SCHHHWAFF!
“Aghhhhhhh!”
-30 Health
Ryuu Ga Waga Teki Wo Kurau!
Letting out a scream, an arrow plunged into my left shoulder. Its point completely penetrated through my leather armor. Piercing into my flesh, the pain overtook my mind and I dropped to the ground, releasing the bow from my grip. Breathing became hard as I tried to deal with the pain.
It hurts! Aghh! Why does it hurt so much?! Oh god, this really isn’t a game! If this is what getting hit feels like, I don’t wanna know what it feels like to die!
I was the hunter but now I’m the prey. A sense of fear replaced my previous exhilaration by multiple folds as I dawned on the thought.
Get up! Get up! You’re going to die if you don’t! Quit being a bitch. GET UP!
I mentally screamed at myself, forcing my body to scuttle away for cover based on the goblin’s arrow trajectory. Blood rushed down my arm, I stared at the arrow in disbelief.
Pain is just weakness leaving your body! It does not hurt! Aghhh! Yes, it fucking does! I gotta take it out, I gotta take it out!
Remembering what they did in old time movies, I knew if I pulled the arrow out I would bleed profusely. Snap it off! Reaching for the arrow with my right hand and pushed downwards in an attempt to break the shaft.
“Arghhhhhhhhh!”
I can’t do it!
Tears filled my eyes, as I stared up into the blurry canopy. Taking a deep breath, I pushed downward as hard as I could.
SNAP!
Grimacing in pain, I looked over my shoulder evaluating the damage done.
The other goblin must have turned back and tracked me after I chased the other one. God! Who designs goblins to be so damn smart?
THUNK!
The tree behind me shook violently. I darted to a nearby bush for cover while drawing a dagger. My left arm was entirely numb and I knew it was completely out of commission.
-2 Health
Drip drip drip! That’s not water you know?
I’m still bleeding...I have to think of something...what can I do? Shadow magic? No, useless. Illusion magic? Yea, I can use the concentration one.
Diving toward the bush to my left I laid on the ground and imagined myself to blend into the environment. A layer of mist enveloped my body, I crawled backward and moved behind the same tree I was previously at to trick the goblin.
Standing as still as possible, my breath froze inside my burning lungs. Please work...
After what felt like an eternity, a goblin appears within my sights as he broke through the foliage. It slowly looked around and approached my direction. Kneeling, it touched the ground where my blood fell and sniffed its fingers. Seemingly without notice that I was standing inches away from it.
-2 health
Looks like koolaid. YUM!
Now! The grip on my dagger tightened as I pounced forward, aiming for a downward stab at its neck.
PING
Drawing its stone dagger the goblin slightly deflected my blow, only allowing me to nick it’s forearm. Its ferocious demeanor enhanced it's already savage like appearance. I wildly swung my dagger as fast as possible, hoping that any one of my strikes would wound my foe. Unfortunately, the goblin dodged most of my flailing attempts to strike true.
My training seemed obsolete as panic overtook my actions. Nothing seemed to work. The goblin guffawed at me as if I were a child brandishing a stick. It readied its stone dagger mockingly then pounced like a beast, cutting into my thigh at a speed too fast to dodge.
-17 Health
At least the goblin knows how to fight...
“Arghh, You ugly son of a bitch!”
It pulled back as if it were a cat toying with a mouse. My anger raged within me but slowly it turned into a focused fury. My vision honed onto its weapon, while everything else seemed to fade away. The blade swerved in a snake like manner then suddenly plunged towards me. Swinging my dagger as fast as I could in retaliation, the blades met briefly which knocked the goblin’s dagger away in recoil. With the opening created by the parry, my body seemed to move on its own. Reflexively thrusting my dagger into his ribcage, then yanking it back out. As it wailed in pain, I sparta kicked the tiny prick away three feet.
Congratulations! You’ve learned the basic skill: Parry
This is the day you will always remember, as the day you almost stabbed
Captain Jac...Solus!
Getting up the goblin wiped its face off and spat on the ground in almost a human-like manner. While staring intently at me the goblin threw its stone dagger at my face then turned to flee with its gaze never leaving me.
You’re not getting away!
Tilting my head to dodge the dagger then flinging my arm outwards, my weapon flew forward. Five more simultaneously split from the original dagger aiming at different vitals. Three were fake but two were shadow manifestations. The goblin attempted to quickly dodge right but instead dove into one of the real blades.
“Couldn’t dodge that, could ya!?”
“ARaAakK” it roared
Holding onto its eye as red ichor gushed from between its fingers. Taking advantage of the situation, I rushed forward and then sliced open the goblin’s throat. Blood spluttered all over me like rain.
My shoulder was killing me. Fresh blood oozed out of my left shoulder. A gory green creature laid before me. At this point, with so much crimson everywhere I couldn’t tell if it was the goblin’s or my own.
BA-DUMP-BA-DUMP-BA-DUMP
My heart raced as adrenaline coursed through me. I knew once the adrenaline subsided that the pain I felt now would increase by several folds.
Why? Why does this hurt so fucking much!? Where the hell are the pain dampeners?
Pushing through the pain, I retraced my steps for about a minute until I retrieved my bow. Finding a tree, I attempted to climb it with one arm but it proved more difficult than I imagined. In the top left of my vision, I saw my Health and Mana at 119/170 and 9/113, respectively. Looking at my health bar, noticing every ten seconds or so, I was losing two health. I need to patch this wound up quick but safety comes first.
-2 Health
Gonna patch that up yet?
After several painful attempts, I finally managed to pull myself up and was able to sit on a sturdy branch. There was blood all over the tree but I knew that my body wouldn’t make it any further. I focused my attention to applying first aid.
I tried to reach as tentatively as possible over my shoulder to remove my backpack but failed miserably because it hurt too much.
“Aghh.” I grunted softly as possible, the pain striking me intensely. Ignoring the discomfort as much as possible, I reached into my backpack and dug around for my bandages. Taking a deep breath, I pushed my finger into the wound in my shoulder and shoved the broken shaft of an arrow all the way out.
“ArARgH”
After unpacking the bandages, I began wrapping up my injury with much difficulty.
Dismissing the blue screen again, I looked up at the canopy trying to see the sky. The world around me seemed much more menacing and dangerous than I could imagine. A sense of unease and sadness overwhelmed me.
I closed my eyes and tried to listen to the calming lull of nature again but a dark sense of foreboding haunted me.
After a brief moment, my eyes flickered. I need to warn the others about these goblins. These two goblins might be a scouting party, there could be more heading towards the group.
“Status.”
General Information
Attributes
Name
Solus
Strength (Str)
9
Level
2
Dexterity (Dex)
14
Race
Drakin (Dark)
Agility (Agi)
16
Sex
Male
Endurance (End)
12
Guild
N/A
Intelligence (Int)
11
Title
N/A
Will Power (Will)
12
Health
125/170 (+0.12/sec)
Experience
17%
Mana
16/113 (+0.12/sec)
Gold
0
You’ve leveled up! You have 3 attribute points to allocate
So...you should put those in intelligence. What idiot goes into the woods alone?
I almost placed my entire allotment into Intelligence just as the AI had suggested, but decided against doing so last minute, . I threw two points into endurance and the last into my strength.
I’ll be damned if I listen to your sarcastic ass. Not like you’ve done me any good so far...
Breathing in slowly, my body suddenly lost balance and dropped down from my perch. Agonizing pain spasmed throughout my wounds as I crashed into a bush.
“Arghh…”
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
-23 Health
Ba-ba-ba-bird bird bird
BIRD IS THE WORD
Nevermind you can’t fly
The air in my lungs was forcibly expunged from inside, leaving me winded. Coughing, blood flew from my mouth in a gruesome crimson mist. I started wheezing; the injury had reopened with the fall. The previously applied bandages seemed to hold no sway at the deepened wound. The pain was intolerable as my mind flooded with harrowing torment. My eyes rolled back and darkness set in.
Am I really gonna die like this?
My consciousness finally fading with that last thought.
RRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNGGGGG~~~~
Ugh…
My eyes finally flickered open, as a ringing blared loudly in my head. A sense of grogginess overpowered me as I struggled to understand what was happening. Aches roiled through my shoulder and thigh.
Where am I…?
Looking around, a dark, dank forest filled my vision. Raising my hand up, I pinched the area in between my eyebrows to relieve the headache. A sharp pain made me jerk away. Fully opening my eyes, I could see a clawed hand once more.
-1 Health
A dash of ground, a pinch of pain, and nope!
You’re not insane
Crap, it wasn’t a dream…
Looking up at the top left of my vision to see the health bar, it showed 189/190. Though my body ached horribly, all the previous wounds I had were sealed but scars remained.
“Sara, how long was I asleep?”
I said while instinctively raising my right hand. I was met with the sound of silence. I felt stupid for a moment but then a sense of urgency overtook me.
“Crap, the others!”
I jumped to my feet and ignored the soreness in my muscles. My eyes scanned the area to gain a sense of bearing. I was completely lost, the battle disorientating my sense of direction.
It’s okay, you got this.
Reassuring myself, after a few moments, I was able to find my tracks and retrace my steps. The process was slow at first but after awhile, I knew where I was and I started to sprint back towards the group.
While running through the woods, branches whipped across causing slight pains but it was nothing compared to injuries that occurred during the fight. My body felt like it was breaking down but I increased my stride anyways. My lungs burned with each intake of fresh breath. Each swallow was dry and went down my throat like sandpaper
I have to warn the others. Things are not as it seems. These goblins were too intelligent and if the others underestimated these enemies, the danger would be catastrophic. What I had realized, after my fight with the goblins, was that the fear of dying created an all-consuming panic that even trained men would succumb to. In the other virtual reality games, pain was only simulated up to 20%. Faced with real pain and the possibility of death, they would freeze in battle, and that in itself was a death sentence. The realistic pain strikes fear into your heart and if you’re not fully prepared or lucky, then only death awaits. I didn’t want anymore deaths weighing on my consciousness, one was enough.
I didn’t know if my tracks would be traced by other goblins so I took another route. Weaving in-between trees while rapidly closing in on the group, I was approached at a different angle than I had entered into the forest from.I could see the group in the distance and they were okay. A sense of relief washed over me as I stopped and greedily gasped for air.
I made it in time.
My hands tingled as I held onto my knees, sweat soaking my clothes and skin. I felt completely drained as I hastily jogged outside the treeline but I didn’t let my guard down. Cautiously, I surveyed the surroundings, worried that there might be unseen dangers lurking in the shadows. Right when I approached the woodline, I spotted a large amount of movement in the foliage where I previously saw the scouts. None of the players even noticed what was happening. Hurriedly, I tried to warn them so they wouldn’t be caught off guard.
“Watch out! We’re under attack!” My lungs blazed in detest as a guttural cry of distress escaped my mouth.
My warning seemed to had initiated the goblin’s assault. An arrow emerged from the woodline, firing into the crowd. Caught unprepared, the group panicked as they failed to respond properly. I shook my head knowing that most of of them had never been in a fight and many would die soon.
I have to do something.
“Enemies! Ready yourselves!” a familiar voice yelled.
Sprinting further into the woods in an attempt to flank the enemies, I weaved once more in-between the trees. Suddenly, a large ball of light flashed past and illuminated the forest, showing an army of goblins. I slowed my charge and stealthily approached the enemy. The goblins then zoomed forward in a line-like formation; War cries filling the air as they brandished their weapons. The archers stayed back, letting out a volley of arrows into my allies.
How can they be so well trained!? Aren’t they supposed to be just goblins?
The players were disorganized but eventually managed to collectively bum rush their enemy to repel the attack. A giant sphere of fire appeared out of nowhere and smashed into the goblin hoard, flinging a few into the air like rag dolls.
It was not long before the sky was inundated with arrows and deadly magic, as both groups tried to pick each off from afar. Hellish cries of pain and torment resounded throughout the area. The stench of burnt flesh and blood filled the air so much so, I could almost taste it.
Stopping, I hid near the goblin hoard in a bush. I could only wait until the second goblin vanguard charged forward, which would leave their archers exposed. My heart ached as I watched innocent people fight for their lives against these savages.
I’m only one person, I can only do so much.
The feeling of selfishness and guilt washed over me, but I had just moments ago experienced the painful and near-fatal consequences of blindly diving into battle. Only the dead and the very stupid repeat their follies, of which, I hoped I was neither. Finally the second wave emerged from the woods, this time a spear goblin riding a wolf led the charge.
Finally!
Immediately, I took notice of two goblin archers that were somewhat left unguarded about 20 feet from me. Drawing my shortbow, I nocked an arrow, and took aim. Instead of immediately firing, I took time to steady my breathing.
Aim for center mass then fire after exhaling.
THHWANG, SHHHAWAFF
Releasing the string as the last bit of air left my lungs, the arrow flew toward my unsuspecting victim. My strike landed with a sickening thud in its chest, eliciting a hoarse scream. Putting the bow away as fast as I could, my hands quickly grabbed onto two daggers as I sprinted toward them. The second goblin turned to look at me, drew a stone dagger, and charged at me as well.
Rapidly approaching each other, the goblin slobbered like a bulldog as it let out a warcry. Taking note of the goblin’s weapon as well as the weapon’s reach, I opted for a kick , raising my right leg. My foot smashed into its face, forcing its head to slam into the ground. After regaining balance, my body pivoted towards my foe.
Faster, I have to be faster!
The goblin rolled on the ground clutching its head. Not wanting to take the risk of being wounded again, my hands flashed and two daggers pierced into its leg and back. Reaching into my quivers and grabbing arrows, my hands repeatedly flung them like darts at the goblin. Looking like a porcupine, the goblin laid in a unmoving pool of blood.
Die! You ugly son of a bitch! DIE!!
The first goblin I previously attacked finally reached me, with the arrow still in its chest. Grabbing onto my last two daggers, I threw my arms out to my sides and let out a bloodthirsty roar.
“ROARRRRR!!!”
The goblin reeled back as I lunged forward. Attempting to dodge, the savage flinched in pain due to its injury. Two daggers came whistling down onto its chest with a disgusting squelch. Withdrawing them, I then plunged my weapons into its body repeatedly, until its chest ceased to move.
DIE! All of you need to die!!
“Aghhhhh!!!” All my pent up emotions exploded once and I let out an unceasing cry of both pain and relief.
A calm rage took hold of me and an unrelenting anger flowed through my veins. Maybe it was the fact that everything felt so real. Maybe it was the fact I was thrown into this with no choice. I don’t know but I don’t care anymore!
A large source of light fired off to my far right and disappeared into the grasslands. The source of the illumination was a staff goblin who was mounting a wolf, beside him stood two archers and two spear wielders. A sudden volley of arrows and magic from my allies rained upon the enemy group leaving one goblin archer dead.
A magic using goblin!? He has to die before he casts another spell.
RUSTLE, RUSTLE
Another ambush!?
From the foliage, an injured human and a fellow drakin emerged and stared at me with wide eyes. Realizing that they were allies, I was safe to retrieve my daggers that, for the most part, had been crudely implanted into the dead goblin cadavers.
“Are you o--”
“No time for talking, there’s a magic caster attacking the others! Follow me!”
Giving them no time to even reply, I ran towards the magic casting goblin while pulling out my bow. The sound of footsteps followed close behind, giving me a small sense of safety. After getting into range of the caster, I nocked an arrow and took aim at it.
“Aim for the one riding the wolf!”
With no reply, I could see them raise their bows and take aim within my peripheral vision.
“Hold! Aim carefully!” Once more I steady my breathing and let go at the last of my breath. “Fire!”
THHWAANG!!!
The sound of three bows resounded and flew true at the caster but it turned towards us and screamed out “Tech ghaan dhuul mar!” A milky, translucent shield surrounded the goblin causing the arrows to deflect away.
What the fuck kind of power is that?! That shit is broken! What in the hell is wrong with the game designers? Are they sick in the head???
The other goblins turned to face us readying their charge but another two players broke past the enemy vanguard and intercepted them. One of them being the PK dwarf that attacked the man earlier today.
The caster raised its hand into the air and started to chant “Dhegaan rhor ach ghec okaalken!”
A large sphere of fire grew from its hands, growing at a rapid pace. The heat caused the surrounding air to burn up and crackle. The canopy of the forest lit on fire and a blazing fireball came hurtling toward the archers and me. We attempted to jump out the way but the radius was too big to avoid and it landed directly on the drakin 5 feet to my left.
-52 Health
~Let it burn, Let it burn~
~Gotta let it burn~
The impact lifted me off of my feet, tossing me backwards into a tree like a rag doll and subsequently caused me to come crashing to the ground.
-13 Health
George, George, George of the jungle! Watch out for that tree!
-3 Health
Gravity beats idiot!
-4 Health
BURN BABY BURN!!
“ARrrRGHHH!!!”
The drakin screamed out in misery ashe human attempted to put out the flames but it was no use. Sadly, the poor guy stopped moving after a few moments. The wolf, taking advantage of the situation rushed, towards us. Standing quickly, I drew my daggers to defend but I wasn’t the target. Pouncing onto the human, the wolf tore into his throat causing blood to fly everywhere.
SHHWAAFF
An arrow came spiraling down embedding itself into the wolf as it let out a yelp. A bow wielding elf stood over the two spear goblins with the dwarf nowhere to be found. The caster was knocked off his mount. He rolled to a stop and then stood back up.
“Hurry! Get up and kill that thing! I’m out of arrows!” the elf shouted while drawing a short sword and running at the caster.
Looking up at my health bar, I had 131/190 left over. Forcing my body to comply, I stood and readied to throw my daggers, while the elf moved forward to finish it off.
SHHWAAFF!!
-22 Health
Pretty sure you’re not a Jedi, sorry bud.
“Ahhck”
As I looked down at my chest an arrow pierced all the way to the feathers under my right armpit. I could feel it rubbing against my one of my ribs. I coughed and blood flew out from my mouth, spraying onto the grass.
-12 Health
~Can’t live, can’t breathe with no air~
-15 Health
~That’s how I feel whenever you ain’t there~
Collapsing on the floor, I couldn’t breathe. My health bar was at 81/190 and it was decreasing fast.
-13 Health
~There’s no air, no air~
Oh and you’re bleeding too!
The elf ran towards me and he quickly rolled me over on my uninjured side, then removed his backpack and pulled out a small vial. His face contorted grimly as he gazed upon my wounds.
“Look! This is going to hurt but trust me, alright!?”
Idiot...that archer is still out there…I’m going to die...just leave me.
“R..un…”
Moving my arms to my side, he grabbed onto the arrow and yanked as hard as he could.
-23 health
Ready to die?
~Because you’re about to!~
ARGHHHHHHHHHH
I wanted to scream but there was no air in my lungs to do so. My vision darkened and the sound around me started to drown out. The only thing I could see was that damnable blue screen taunting me as my life drained away.
-11 Health
~Do you wanna die today!?~
My vision blacked out completely at this point.
I’ll see you soon, Luna…
At this point, I thought I could feel a liquid being poured down my throat but I didn’t know if that was just more blood coming out.
+17 Health
~It doesn’t have to be today~
+14 Health
~Go away, arrow~
+15 Health
~Okay….fine…~
Even with all the noise drowning out, I could still hear the system clear as day singing in disappointment. Soon I was able to draw air into my lungs, like a fish out of water. I heaved haggardly yet felt someone digging into my backpack. Then once again I felt more liquid being poured down my throat. With my vision slowly returning, I could barely see that my health stabilized at 127/190.
“Thank...you.”
Somehow I felt completely restored, I sat up and looked at the elf with gratitude. Behind him was a goblin archer riding atop a wolf that was rapidly charging at us. I pushed the elf away and scrambled for cover. Seconds later, the mounted wolf pounced at our previous position.
SHHAWAFF
The sound of an arrow whizzed through the air and landed close by but it was out of sight.
Wait, I haven’t used my mana yet? I’m so used to games without magic that I keep forgetting!
Standing up, I grabbed all four of my physical daggers off my bandolier and placed them between the gaps of my fingers. I focused on manifesting four shadow daggers, filling in the rest of the gaps. Raising my left hand to my right shoulder and vice versa, I flung out all the daggers towards the archer. I imagined as many daggers as I could splitting off from those to trick the enemy. Some flew off into the distance and some pierched into the enemy but at the same time an arrow came whizzing by again and landed perfectly into the back of the goblin.
Please be dead!
Panting heavily, I looked at the wolf who was unharmed. Seemingly afraid of what I just did, the wolf took off leaving as the rider to slump off its back. Only having 5 mana left, I could feel a strain on my mind. I could see the goblins retreating back into the woods, but no one chased. I picked up the goblin archer’s bow from the ground so I could take shots at the fleeing savages but my vision blurred.
“Hey, are you alright?” the elf asked with a worried tone.
“Yeah, I’m fine…but we need to finish the rest of them off.”
We don’t know if there were more goblins out there and if these stragglers were left alive then they could come back with more. They need to be finished off and the group needs to move to higher grounds.
A few others, the elf, and I started to give chase but a voice yelled out to us. “Leave them. We need treat our wounded and get to safety!”
The hell? We need to get rid of them now! We don’t need everyone to stay behind. Everyone turned around at this point and started to head back to the others. Sighing at the sight, I wasn't going to risk my life and go back into the forest alone so I stopped my pursuit.