The nobility are scum.

What other words could I possibly use to describe what happened to me? Here I am, bleeding out under some mutant rose bush or whatever this hells damned huge flower bud is. Goblins watching over me like a bunch of mocking carrion eaters waiting until I just give them the chance. Well at least I’ve frightened them enough to make them keep their distance until I actually do bleed out. Looking back I can see how I did.

When Felix pushed me off the cliff he must have used a Skill of some sort, otherwise I can’t explain how I flew behind most of the goblins. The Gods haven’t abandoned me yet though, as my rolling landing was enough to cushion the fall to the point that I didn’t even break anything, or least to the point I didn’t feel like I broke anything.

I dared to spare a single glance back at the shocked goblins before I grasped my sword in hand, turn tail, and run. Of the three Job slots the Tapestry deigned to bless my birth with, only one Job I chose over the years was combat oriented; that Job was Hunter. If I had more arrows maybe I’d have more of a fighting chance, but all I have now is a sword and my Sword Mastery Skill never made it past journeyman.

Three of the stragglers were still in front of me and unfortunately reacted fast enough to be a risk. I threw my bow at the closest one on my right. I was lucky enough to hit exactly where I aimed, right in the legs. Caught in the bow he went tumbling across the ground where I decided a punt to the head was worth the risk of slowing down slightly enough to time it.

I more felt the rewarding crunch through the ball of my right foot than heard it, I didn’t even bother to watch his now unconscious body flail away from me, instead I took my last arrow into my left hand and kept running. Experience had taught me that an arrow could be just as good as any other impromptu stabby thing when it came to the fine art of stabbing; sure it’s no knife and it’ll likely only work once before shattering, but a broken arrow in one of my enemies was better than none at all.

This time I charge the goblin directly in front of me, he waves his spear and seems pretty determined in taking out my groin. I sidestep and smoothly follow up with a stab to his neck lifting his body off the ground. I allow myself to keep pivoting on my leg as I throw his body behind me, in hopes of entangling those nipping at my heels. I keep my momentum as I release him to turn me back on track, not being able to wait and see if I succeeded and keep running. Only the last one on my right remains between me and the deeper forest.

The third is no issue as he only has a knife, it’s enough for me to use my speed and let the blade carve away most of his neck from the force as I run past, some of the blood splatters on me but I don’t have the time to worry about it.

The problem with goblins weren’t their fighting abilities, with just my Sword Mastery alone I outclass any one of them. No, the problem with goblins were their numbers and endurance. It’s probably been only twenty seconds since I started running, but Goblins can run almost as fast as an average person going all out without Skills. The issue is they could maintain that top speed for a least five minutes without tiring. This makes the question not if they’ll catch up to me, but when. There’s no way for me to fend off all of them attacking at once; I wasn’t even wearing a shred of armour just my green hunting clothes, stone weapons would be more than enough to end me.

I scan quickly through the large trees as I continue sprinting forward, I need to find a choke point and fast; running much longer at this pace may slow down my reactions to a deadly point. I can’t help but mutter a prayer under my breath to whomever was listening. I grew up religious but the blood thirsty howls behind me is making me all new kinds of pious than I usually feel.

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“Thank the Gods”, I can’t help but gasp out, there’s a patch of large briars just ahead to my right. I immediately swing towards them and in the next instant tumble my way in without care. Whatever scratches they gave me were far better than the alternative behind. When I found a particularly thick set of thorns I turn to face whatever fate has for me. It’s true when they say the tapestry curses good and bad with an interesting fate, I only hope I survive this one.

Sweat pours down my face as I wait for the goblins, I can only spare it one precursory wipe in my tunic, not daring to take my eyes away from in front of me. While willing myself to breathe freely, going from short gasps to a more in control albeit shaky breathing, my mind dregs through all of my experiences up to now in hopes of finding a sliver of a chance.

I’ve been in rough patches before, fought and bled in wars not of my choosing, hunted by and escaped monstrous things only because I wasn’t as appetising as others near me. Hells I’ve even looked Redcaps eye to eye and lived to talk of it. All of this only reinforces one thing in my mind. I’m no fighter, I never was one.

My very first job was a Farm Hand, it came with the territory as my father was a free tenant which our family has always been due to services rendered to the Lord before, though I’ve no idea what those services were. I thought the goal of my life was to transcend to Farmer or something higher; that is until I met a young travelling mage. He showed me many things, one of them being I could touch the Tapestry, I could be a mage. Well that led to a whole new dream and I even managed to convince my father to let me go. My two older brothers would be more than enough to inherit the farm, and I even took up the Hunter job by apprenticing to an old family friend just to show I could keep care of myself as I travelled to the closest common born academy. I made it too, even managed to pick up a mage class with no small effort, Cunning One. Yet, no matter how hard I tried, no matter what I did, I couldn’t learn anything more than a few simple cantrips and sense the weaving of the Tapestry. As if mocking me, my Skill in sensing the Tapestry has always been stronger than most common mages, yet I could never do anything with what I saw; fully aware of what would never be mine. I chose to not let any of that crush me, instead I chose to see and interact with everything I could, thus I became an adventurer and chose any option that would let me see and touch what others never knew even existed. My wits and determination had been my weapon from since then up to this moment, never my strength of arm. I need to find a way to play to my strengths here as well.

I have maybe a few seconds so I hack and throw as much of the bramble unto the ground in front of me. Goblins don’t wear shoes so hopefully I can bloody them to give myself more of an advantage. I also leave my entry point open, it’s best to know where they’re coming from than give them a chance of flanking me. I’ve nowhere to run or retreat to thus all I can do now is wait.

The fight had been bloody enough, if I couldn’t counter, I deflect, if I can’t deflect, then I block, and if I couldn’t block, well I made sure they bled more than I did. It was easier to manage at the beginning, almost like a routine, but with my stamina draining I had to start sacrificing more and more flesh to gain a kill. I had whittled them down to five before one of them managed to pull my away my crushed left hand from my side, letting another bury his axe in my stomach instead. Both them of died for it as I crushed the skull of one with my sword and the other I impaled on the bramble with my body weight. This was all I could manage before I collapsed.

Now I’m back where I started, propped up against a bush under a flower and the remaining goblins have apparently at last worked up to courage to approach me. I must admit they’re moving much more cautiously than one would expect from their kind, but that slowness is something I plan to make fatal for at least one more of them. All I simply have to do is whip my sword unto one of them, if I bring my upper body down as a fulcrum, it should make up for being so drained.

The first stepped within range and I strike, yet he isn’t dead, why? I look up and see my issue is the flower bud, it blocked my blow and seemed to be shaken slightly open. Well damn.

I look back down and instead of death I see the goblins backs running, and then pain and nothing.