The three of them, Marco, Felicia, and Verity, located on the left side of the colosseum, which was separated from the right by a path dug in the earth, repeated the same tactic restlessly. Marco was not as comfortable as the other two at first, but he was soon brought up to speed, and in no time, they were slashing through goblins as though it had been second nature.
The tide of the battle was slowly tipping in their favor on the left side of the colosseum, but not all was perfect. Some, they could not save, others had wounds too terrible for them to move. They could not afford to carry someone, and although it had been an impossible decision, with the threat of the shamans, they had to be left behind. Making that choice left a bitter taste in Verity’s mouth. All he could do for them was to try his hand at emergency first aid, and tell them to walk if they could not run, and to crawl if they could not walk.
Still, despite the grim reality, he was able to recruit new allies. A blonde-haired younger girl, barely fifteen or sixteen, who had killed the goblin warrior on her own by digging her nails into its eyes. A grey-haired older man who had possessed a firearm, but ran out of bullets quickly. A very tall man who had been stabbed but appeared strangely fine, and many more. The ranks of their team were growing rapidly.
Verity had the chance to use his mysterious skill twice in that time, once to avoid an arrow flying toward his chest, and another to narrowly evade a bullet ricocheting from the blade of a goblin. Through it all, he was glad to find that his skill proficiency had increased to level 3 as needed every advantage he could have in this mess.
When the warriors had been taken care of, and they saved everyone that they could, they finally turned their attention to the shamans and archers. All this time, they had been dispersed throughout the edges of the colosseum, and were plagues to avoid while taking care of the warriors as well as a constant burden on their minds. They realized it was useless to go for each one as a group, so they separated into teams of three, Felicia, Marco, and Verity ended up sticking together.
The clean up process had not been very long.
“ huff huff I.. I think we got all of them, for our side at least.” Marco said, panting heavily. He was bruised and a few more wounds lathered his body, but he was alive, and he was happy about it.
Most of the people who had fought on the left side were now gathered, having taken care of matters on their end. They were all wielding a weapon, most armed with the jagged goblin swords, while some had switched to the bow. A few had wanted to try the staff, but none managed to obtain any results from it. They were all discussing, sharing accomplishments, what they understood of the situation, and what to do next.
The fact that it was this calm, meant that the humans had managed to push back the goblin force. Verity exhaled slowly and opted to use the momentary respite to look down at his status window.
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Status Window
Name: Verity
Age: 22
Level: 4
Alias: N/A
Class: N/A
Traits : Shut-in, Unemployed, Favored, Goblin Slayer
Skills: [Lesson Learned Lv. 3], [Why me?! Lv. 1]
Sponsor: [-Error-]
----------------------------------------
‘Level 4 isn’t bad… I think?” His eyes lingered on his new trait Goblin Slayer which replaced the Listless trait. ‘Guess that’s an upgrade.’ He thought, before his eyes drifted to something even more interesting.
Verity had noticed his new skill, but could not remember when he had obtained it, and had not heard the system’s voice in his mind informing him of its activation. Since he had time, he decided to focus on the words and opened the skill window, he was much too curious to put this off for later.
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Skill : [Why me?!]
Rank : B
Level : 1
Rarity : Unique
Type : Passive
Description : Your luck is truly terrible, so much so that it is pitiful to witness. A mysterious being granted you this skill to ensure her amusement, and to keep you alive just a little longer.
Effect: 10% chance to automatically dodge any unexpected attack.
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‘Seriously, who writes these…’
He had the feeling that the skill description had not been written by an impartial, emotionless entity, as the system should have been, but had no way to confirm it. Verity also noted the new ‘effect’ category which had not been present in the window of the Lesson Learned skill.
‘10% chance to dodge an attack...’
It was not a bad skill. Although its chances of activating were low, evading an unexpected attack automatically was the difference between life and death. And yet, Verity mulled over the implications of the skill. He was not as happy as he should have been. While the description had called his luck terrible, the skill’s use relied on him being lucky, ironically. Did the ‘mysterious being’ realize it was contradicting itself by giving him this skill, or was it just meant as a cruel joke?
Felica’s voice broke through his thoughts. “Hey, Verity, what’s your level?” She asked.
This was good for Verity, as he had been curious too. He dismissed his status window and turned to her.
“Four, what about you?” He replied.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“I just reached level three.” She said, a grin on her face. “Got a new skill for it too.”
Verity’s eyes widened and his interest piqued. “Really? What’s it called?”
She brandished her sword. “It’s called [Horizontal slash]. I tried it earlier on a goblin, and it does exactly what the name implies.”
Verity was now very curious. “If you don’t mind… Can I see it in action?”
She shrugged. “Sure.” She then placed the sword behind her, held it firmly in both hands, and closed her eyes. It seemed she needed complete concentration to call upon the skill.
Soon, her sword glowed faintly. She opened her eyes, swung her sword and the air before her was split in two at a speed Verity could barely follow. He wasn’t entirely sure, but Verity believed that this strike might have been able to decapitate a goblin, even if it attempted to block it.
“Amazing…” Verity said with awe.
Felicia planted the sword in the ground, allowing her tired arms to rest. “Yeah… It’ll help, that’s certain.” Her hands were trembling, backlash from using the skill. “What about you? You must have a skill too, right? I talked to the others, and they said everyone unlocked one at level three.”
‘So that’s why I have this new skill…’
Before Verity could respond, Marco joined the conversation. “Then, should I demonstrate mine?” he said with a smug smile.
‘I don’t remember asking you though…’ Felicia thought, but of course she did not say it out loud.
Without waiting for an answer, Marco took many steps back, breathed in deeply, and with a flash, covered the distance between himself and Verity in an instant. “Not bad, huh? This one is called [Dash].” He said with heavy panting.
“That’s also really good…!” Verity replied, even more amazed.
Both of their skills seemed to be active, unlike his, and Verity could immediately see how useful they would be in direct combat. By comparison, his felt a little underwhelming.
They now both shifted their focus to Verity. “Your turn now.” Marco said eagerly. “Seeing as to how you’re the reason the left side survived, you must have gotten something incredible!”
His eyes were full of expectation.
Others who had listened in on the conversation also glanced at Verity from the corner of their eye. There was no reason to believe that skill attribution was reliant on contribution to the trial, but they did remember that rewards were ‘performance dependent’ and wondered if it applied to this as well.
Verity scratched the back of his neck. Unlike the others, he had two skills now but… he hadn’t unlocked the first one at level three, and he couldn’t even describe it, let alone demonstrate. It just activated on its own whenever it deemed fit, and Verity had no control over it.
So, instead of speaking of the cryptic [Lesson Learned], Verity opted to share his second skill, [Why me?!].
He could sense the gazes on him, and felt that he would be letting down the other’s expectations if that was the skill he revealed to them, but he was not willing to lie and he had no other choice.
He sighed. “The skill I got is called, [Why me!?]. It’s passive.”
“What does it do?” Felicia asked, tilting her head.
Verity hesitated, then muttered. “It lets me dodge any unexpected attack… 10% of the time.”
Amidst the short silence that ensued, Felicia was the first to comment. Her eyes narrowed, and her gaze lingered on Verity. “I see…” she said, stroking her chin.
Her reaction was what he had expected to a certain extent. She did not sound impressed, and Verity could tell from the glances of the others around him that they shared a similar sentiment. Again, his skill wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great.
Marco slapped his back, startling him. “Don’t look so down, man! It’s not a bad skill at all! Unexpected attacks are the ones you aren’t meant to evade. This skill could really save your life!”
A dry chuckle escaped Verity’s mouth, and he wanted to thank Marco for his attempt at comforting him, but before he could, Verity heard a whisper.
“[Horizontal slash.]”
SWOOSH
[The skill Why me?! Is being activated.]
Verity had no time to react, but that was inconsequential as an external force took control of his body. It moved on its own, and Verity jumped backward. Where he had stood, Felicia’s sword drew an arc at an incredible speed, missing Verity’s stomach by a hair.
She nodded as she planted her sword back into the ground. “...I knew it. It’s a better skill than you think, Verity.”
A few gasps could be heard among the other survivors, but there was none more shocked than Verity himself.
“Are you insane?!” Verity shouted, a shallow incision on his t-shirt.
Felicia, meanwhile, looked completely unbothered. “Relax, I was certain you’d dodge.”
Verity’s expression was clear, he was waiting for an explanation.
Now exhausted, Felicia planted her sword back into the ground. “You received the skill when you were level three, but you’re level four now. From my calculations, It should take around four to five goblin kills to go from level three to four. Yet, in that time, I didn’t see the skill activate once, and trust me, if it wasn’t for me and Marco, you would have died to many unexpected attacks, nine or so.”
She flicked her hair backward, a confident smirk curling her lips. “Of course, a 10% chance generally means that an event will happen one in ten times. Sure, it could never happen or it could happen every time, but that’s unlikely. From what I gather, the system may use strange words, but it means what it tells you, and this confirms it.”
She grinned, and clenched her fist as she looked at Verity. “Again, this is better than you think, Verity. There’s a high chance that the skill is consistent and that means that you can predict when it will activate.”
Verity blinked a few times, appalled by her analysis. “I don’t know if I should call you a genius, or insane.”
Felicia shrugged. "Listen, if this skill is what keeps you alive, you need to understand how it works, no matter the method.” She then threw Verity one last glance. “You can also consider this payback for that slap earlier." She told him with a wink, before turning around, and joining a group of girls she had been discussing with earlier.
‘She’s still angry about that?!’
Verity wanted to pursue the matter, but then he exhaled deeply and decided it would be better to contemplate Felica’s words instead. Her interpretation was intriguing, and he had to admit, gutsy. Still, there were too many unanswered questions. Verity had not been sure how she managed to accurately count the number of unexpected attacks that befell him, and truth be told, he did not know what exactly was considered an unexpected attack.
In a battle at Verity’s level of skill, almost all attacks were unexpected, and he could only react the best he could. Did it have to be something that he could not physically see coming, or that he would not be able to evade by himself? If he could avoid the unexpected attack without the skill’s help, or if someone rescued him, would it go toward the unexpected attack count? There were many questions to answer and experiments to perform. Verity sensed that he would not be able to do so himself, and was glad that if anything, Felicia would gladly use her [Horizontal Slash] to aid him.
‘Is that something I should be happy about…?’
Verity shook his head, banishing the thought. Usually, there would have been no time for all this chit-chat. The left side should have gone to help the right side a long time ago. There was no physical barrier between them, save for a shallow ditch separating the two, but that could easily be crossed.
Yet, they did not, and the reason for that was simple.
Verity once again looked to the right side of the colosseum, where a lone man wielding a goblin sword was standing by himself. He was wounded, his long black coat was full of holes, and his pale skin was drenched in goblin blood. Yet, he was covered by an air of calm which showed no sign that he had just been through a life or death battle against an army of monsters.
Verity was not sure what had happened, but what he did know was that on that side, he was the only one left. Human or goblin, he was the only one that still lived. Verity had many questions, and so did everyone else, but none dared to approach him, and he did not care to interact with anyone.
Short black hair, much like Verity’s, clung to his forehead, and he possessed sharp eyes that seemed as though they could cut through a person. Verity hated to admit it, but he was handsome, blindingly so, and most importantly, he was unbelievably strong. So strong that he was able to take an army of goblins by himself with a poorly made sword, and only suffered minor wounds at the end of it all.
One thought crossed Verity's mind when he looked at the man. ‘Now that’s… a main character.’