmet and became lodged in its chest.
Immediately releasing the sword, he grabbed his secondary, drawing it in a true quick draw fashion. The drawing cut struck in a textbook ‘kote’ strike parting the goblin’s right arm as it slowly turned. Facing the rightmost goblin, and aiming for the neck in a traditional ‘tsuki’ thrust he was greeted to the feeling of the blade piercing through and scraping on its spine.
Pivoting as he withdrew the sword thick, viscous, black blood coated the sword he followed it up with another thrust to the wounded goblin’s armor skewering it completely through the stomach. Once time sped up the cleaved goblin crumpled to the ground while the right most goblin clutched its throat choking on its own blood. The skewered goblin had a shocked expression on the face that was one of pain and disbelief as its body failed. Twisting the sword as he pulled it from its body he let the goblin’s lifeless body fell to the ground and their bowels evacuated. The stench, which was already bad became unbearable. With his eyes watering he removed the long sword from the first goblin and wiped the blood from tainting his blades.
You have killed a level 6 Goblin Scout, 105EXP gained
You have killed a level 6 Goblin Scout, 105EXP gained
You have killed a level 6 Goblin Scout, 105EXP gained
“Well I guess that answers my question on which way to go. Though I am glad I used a copper instead of a gold. That would have been expensive.” Wolf said with a laugh as he took a few swigs of his water skin and began a light jog down the right path where the coin disappeared down.
Deciding to stop for a while after running for several more hours to eat some of the smoked meat and his rations. He had a few months’ worth still but would soon need to either start rationing or find a food source soon. As he was packing up his quick meal, he had another encounter with two goblins that happened to show up, instigating another fight. Before he could kill them, one blew a small whistle. The sound was met by another further back in the tunnel followed by shouts and barking.
Gulping down a stamina potion he wearily drew his sword. Batting the right goblin’s spear into the left’s way he stepped into striking range he instinctually performed a ‘tsuki’ throat strike cleanly piercing through the unprotected neck of the goblin. Through his growingly weary mind he kicked the other goblin in the chest throwing it off balance and landed hard on its back, scrambling to get up. Ineffectually it tried to stab at him while still on the ground the goblin couldn’
t use the superior reach of the spear effectively.
Grabbing the shaft of the poorly thrust spear he jerked it away leaving the creature defenseless. Wolf’s body briefly tingled with elation at the power he held over this weak monster, the feeling of domination brought an evil smile to his face and just as suddenly it was gone leaving him feeling empty and hollow. Like an addict looking for his next fix, his body yearned for the feeling again. Red tinged his vision as his familiar rage overtook him fueled by his disgust at wanting that feeling again he walked toward the goblin with pure death in his eyes.
Continuing his flight that seemed to be endless, he felt like it had been three days since the goblins had started to chase him. His exhaustion would soon lead him to either collapse or critical mistakes, both of which he couldn’t afford. Less than ten minutes later he came across an expansive room that was all but shrouded by darkness. Pushing more mana into the light he made it brighter hurting his eyes in the process with the sudden increasing of light. Hissing through his teeth he waited for his eyes to adjust. When it finally did he could see the faint outline of steps in the distance.
Following the wall, he traced the area certain that if there were any traps as that would be the most likely location for them. On the left side of the room he found one wall crumbled revealing a cave. Closer examination of the rubble showed him that it was not natural as evident by the claw marks on the larger fragments. The gashes were as wide as his thumb and deeper than his pinky finger.
Wondering to himself where the hell he was he pulled up his map to find that of course there was no name for the location, but the map had become much smaller depicting the tunnel that he had just came from in a colored area that was only slightly greyed. A new window sprung into his view obscuring his sight.
You are now marked as ‘Wanted’ by the Empire of Kuing. Bounty Hunters will pursue you at every turn.
You have unlocked the quest ‘Butcher of Mirstone Forest I”
Type: CommonDifficulty: Variable
Condition: Survive one week
Reward: 1,000EXP
Penalty: Dying has 10x the normal consequences
No additional information was listed but there really wasn’t a need for it, dying now would be perma-death. Wolf needed a way to keep these from appearing while in combat or in an inopportune time, concentrating on the idea to automatically minimize any notifications he felt a shift in his mind. The shift itself was unnatural and deeply disturbed him, because he somehow knew that it worked.
Thinking back to the notification he figured that word had finally reached the that man’s father about the untimely death of his son, and he was responding as would be expected. Seeing no need to dwell on it since there were no people who knew where he was or where he was going he would not be easy to find nor track. Pity on any fool who came hunting him and the easy experience would go a long way for him. Dismissing the window, he moved closer to the steps. Carefully and slowly he gradually climbed to the top where he found at a large rusty gatehouse leading into darkness.
As he was examining the closed gate his attention was pulled away by shrieks and screams. Looking back to the tunnel he had originally came from were short, squat figures that he could only assume were the chasing goblins. Spurred on by the prospects of their quarry in sight and cornered they milled around the entrance for several hours. Meanwhile, he busied himself with trying to find a way through the old gate. The horde of goblins was growing by the minute and the growing tension was ever increasing as the clamoring grew in intensity.
Looking back, he saw that several goblins now carried torches illuminating the size of the gathering. Surveying the already congregated goblins made his blood run cold, if they were anything like the goblins from games or books he was ‘going to have a very bad time’ as Peirce would constantly say. Turning back to the gate with renewed vigor, there was still no option or idea on how to get through the gate. Finally resorting to brute force, he repeatedly kicked just to the side of the lock hoping to break it open.
The sound of him kicking antagonized the goblins making them think that their prey was getting away. Surging forward recklessly one of the tiles in the center depressed causing those that tripped to be trampled by their brethren. A loud rumbling forced all those present to stop dead in their tracks. Shouts and screams erupted from the rear of the goblin formation as the crashing of the tunnel kicked up dust billowed out spelling certain death for all those present.
Taking several steps back he ran at the door trying to slam through it, jarred from the impact he rebounded landing on the ground. Attempting a second time resulted in the same, frustration mounted as the same thing happened again. Left with no options he turned to see the encroaching horde advance on his position. The horde of several hundred goblins got three quarters of the way to the stairs when another trap was triggered. A resounding gong drowned out everything, temporarily deafening him. Goblins fell to the ground grasping their ears in pain and shouting what he assumed were insults at those who triggered the trap.
Hearing returned to the sound of sound of claws clattering against the rocks. From the breached wall came a rush of screeching lizard like creatures wearing little to no armor, and wielding clubs and javelins. The sight of their sharp teeth, claws, and size was not what threw him off, it was the overpowering stench that made him puke uncontrollably. Fortune favored him as the two hordes of monsters turned their attention to each other, and began attacking each other.
With the faint hope of somehow escaping now thoroughly dashed against the wall he turned back to the only possible salvation he had left. Wolf’s mind raced for possible means to break open the gate, jumping from possible ideas to outright silly one. For the five millionth time, he wished for a few grams of C6 binary to blow the lock. Wolf’s mind froze at the absurdity of his next idea. He didn’t have much time but if it worked he wouldn’t need any C6 for this.
Using the Earth element to sculpt a crude canister as best he could. The effort of channeling two elements at once was almost too much and made him a little dizzy. The din of battle was starting to die down spurring Wolf’s efforts even further.
Warning! You are under 5% MP. Rest to regenerate faster.
Cursing he pulled a mana potion from his satchel downing it, restoring 50MP. Continuing to channel Earth magic he compressed and strengthened the makeshift canister. Once he was satisfied with the result he took the remaining water in his water skin and funneled it in. Once it was full he sealed it and tied it to the lock with some rope. Running back, he mentally summoned an intense flame to form inside the sealed canister. His makeshift bomb didn’t explode but he could feel the pressure building.
As the magical bomb cooked the lizard things had broken off the attack and began to flee while dragging as many bodies as they could with them. The goblins had been victorious but at a high cost. Of the several hundred that were in the room when it sealed off only about thirty remained. Even those who had survived were either close to death or were so far from being capable of pursuit. As he was surveying the battlefield he heard and felt the magic bomb explode, echoing throughout the cave. As soon as it occurred Wolf cursed again as all eyes had turned to him and a now bent and broken gate.
Half of the goblins that were still capable, charged him now that the remaining lizard things had ran away. Only a few of the goblins that had charged still had spears fit to be used so he felt confident that he could at least take most of them. Drawing his longer sword, he channeled fire magic into it. Watching the blade start to glow a dull red, he prepared for the half platoon of goblins. As they approached they habitually fanned out trying to surround him but with his back to the wall, so he was only cornered slightly.
Summoning the last dredges of his mana he also pushed even more fire into the blade. The blade glowed bright red and fire danced across it. The passing thought of ‘dam, I bet I look fucking awesome right now’. Taking the initiative Wolf rushed forward slashing at one of the three goblins who still
had a spear. His slash was parried, but he front-kicked the goblin in the face, feeling a satisfying crunch through his boot the goblin fell back dropping the spear and holding its face. Another goblin with a spear thrust at him scoring a glancing strike on Wolf’s shoulder as he spun away to avoid it, taking a few points of damage to his health.
The third goblin attempted to take advantage of his distraction by thrusting at his legs but was only rewarded by it being slapped to the ground where Wolf stomped on it breaking the shaft and skewering it with his sword. The dance continued with managing to kill another three of them and only taking a few minor wounds himself. Time and stamina was quickly running out and he couldn’t keep this up for much longer. They were in effect herding him into a corner where they could overwhelm him by sheer numbers. Down to seventy-three stamina and running out of room to maneuver, he decided to use ‘Shihogiri’ to escape being enclosed while dealing with several goblins at the same time.
