Roan leaned his back on the rocky wall, his chest heaving up and down as he struggled to keep his cool. He grabbed his chest, feeling his heart thump wildly; his heart thumped with extreme fear, yet with every breath he took, he cooled down his mind.
“Calm the fuck down, Roan.” He murmured, clenching and unclenching his fists till he regained his rationale. Whatever this whole bullshit was, panicking would lead him to nowhere. That has always been his maxim since young, and it won’t change even in a foreign environment.
First, what could keep me safe? Roan rummaged through his pockets, taking out his retractable baton, and his phone. Does my phone still work?
The phone appeared to be fine, with most of its functions intact. However, his screen had cracked, though luckily it was only his screen protector that was damaged.
“No signal.” Roan wasn’t surprised by that and checked his remaining battery. “I could still use it for around ten hours. Damn, I really don’t use my phone that much besides reading, huh?”
He subconsciously cracked a joke to keep his calm, then patted his chest. “Keep calm, Roan. Keep your calm.”
“Let’s get the facts straight.” He sat on the ground and ignored the uncomfortable feeling of the rocky floor. Though it was far from pleasant, he needed to conserve his energy, and standing up would just strain him unnecessarily. “After the mage and robot fought, a strange white light appeared, which you then promptly grabbed.”
“After grabbing it, you were suddenly transported to a strange place of indescribable wonders.” Roan closed his eyes, reliving those memories in an attempt to pry more details. “Then, you were sucked into a strange thing, and now you’re here, in this cave with glowing moss and strange fauna.”
“Strangely enough.” He stretched his hands and rubbed his legs. “You’re not that tired. It’s like you’re even slightly better than before. Maybe the white spark healed me up a bit?”
“Besides that,” he mumbled while gazing at his only weapon. “The only thing that could keep you safe right now is your baton. It’s pretty durable, but killing something with it would be harder.”
“Fuck.” He sighed, gazing at the patches of moss on the ceiling. “Am I trapped here?”
That question made skin crawl with worry, but he mumbled to himself in an attempt to keep his cool, “No, no… You got here because of that spark, right? Maybe… Maybe I could get back with it?”
Now that he thought about it, where was that spark? Where was that strange feeling he had moments prior to landing in this strange place?
As he closed his eyes and emptied his mind, relying on nothing but intuition and his memory, Roan felt something inside him light into existence. Weak white electricity zapped out of the palm of his fingers, and he felt it as clear as day.
“That’s a lot easier than I thought.” Roan immediately tried to do the same as before, to release a big burst of power and ascend, but only a few burps of white electricity crackled out of his fingers. “Does it have to charge up? Hmm…”
He closed his eyes, trying to feel the spark with intuition alone. He seemed to have done something right because vaguely enough, he could tell that the spark was too weakened to attempt another jump, and he needed to wait for a while before he could do so.
“Thank fucking god, I just have to wait and I’ll get out of this place.” He heaved a huge sigh of relief, loosening his grip on his baton.
Roan had subconsciously resigned himself to death when he found himself in the cave, but to think miracles do exist. He just had to survive for a couple more hours, and he could skedaddle without worry.
Skreak…
Or could he?
The moment he heard the strange noise echo throughout the cavernous hallway, his muscles stiffened and he hurriedly stood up on his two legs. He extended out his baton, staring to the right where the source of the sound was. It sounded similar to a monster’s screech or growl, and considering the strangeness of this whole situation, he prepped himself for the worst.
Roan quietly stepped back bit by bit, distancing himself from the end of the tunnel which turned right. The faint light of the mossy walls illuminated the existence of a crooked shadow, which slowly enlarged. Faint footsteps could be picked out despite the tens of meters of distance between him and it.
A monster? The shadow was clearly larger than what the monster should look like, but Roan still assumed the monster should at least be almost his size. From what he could tell, the thing had a large head when compared to the rest of its body. It had a rounded abdominal area, had a pair of arms and legs, stood on two feet, had long crooked ears, and wielded a long ass rod.
A spear.
Fuck! Roan looked to the left and right and found a protrusion where he could hide behind. Why the fuck does it have a spear?
He hid behind the small protrusion on the long narrow hall, with the hair on his arms rising. If it had a club or a stick, it would have been fine, but a spear?
Good god.
Roan was extremely familiar with the effectiveness of spears and knew that a spear was particularly deadly in this long hallway where he barely had room to dodge around.
He silently peeked through the protrusion, glancing at the source of the approaching footsteps, and what greeted him was a sight both familiar and not. The thing was quite small, barely bigger than a human child, with green skin and large yellow eyes. It wore a loincloth around its waist to hide its breeding parts, and it wielded a spear close to its chest, uncertain whether or not an enemy lurked around the corner.
A goblin? Everything seemed to make sense and also not. Of course, a goblin would be wielding spears. They’re one of the very few fantasy monsters capable of using weapons in the first place!
Damn it! The spear uses a stone for its tip! Roan cursed. While not as deadly as metal, it would still be more than enough to kill him. If it were made out of wood, then maybe he could handle the blow better, but there was no way he could tank a hit safely from a sharp, pointy stone.
What do I do? What do I do? Roan analyzed every little detail and quickly found a few points he could take advantage of.
Rather than holding out the spear to the front, the goblin kept it close to its chest, aiming the tip of the spear to the ceiling instead. It appeared rather afraid as if it were inexperienced with this sort of thing. Perhaps it was a scout for a local goblin colony?
Whatever the reason was, it was afraid.
Attention. I need to distract it for a moment, to make it look in a different direction so I can close in on it. Roan rummaged through his pockets and found his wallet. He contemplated taking out the coins for a moment, but it would make too much noise. It was better to toss it whole to reduce risk.
He only had one shot at this, so he better make it count.
The goblin slowly approached the protrusion on the wall where Roan hid. His heartbeat accelerated yet his mind became unnervingly calm. He counted down in his head, waiting for the perfect moment to throw his wallet and strike.
3. 3. The footsteps approached.
4. They got closer, with the shadow of the goblin looming right around the corner.
1!
Roan tossed the wallet over his head, which landed right behind the goblin. It hastily moved its gaze away from the direction where Roan was hiding and looked behind it, afraid that a monster had somehow sneaked behind it.
When it found the strange wallet on the ground, confused by the foreign object, the goblin didn’t register Roan sneaking up right behind it, with the metallic baton raised high into the sky, held in a reverse grip.
Sorry. Roan slammed his hand downwards. Not sorry.
The end of the baton punctured straight through the goblin’s large eyes, which Roan then tackled to the ground with his much larger and stronger frame. Now that it was reduced to a close, physical fight, Roan had the upper hand.
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The monster tried to screech out in pain, but with its face planted deeply to the ground, with the baton piercing deeper through its eyes and into its head, it could barely make a sound and struggle. Roan lost all of his fear, exerting strength far beyond what he could normally muster as adrenaline pumped straight throughout his whole body.
Die, die, die! Red blood soaked through the goblin’s eye, and brain matter spewed out, but Roan kept digging the baton deeper and deeper. He didn’t stop, not until the goblin finished moving completely.
Die, you bastard! He raised the goblin’s head and slammed it down to the ground with a loud splattering thud. DIE!
With the final attack, the goblin finally went limp. Roan still kept a tight grip on the goblin’s head, his whole body spasming from adrenaline. He huffed and puffed, regulating his breath as everything turned silent.
Is it dead? He pulled back the goblin’s face from the ground and stared at its disfigured, mushy face. Blood dripped down from its eyes, nose, and mouth, with its nose crunched up and its teeth all gone and broken.
The young man expected himself to feel a little bit of disgust or outright puke from the gory scene, but instead, a smile bloomed on his face as he tossed the goblin aside and grabbed the spear that had fallen to the ground.
Much better. He wiped the blood on his hands to his clothes dismissively, swinging the spear around to test its condition, weight, and length. A bit shorter than what I would like, but it’s better than that baton when it comes to range and practicality.
As he felt more assured about his ability to survive, he stared at the goblin’s corpse, squinted his eyes, and abruptly stabbed the spear right through the dead goblin’s skull.
He did it two more times before stopping, and stared at his own hands weirdly, mumbling, “Am I alright in the head?”
Roan had always been a little self-aware. He knew that he had an uncontrollable addiction to caffeine, that he should fix his sleep schedule but he doesn’t, or that he’s kind of dealing with his trauma of forests rather poorly and should go to a therapist, so he easily realized that the way he reacted to this whole goblin fiasco was quite alarming.
Heck, when he stared at the bloody face of a goblin, he didn’t even think too much of it and just went straight for looting. No matter how monstrous it looked, it was still akin to killing a monkey or some other animal that vaguely resembled humans.
Do I even have the luxury to worry about that now? One glance at the cave and the answer was clear.
Taking off his shirt and turning it inside out, so the stench of the blood would be a bit less than before, he tucked his baton into his pockets and went the opposite way where the goblin had come from, arriving at a crossroads leading left and right.
Roan randomly chose to go right, leaving the corpse of the bleeding monster behind. If he assumed the goblin came from a nearby goblin colony, then more scouts would arrive. He should go in the opposite direction and distance himself away from it as much as possible, biding his time and…
“Hmm?” As he turned around another corner, he was greeted by a strange barrier of light erected at the end of the dimly lit tunnel.
The barrier of light was shaped like an arched gate, forming what appeared to be a prismatic door.
What the hell… Magic? Roan warily approached the end of the tunnel, spear raised. He tried to poke the edge of the prismatic gateway with the tip of his spear but found it passing right through, hitting nothing but empty air.
Is it an illusion?
He tried to touch it with his bare hand, and just like his spear, his arm ended up passing straight through it. On the other end of the light gateway, he felt nothing but empty air and decided to take a risk.
Roan braced for impact and peeked his head inside.
He was immediately greeted by a new sight.
It was a large, cavernous room, with the same glowing moss scattered all around. Within the room, he found random stuff scattered across the floor—plants, bread, and even a piece of leather armor for his upper body.
Most importantly though, there were monsters.
They were silently roaming the room, appearing rather peaceful and harmless. They were of all the same species; rabbits with white fur, red eyes, and horns on their head. Counting them all, Roan could make out a total of ten of them.
Horned rabbits? Roan tightened his grip around his spear. He didn’t want for more conflict if possible, but to find three whole loaves of bread lying on the ground, and even precious armor, made him waver.
Should he take a risk and see if he could take them on, or not?
Food though… he gritted his teeth and tried to find ways on how he could safely take them all out. In the end, the terrain was too monotonous for him to take advantage of anything.
“Well, they should at least be a lot weaker than goblins.” Roan took in a deep breath and waited for a while. He made some subtle sounds, loud enough that the horned rabbit nearest to the door of light could hear him.
“Squeak?” It turned to look up and noticed Roan’s face poking through the door. As if urged by some primal instinct, it rapidly hopped forward, its red eyes glowing with bloodlust. “Squeak!’
It hopped forward, its singular horn ready to pierce through whatever defenses Roan had.
“Hup!” Roan pounced the same time the rabbit attacked, stabbing his spear forward through the door of light, catching the rabbit by surprise. Before it could dodge out of the way, the sharp stone edge of the spear pierced through its white fur, impaling it right on the chest.
“Skweee!” it cried out in pain, attracting the attention of every other rabbit in the room. Roan hurriedly stepped back, phasing through the door of light. He flicked the rabbit off his spear and aimed forward, waiting for another rabbit to pass through the gate.
The moment one passed through it, he stabbed his spear forward at breakneck speeds. The horned rabbit could barely react before dying in one blow, but as it died, another rabbit passed through the gate and instantly tried to stab Roan with its horned head.
Shit. Roan dodged to the side and slid his spear out of the rabbit’s corpse.
Another horned rabbit passed through the gate, ready to pounce on Roan from the front, while the rabbit behind him was another threat that occupied his mind.
Crap! Roan’s mind accelerated and his senses heightened. With another rush of adrenaline pumping through him and as his mind entered a state of flow, everything seemed to slow down as he reacted perfectly to their combined attacks.
Swinging the bottom end of his spear upwards, the rabbit jumping from the back was flicked upwards, while Roan then stepped sidewards, dodging the rabbit from the front. His free hand grabbed the flying rabbit, and ruthlessly slammed its face against the rocky wall.
Three down! Roan’s arms spasmed as he quickly located where the other rabbit had landed. Its bottom chin had taken a severe blow from the blunt force of his spear, but it was still far from dead. Lunging forward with the spear raised, he stabbed it straight through its stomach, killing it in one blow.
Four! Three more rabbits passed through the gate, and Roan swung his spear, flinging the dead rabbit corpse in their general direction. They jumped away, as expected, to dodge the blow.
“Hah!” Roan threw his spear with great precision, which plunged straight through the nearest rabbit’s head.
Discarding his spear, he ran straight to another rabbit, with his retractable baton fully extended out.
It tried to jump forward in an attempt to attack him, but Roan was much quicker to react. His senses have been dulled and focused to ensure his survival, turning everything else but the rabbits into a blur.
With a loud grunt, he slammed his baton at the flying rabbit’s face, causing it to crash right at the wall to his left. Not wasting a single breath, he grabbed it with his left hand just as it bounced back into the air from the impact, rotated his torso, and slammed it right at the ground, causing blood to erupt out of its mouth and eyes.
Six!
Another rabbit did the same thing the other rabbits did, jump forward, which Roan had already memorized in his mind. With newfound familiarity with their pattern of attacks, he clenched the bleeding rabbit in his hand and swung it upwards, directing its sharp horn to the abdomen of the flying rabbit.
Blood splashed outwards, and one horned rabbit pierced another, maiming it dead in one blow.
Seven!
It didn’t take long for him to deal with the three final rabbits, killing all of them in one to two blows each. He had been part of his school’s kendo club for years now, and he had plenty of sparring experiences; while he may not be the best, he was good enough to maximize his strength to kill things as quickly as possible.
By the time the last rabbit died, which he choked to death with his bare hands, he had collapsed to the ground breathing heavily. A whole cluster of dead, bloody corpses surrounded him, and a stench of blood wafted in the air.
Taking a deep breath, he forced himself up and dragged the dead rabbits through the gate of light and into the cavernous room. Even if blood had already smeared all over the outside of the gate, and had left an obvious scent, it was still better than nothing.
He was tired and exhausted after that, his adrenaline-pumped body returning to normal and making him feel the soreness he had ignored moments prior. Massaging his arms, he turned to look at the loot scattered in the room and grinned.
All in all, he had gathered five different things.
A piece of leather armor, a strange scroll, a red potion, three loaves of bread, and strangest of all, a weird eye.
The eye in question was made out of both flesh and something inorganic, a mesh between stone and crystal; its pupil was bright red, and its iris pitch-black.
The eye emitted an esoteric energy, with black miasma spewing out of its surface. It had an otherworldly glow, one that existed beyond the bounds of reality.
Should I touch it? That was the tough question Roan had to ponder. While not exactly the same feeling as when he saw the white light from before, the eye enticed him to grab it, to attain its great power.
Even he, someone with an acute mind, didn’t realize the strange thoughts he was having.
Thinking for a moment, Roan sighed and took out a coin from his wallet.
“You live by the flip.” He tossed the coin into the air. “You die by the flip.”
For all his indecisiveness, Roan had a pretty solid system to solve his uncertainty. For years now, he had been relying on a coin flip, to answer questions pertaining to yes or no. Now, he was once again betting his life on that flip, and seeing whether or not he should touch the strange eye.
The coin rapidly spun in the air and landed on his hand.
Heads. The coin landed on heads.
Taking a deep breath, Roan closed his eyes and habitually prayed, an action he usually does whenever he wishes to rely upon the benevolence of deities and the support of fate. He tapped his body four times, and pressed his hands together, as if in prayer.
“Please don’t kill me…,” Roan whispered, half-faithful, half-pleading.
“Please don’t kill me.” He resolutely stood up, uncoiled his hands, and grabbed the eye, which then promptly shattered into fragments of esoteric light. Before Roan could react, the fragments plunged straight into his right eye, and he reflexively shouted out in pain… but it was actually painless.
A strangely cold yet warm feeling arose from his right eye as the fragments finished whatever they were trying to do. He blinked his eyes for a moment, readjusting his vision.
Did it fix my blurry vision or something? Roan took off his glasses, and nope, it was still blurry. Then what did it do?
The moment he stared at his glasses, strange letters floated out of it to form scribbles in the air.
Glasses - Tier I
Alleviates blurry vision.
“What the hell?”