Chapter Four
Honestly speaking, the nerves I were currently feeling were exactly like I used to feel just before a footie game. Sure, fighting for my life was vastly more of a serious affair but I couldn’t put a stop to the butterflies in my stomach.
After clearing all the rooms, we had come across so far, every member in our group was a measly level two, was that enough to fight that ‘Hobgoblin’ like Ellie said? Maybe we could turn back and try out the other paths and level up some more.
As the nervousness turned into indecisiveness, I was half tempted to try and get everyone to turn back so we could prepare some more, this thought was quickly dashed by Gabe and Richard who walked out into the light.
Revealing themselves within the room, they were instantly noticed by the smaller goblins who were now all standing around the room on guard in very random spots. Spread out, the goblins alerted their leader but refused to budge.
With a loud grumble, the hobgoblin sat himself up and stared at our group who had now fully emerged from the corridor. Better not waste any more time before our plan gets ruined.
Breaking the stillness in the room, I set off on a sprint to the right side of the room, hugging close to the wall. Quickly on my tail, Rebecca followed.
The goblin squad had a look of confusion on their faces as our party split up, this confusion was quickly replaced with their usual angry expressions as Gabe, Ellie and Richard charged at them.
Taking the initiative, the others made their way to the goblins who had not clustered together and as much as I wanted to make sure no one got hurt, I had my own concerns to deal with.
Watching the situation and seemingly deciding it was finally time to act, the hobgoblin slowly pushed himself up and slowly shuffled over to everyone else letting out a large yawn in the process.
We couldn’t be having any of that.
Hearing her nock an arrow and pull the string, I waited for Rebecca to get the boss’s attention. Even though she had been quite reliable with her archery so far, I was still afraid of getting an arrow to the back.
Finally letting loose, I watched as the arrow flew just barely passing in front of the goblins face.
Unfortunately, the arrow didn’t hit, but it sure as hell managed to get the brutes attention. With all sleep now wiped off his face, the hobgoblin turned to look at us with the face of an asura.
“RRAAAAGHH”
Holy shit he had some vocals on him!
His scream echoed through the entire room leaving a ringing sound in my ear. MY hearing was shot but by the sounds of it Rebecca took the shock much worse.
Glancing behind me my suspicions were proven true as the brunette had fallen to her knees and was now tightly clutching at her head.
Blood slowly seeped through her fingers showing that her injury wasn’t just some minor thing. Well… Shit…
With my backup gone I was going to need to face one very angry hobgoblin solo. Shooting off one last glance at the other group it seemed that they had managed to kill off one goblin but were now struggling against the rest of them who had gone fully on the defensive.
Focusing my attention back onto my own issues, the hobgoblin was quickly marching towards me. No, by the looks of it he was shooting a death glare at Rebecca behind me.
Okay the first goal was to focus its attention on me, after that it would be pure improvisation. Luckily, the first goal seemed quite doable thanks to my ultimate secret weapon.
Earlier when everyone was in a stand-off, I knew I had to act first to dictate where we fought, thankfully it worked out and the hobgoblin was coming right towards us.
Kneeling I picked up one of the many stones that littered the ground, there was a variety of boulder like stones and the smaller ones that the goblins had been using to make their weapons, it was these stones that I was after.
Holding onto a palm sized rock I summoned my inner pitcher and drew my arm back.
Just 10 metres separated us and the hobgoblin, surely, I can’t miss from here.
Taking aim, my arm shot forwards as the projectile flew in a perfect trajectory straight towards the hobgoblins face. Expecting his head to knock back, the following turn of events left a sore disappointment in my heart.
Even without his attention on me, the hobgoblin watched the rock coming for its head and raised its arm. As if he had been expecting it, he simple caught it. My secret move had been ruined just like that.
But Mama didn’t raise no quitter.
Walking further to the side I got my hands on two more slightly larger rocks, just over five metres separated us now, but the hobgoblin was now walking towards me.
Quickly firing off the rocks in hasty throws, one of the rocks was caught as the other one hit the creatures lower torse, inflicting almost zero damage.
With no space left to stall, I drew my sword as I kneeled seemingly looking for another stone. Not finding one I clenched my fist and stood up in a defensive posture.
The hobgoblin was now wielding a sword that was too short for him, but his physical stats would clearly make up for that hinderance.
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Jumping forward the hobgoblin came at me faster than expected. A sense of foreboding overcame me, trying to block that swing would end poorly for myself.
With a desperate dive out of the way I found myself on the ground with a pursuing hobgoblin in tow.
Leaving me no time to get up, the monster swung at my legs just narrowly missing.
Crawling backwards I tried getting up but just managed to duck under a swing that seemed ready to decapitate me.
With its frustration growing, the hobgoblin was now ready to take this a bit more seriously it seemed. Instead of frantically swinging its weapon, the goblin opted to step down on my foot to halt my movements.
With a strength unbefitting of its skinny physique, the creature’s foot came crashing down onto my ankle, resulting in a crack that was audible throughout the cave.
“AHHHHHH FUCCCC---”
Screaming out was the only thing I could do as pain shocked my entire body.
Clearly enjoying squashing the bug under its feet, the hobgoblin squeezed down on my ankle more, almost like it was trying to grind my bones to dust.
Screaming out as a new wave of pain wrecked my body, it seemed that things were just about to be finished up.
Staring at the oversized goblin that stood over me, all I saw was a gleeful grin as the creature was happy with its actions.
Seeing such a happy expression on its face bred one last thought of defiance, even if this freak kills me, I want it to suffer.
With one last action, my hands tightly clenched the dirt around me as the goblin raised its sword, ready to move on.
With one final distraction, I threw the piles of dirt that had gathered in my hands and aimed right for the fucker’s eyes.
Clearly not expecting it, the creature stumbled back and clawed at its face.
“Haha”
I couldn’t help but find the situation a tad bit amusing, letting it out a small chuckle.
Hearing this, the hobgoblin approached with one eye open, ready to finish the job.
Thankfully I had stalled for long enough it seemed.
A shaky arrow flew at the creature but rebounded off its shoulder, the strike was weak but did more than a good enough job to get its attention.
With his right eye still shut closed, the hobgoblin had a very small cone of vision, something that Richard and Gabe seemed more than happy to take advantage of.
With cuts adorning their bodies all over, the duo launched attacks from the sides of the goblin who was now trying to locate Rebecca with its limited vision.
Gabe swung down onto the goblins shoulder, firmly embedding his sword into the creature. Richard similarly swung his heft looking mace and hit the creature’s arm with a crack that easily beat out the sound of my ankle breaking.
With these two strikes, the hobgoblin faltered and screamed in shock and pain.
Trying to resist, the creature managed to unknowingly steal Gabe’s sword in a panic as it ran off trying to get away from its invisible attackers. Running away with its head on a swivel, the creature refused to look down as it tripped over an invisible object. With the hobgoblin falling face first, Ellie rubbed her leg which seemed sore from the impact.
Not wasting any time, she straddled the hobgoblins back before quickly finishing the job by stabbing her short spear into the back of the creature’s throat.
After a brief struggle, the creatures’ gurgles died down as its body lay still.
Seeing a message pop-up before me, it seemed that our first boss fight was successful, even if we had a fair share of injuries.
With all the goblins now dead another chest emerged in the centre of the room, showing that we really had finished off the fight. For now, everyone was happily swiping at the screens in front of them, not that I could blame them, this was the most amount of pop-ups I had seen so far.
Your party has slain:
5x Adolescent Goblins (Levels 1-3)
1x Hobgoblin (Level 4)
You have Levelled up!
Level 2 --> Level 4
All Stats Raised by 2!
Congratulations! You found a rune!
Strength Rune
- Increases Strength by 3
- Increases Vigor by 1
- Increases Endurance by 1
Wow.
There was a bit to unpack.
Starting from the first message it seemed that we really were a bit too eager looking at the goblin’s levels, hell it wouldn’t be weird if we had been completely wiped out if anything.
But at least we clearly got ample rewards for facing that challenge, two whole level ups and a Rune that increased stats by that much? Jackpot.
Looking at my status it was clear how much progress we had made in such a short amount of time.
Status
Name: James Burns
Class: (N/A)
Level: 4
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 9
Vigor: 8
Endurance: 10
Intelligence: 7
Wisdom: 7
Skills (0/5):
Runes (0/1)
For starters, my mental stats had almost doubled. Well, I didn’t feel any smarter though so the effects of that wasn’t too clear.
With a happy smile on my face, I tried to stand myself up to join up with the others who were now moving towards the chest in the centre of the room. Of course, I managed to stand for half a second before promptly being brought crashing down thanks to my pulverised ankle.
Looking at the injury more closely, my right ankle was now sitting at an obtuse angle. It was not a pretty sight.
Small bone fragments pierced my skin causing blood to slowly pool around me. Shit.
It wasn’t life threatening, but it would surely put me out of commission for a while.
In a world of my own I wasn’t aware of the others now standing around me until a cold objects was brought to my lips. Drinking from the mstery bottle which splashed a liquid on me, a sweet taste spread through my mouth, it had a fake strawberry taste.
The distraction was welcomed, but it wasn’t exactly going to help the situation, or so I thought.
With a crowd of onlookers present, I felt the viscous liquid flow through my body like a physical force. As it slowly worked its way down, it eventually nestled within my ankle giving a warm, fluffy feeling.
Now nice and sedated, I looked down only to witness a miracle.
The bones that had been sticking out now slowly withdrew back into place as the skin patched up without a single blemish. After an unknown amount of time the healing stopped as my ankle returned good as new.
Speechless, I put some weight on it and managed to stand on it. No pain, no weaknees, it was like the injury never happened.
Turning my attention to the others who were also equally shocked, my eyes turned to the empty flask in Ellie’s hands.
Healing Potion (Common)
- Heals minor injuries
- Single Use
Not even shocked by the presence of potions in this new reality, I was more caught up in the description.
Was a shattered ankle really considered minor? Could higher rarity potions just straight up revive people? If so then we needed to get our hands on some.
“Got it from the chest along with a sword, but god damn that worked wonders aye?”
Breaking the silence, Gabe explained where the miracle liquid came from.
Now sporting a new sword much more reasonable in size, the man had an ecstatic smile on his face.
“Alright now that everyone’s fine, what do we do about this thing?”
Holding out the item in his hand, Richard showed the group a red-coloured stone that had an otherworldly beaty. The stone possessed an almost magical quality that made it sparkle and shimmer to my eyes. Clearly this was the aforementioned rune.
Now came the tricky part, deciding who got the loot.