Nathan found himself surrounded by corpses, splattered with viscera as he stood on yet another rocky hill.

The air was heavy with the smell of blood and death and he watched one particular gruesome body tumbling down the slope towards the valley, only to be caught by a tree.

Nathan's breathing was laboured, sweat streaming down his face and multiple small wounds marred his body. Despite this, his eyes were alight with determination.

He recalled the first time he had ever found himself in an environment like this, back on Earth. “No one ever tells you about the smell,” he mused. “It took a while before I stopped vomiting at the beginning.”

Taking out a water skin, he took a long gulp to soothe his aching throat before declaring to the landscape, “Twenty down, less than forty to go.” His voice drifted across the wilderness until it was lost in the wind, startling a few nearby animals.

“That should be the bulk of the patrols down. Next step is taking out the shaman,” he mumbled to himself as he set out in search of a river. He could hardly sneak into a goblin camp smelling like he had just risen from the underworld.

On the way, he lit a cigarette, humming a little under his breath. “These goblins were more powerful than expected. Killing the shaman and then running away should be enough to level up—no need to take on the whole horde.”

After washing himself, he lit a campfire and went to sleep naked while his clothes dried. It would take more than cold air to make his improved body sick.

His night terrors served as his alarm clock once again, and soon Nathan was dressed and ready to set out. Before starting, he walked back down to the river and smeared both his clothes and any visible parts of his body with mud. “This should mask my scent and make me slightly less visible.”

He hadn’t been particularly stealthy when killing the goblins yesterday, but he had made sure none survived to return to the village. Nathan didn’t know when exactly the rest of the tribe would notice their absence, but he expected them to send out follow-up groups, delaying a larger response and leaving the village less defended.

By the time they returned, Nathan hoped to have already taken out the shaman, smashed through as many regular goblins as possible, and made his escape.

His camp was not far from the village, the fire hidden by the landscape, and soon he found himself back in the same observation spot he had occupied yesterday.

It was hard to gauge the mood of the goblins from this distance, but he noticed no significant difference in their behaviour compared to the day before.

Good, he thought, I've got time then.

His position on the hill was uncomfortable, and the mud had dried and cracked on his skin, making his body itch all over, but he remained patient, holding his spot for over an hour.

Finally, a change could be seen as about a third of the small figures broke away from the village, splitting off into pairs and trios, and taking branching paths further into the wilderness.

That leaves about twenty goblins in the village—not all of them fighters, no doubt. I can expect an hour before the patrols return, so now is the time to act.

Nathan slid back from his spot, spending almost 20 minutes getting as close to the village as possible without being spotted.

He hid behind boulders and trees, but the closer he got, the less cover he could find. He had gotten much further than he thought possible when a sentry finally raised a warbling cry, and an arrow shattered the stone just a meter away from him.

Breaking into a run, Nathan crossed the remaining hundred meters, the time he took giving the goblins ample opportunity to react and arm themselves.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

He had crossed about half the distance when projectiles started flying, though most missed him by a wide margin—hitting a moving target, particular one with the speed Nathan was capable of, was much harder than most people gave it credit for.

By the time Nathan reached the first goblins, most had armed themselves, but there was no defensive line yet, so he simply weaved his way through the creatures. Twice, he landed stabs with his spear while passing goblins, and two of the monsters died, but he never stopped moving—his only goal was to kill the shaman.

The goblin in question was positioned in the middle of the village and was already prepared for Nathan.

Guttural, unnaturally deep voices came from its throat as tattoos moved on its body, writhing as though alive. Already, dark smoke began to gather in the shaman's hand, the spell being cast faster than Nathan had expected.

“Identify.”

Goblin – Shaman [7]

Damn, that’s higher than expected.

Nonetheless, Nathan was prepared. He fired off a counter spell, the last one left on the bracelet he had originally bought to deal with Brand.

The dark smoke in the shaman's hands suddenly started flickering with the red light of fire, the two elemental forces clashing as the goblin flinched but nonetheless increased its chanting, its voice thundering through the village.

Nathan was about ten meters away when the shaman released the smoke, the spell taking the form of a grotesque skull, with pieces missing due to the counter spell's interruption.

Nathan barely swerved out of the way, but the spell turned around and came toward him once more, forcing him to duck under its path.

It impacted one of the huts, immediately exploding into a cloud of unnatural darkness that began consuming the building.

The shaman started chanting again as Nathan regained his balance, ready to close the distance.

I’ve got seconds until the rest of the goblins join the fight. I have to kill it now.

Nathan had crossed half the distance when he was suddenly hit by an enormous force, his feet lifted off the ground as the world tumbled around him. He barely managed to twist in the air, landing heavily on the ground, his teeth banging together as he sighted his new foe.

Hobgoblin – Striker [6]

Run.

The hobgoblin threw itself forward as multiple dark clouds streamed toward Nathan.

He danced backward, evading the hobgoblin and blocking two of the shaman's attacks while dodging several others, but one impacted his leg, too low to counter.

Nathan winced but didn't hesitate to grab hold of a roof, swiftly catapulting himself upwards onto one of the huts.

He heard a roar and felt an impact shake the structure, but his focus was on dodging the projectiles now streaming toward him.

Moving with supernatural grace, his instincts providing him with an enormous amount of information, the projectiles seemed to curve around him as Nathan began building speed, leaping from the roof.

Mid-jump, dark chains suddenly bound him, pulling him toward the ground and leaving him disoriented and sore on impact.

Groaning, he stood up, the world tilting slightly in his vision, but Nathan took off into the distance immediately, fully focused on escaping the village.

As soon as he left the circle of huts, arrows and stones started flying.

Nathan decided to let some of them hit him to stay ahead of his pursuers. One particularly heavy stone struck him in the back, sending him stumbling as heavy footsteps sounded behind him.

Before Nathan could regain his balance, a fist slammed him to the ground, his vision replaced by bright light for a moment.

Hobgoblin, he concluded.

On instinct, Nathan dropped his weapon, blocking the next strike with his forearms. He used his legs to throw the hobgoblin off, mounting the fallen foe and raining punches down on its face, though they didn’t seem to do much damage.

Abandoning the useless strikes, Nathan rolled away from the hobgoblin and reached for his spear, just barely managing to grab it before he felt a hand on his leg. The creature was dragging him back toward it.

Immediately, Nathan turned and slashed at his foe, landing a long wound on its forearm and feeling the grip on his leg vanish.

Without pause, he sprang to his feet, running as fast as his legs could carry him, time and distance totally forgotten.

The landscape blurred by, but even as he left the goblins far behind, Nathan carried on until he finally collapsed to the ground, completely exhausted.

It took him a while to regain his composure, and when he finally did, Nathan inspected the state of his body.

He winced as he touched his back. “A whole lot of bruises, but nothing serious, I think. Damn hobgoblin.”

Nathan spent a few more minutes lying on the ground until his breathing calmed and his legs stopped shaking. Slowly, he sat up. Balancing heavily on his spear, he stood, inspecting his surroundings.

“I ran farther away from the trial; that will cost me another couple of hours at least.”

Determining the correct direction, Nathan set out again. At first, he walked slowly with the help of his spear, but soon he managed to get his legs back under control and continued at a normal pace.

“The next couple of days will be hell—I’ll hurt all over. At least I might finally build some muscle after that escape.”

A few more minutes passed before Nathan let out a relieved chuckle, the reality of his escape finally sinking in.

“At least I got away in one piece. For now, I need a place to sleep and something to eat. I’m completely out of energy after that run.”