"What?" Kyra turns and runs over to where the boy was standing near the entrance. However, she bumps into an invisible blockade that covered the cave entrance. She pounded on it and glowing vibrations rippled across the barrier's surface.
"Wait! Tiny! Come back! Ple-" A spear zips by her right ear and sticks itself into the cavern wall with a bang. Kyra shrieks as three creatures step from the shadows. They were about toddler's height, with green skin and neon eyes. She recognized them from the games she tried before. Goblins. The three of them advanced into the light of the cave entrance, and Kyra saw something hovering over their heads.
[Cave Goblin Lvl. 6]
Level 6? She was only level 1, had no weapons and no skills to back her up. Sweat clung onto her back like a ghost as Kyra heard her heart roaring.
"Calm down Kyra... calm down." She whispered, her voice tight as an airlock, the sound barely reaching her own ears. Darting her eyes to the left she saw the spear rolling on the ground. She snapped her eyes back as the goblins push forward, growling.
Tentatively, Kyra reached out her left arm and picked it up. She swung it around so that the sharpened wooden tip was pointing at the goblin in the middle, who stumbled backwards when the weapon came swinging at it.
Taking Kyra's moment of recklessness as a sign of attack, the other two goblins jumped. They snarled as they waved their wooden spears at Kyra.
Finally subduing the panic in her mind, Kyra quickly swung the spear around again, knocking away the goblins' spears. But they crashed into her. The goblins clung to her with one their claws, ripping through her shirt. They raised their other hand to slash down. Kyra opted to drop her spear and elbowed one of the goblins in the stomach, causing it to fall off.
The last goblin slashed down his claws, ripping open Kyra's shoulder. Screaming, she spun and rammed into the barrier. The goblin was her cushion. It slumped to the ground before disintegrating into the same diamond dust as the wolves form yesterday. The other two goblins, seeing their companion dead, roared in anger. In a fit of rage they charged.
However, they charged straight forward, so Kyra simply slid to the side, grabbing one of their spears and whacking the goblin into the stone wall. At the back of her mind Kyra wondered if the wolves Marc fought were this vicious. From Tiny's video playback they certainly didn't seem so aggressive.
Before Kyra had a chance for a breather, the remaining goblin attacked. Grunting, Kyra thrust her spear. With pain reverberating through her right shoulder, it pierced it through the gut. It disintegrates, dropping something on the ground.
At this point, Kyra's arm was throbbing and she felt sweat and blood dripping down her exposed back, stinging her wound. Even if she wanted to drop down and close her eyes, Kyra knew she would lose her life. And she didn't lose at anything.
[You have leveled up! Stat points +1]
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Kyra looks at it for a moment, then decided - screw it - to lie down and regain some stamina. She'll examine her status and fight for her life when she's not dying from exhaustion. Glancing at the three stat bars hovering near her leg, she saw her health at halfway, and her stamina surprisingly high.
HP: 16/33
MP:237/237
SP: 18/23
Of course, her MP was still useless without any skills that utilized mana.
Looking around, Kyra saw the blood on the ground, and felt pain surging over her. She pushes herself against the wall, staring into the tunnel the goblins emerged from. But she screeches in pain as the dirt sticks onto her wound. So Kyra scrunches over and huddles instead, taking deep breathes.
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After what felt like a few seconds, perhaps minutes, Kyra forces her eyes open, frustrated and tired. Ignoring her pain, she stumbles to her feet. Looking at the small space of the cave, Kyra saw the spear she just used and picked it up, but quickly discovers something else. As she stood by the spear, three notifications popped up.
[Fingerless Goblin Gloves Lvl. 1]
[Small Pouch of Gold: 2 coins]
[Wooden Spear Lvl. 1]
It seemed like each item had its own tag, and that the goblins dropped items when she defeated them. Kyra taps on the gold coin pouch tag, but it vanishes.
[Item stored in inventory.]
Kyra wanted open her inventory, but hearing a distant scratch of claw on rock, she decides against it. Quickly, Kyra taps on the gloves tag and a detailed screen shows up.
[Fingerless Goblin Gloves Level 1: Crude gloves made by goblins in order to utilize basic tools. +2% efficiency with basic tools, spears, and axes.]
[Equip?]
[Yes] [No]
Kyra clicked yes and immediately two dark brown gloves materialized on her hands. They felt surprising supple. Then Kyra picked up the spear. In her hands the spear was lighter, or perhaps less wobbly as she held it. Kyra could feel the tip of the spear and gave it an experimenting thrust, finding it a little more stable than before. Interesting.
Swinging the spear around, Kyra walked over to where she slain the other two, wondering what other items they dropped. Disappointingly, she only finds gold pouches and they immediately went into inventory. The two spears they held was also stored. No harm in having extras, right?
Glancing into the darkness of the cave as the scratching sound echoed louder, Kyra decided that instead of venturing into the darkness with no light, she'll stayed at the cave entrance. She held a stance and waited - like a trap - until 5 more goblins showed up. Kyra squatted next to the tunnel, pressing against the wall to keep her hidden from the enemies' view.
This time, Kyra was prepared since she heard them. Mustering all her martial arts knowledge about fighting - while she never had any live experience - Kyra lashed forward, impaling the leftmost goblin. She smashed it into the wall, ending it.
Kyra noticed there was a slight difference in how quick the fight ended. Seeing the tags above their head Kyra concluded she was closer a level closer to them now, so it was just a tad more even.
With that being said, Kyra launched herself into battle, thrusting the spear forward and impaling yet another goblin. The third and fourth were no trouble either. Kyra knocked one into the wall with the dull side of the staff and then thrust it the other way and impaled the fourth.
However, the last goblin looked different than the others. Above it's head was a different tag.
[Warrior Cave Goblin Lvl. 5]
It pulled out a stone dagger. Great, Kyra's shoulder sagged.
In that moment the goblin slashed her wooden spear in half. Cursing, Kyra jumps back reflexively, putting some distance between them as her brain tries to think of a way to defeat it. Then it clicked. She had two extra spears in her inventory! She called up the menu screen but the goblin pounced and Kyra leapt back, and the goblin lurched forward again without thought.
Kyra continued to duck back, trying to open the screen but she couldn't concentrate on the thought of 'menu'. Looking around, Kyra tried to jump towards the invisible barrier, betting on the assumption that the goblin can't see it either with their low level. If it rammed itself into the rock solid wall...
Moving quickly Kyra pressed her back up against the barrier. She smirks as the goblin fall prey to her trap and lurch itself towards her. She resisted the temptation to run away as the warrior goblin barred its yellow teeth and claws.
Leaping out of the way at the last second, Kyra yelped as her calf was ripped open as the goblin crashes into the barrier. With the brief moment of pause as the goblin was dazed, Kyra called up menu and inventory, pulling out a spear.
When the goblin shook its head and seemed to recover some of its health and launched itself at Kyra in rage, Kyra was ready. In one swift movement Kyra jabs it through the skull of the goblin. She heard a crunch and a spurt of blood plopped onto her shirt before the goblin disintegrated.
[Due to your actions, you have learned the skill Thrust! Attacks by thrusting deal 10% more damage.]
[You have leveled up! Stat points +1]