I walked on in silence.

I walked until I reached a dead end.

Confused, I stared around before cautiously searching the walls for any indents.

Soon, I discovered that the wall of the dead-end had a palm indent in it.

Pacing around, I debated whether to head on - for I was sure that the palm imprint would lead the way forward - or to stay put and recover.

Frowning as I recalled the Snake Lady’s words and the spider’s, I gave myself a brief break during which I quickly ate, adjusted my state, and checked my armor.

Satisfied, I put my palm on the imprint.

And nothing happened.

Eyes bulging, I put my other palm in the imprint.

Nothing happened again.

Scratching my head, I looked at my hands and thought - perhaps these pair of hands are not meant for this imprint?

Wait, Bal.

Cursing, I took off my armored gauntlets and then placed my palm on the imprint, which glowed, and then the wall slid downward, revealing another cave... with a goat.

Yes, a goat. A goat roughly my size with a white coat that was pleasing to the eye and a stubby tail. It stood with its head in the direction opposite to me.

Putting on my gauntlet, I confidently strode forward and hailed the goat.

“Hello, I am Faustu-oof,” I yelled as the goat’s horns missed impaling me by a few inches due to my quick dodge.

“Stop! Wai-Aaah,” I screamed as I dodged again, only to have the goat jerk its head and the horns go ripping through my leather leggings.

Stiffly coming out of the roll, I turned around and raised my hands in a placating gesture, looking at the fluffy goat, only to freeze as I met its eyes.

They were black, with lines spreading across from them. A twisted expression was on the goat’s face, as though it was greatly pleased with the blood dripping down from its horns. My blood.

Stretching out its tongue, it licked my blood and suddenly grew larger than me by a factor of two.

Gulping, I weakly asked, “Compensation?”

“Compensate me with your life,” roared an enraged voice, and the goat charged again.

Gritting my teeth, I jumped to the side as the goat grazed me; the impact sending me spinning, but as I spun - I stuck out my sword and stabbed the goat in its side, bringing me to a swift halt before I was carried along with the goat's momentum.

Slamming into the wall a second after the goat hit the wall, I found myself in the uncomfortable position of staring into the goat's corner of the eye as I lay on the wall, scarce feet between my body and its head.

Remembering the first swipe that had hurt me, I murmured, “Bal,” Before I threw myself to the side, just in time for the horns to pass by whistling into the air that I had occupied just a moment before.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

With no time to retrieve my sword, I grabbed my dagger tightly and faced the gigantic goat, which had somewhat shrunk as more blood flowed out of it.

More confident now, I stood and charged at the goat.

Dodging its head, I moved to its rump, where I stabbed it with my short dagger, eliciting a howl of agony from the goat.

Moving further back, I attempted to strike again, only for the goat to lift its hind legs and kick out.

Dropping my dagger, I crossed my arms and grunting; I took the impact before flying across the room.

A room that I realized had no exit and my only weapons were lying on the floor or stuck in the goat.

Wait, weapons!

Holding out my hand, I willed the sword to appear in my hands.

With a tremble, the sword stuck within the goat reversed itself and flew to me, letting out a fountain of blood from the goat as it did so, along with a cry of pain as the goat shrank further.

Heroically, I crouched down as the sword almost took my head off and got stuck in the wall.

Then, pulling the sword out, I heard thunder behind me and I turned in time to chop off one of the goats' horns as it passed by.

An enraged howl sounded out, and the goat glared at me with its black eyes that were now tinged with red.

It reminded me strangely of when I ignited my warforce.

“Weird,” I mused.

Then the Baling thing disappeared and in shock, I watched as a horn sprouted out from my arm that I had thrown up in a hurry and then the impact hit me and I flipped in the air uncontrollably until I landed in a heap.

Spitting out blood, I levered myself up and tumbled to the side just as the goat reared up and stamped the place where I was.

Rolling away, I thought desperately of the warforce potion and it materialized.

Biting off the cork with my mouth, I spat it out and poured the single drop of potion on my wounded arm, which sizzled and then suddenly throbbed.

Smiling fiercely at the Goat, I realized my thoughts were correct. The potion could still heal me along with the warforce boost it gave me.

As the goat charged, head lowered, I sidestepped and held out my hand - still sizzling - grabbing its remaining horn and locking the goat in place.

Grunting with the effort and sliding back with the goat's momentum, I dug my feet into the ground and slowly came to a stop.

Then I gave a powerful shout, and I twisted the horn off the goat’s head.

As the goat reared in misery, I took the horn and brutally stabbed it into the goat’s stomach.

The goat gave a cry of agony and stumbled back while I pursued, hand outstretched, as I willed the dagger to materialize.

A moment later, the dagger which was on the other side of the goat came, slicing the goat's hind leg apart as it flew toward me.

Dodging the dagger, I rolled forward again as the goat crumpled - hamstrung - and coming up near its head; I slammed the horn into its eyes and then retreated hastily.

As the goat thrashed in distress, I swayed as the warforce boost faded away from my arm, leaving it red and shaking.

I stared as the goat’s struggles faded away and then black smoke began streaming from the goat into the air.

Soon, a child who looked to be about my age was left in its place and the child’s eyes slowly turned from the black webbed eyes to normal brown eyes, and then a serene smile crossed the child’s face before he shattered into pieces that faded away.

Jaw agape, I watched on in stupefaction.

Slumping down on the ground, I held my head in my hands as I screamed internally, “how does this make sense! What is happening?”

After staying in that position for a while, I was shaken back to reality by a rumble that preceded a section of the wall sliding down and revealing a passage similar to the one I had entered from.

Looking at it with red eyes, I heaved in deep breaths before getting up and picking up my weapons and the potion bottle, which was empty.

Then I took one last look at the place where the goat-child had disappeared and I walked to the new passage, not looking back even once.