Gasping Al finally hit a dead end.
Not literally.
Even stamina wise, he was fine.
Yet, the shopping cart now in his way didn't budge when he shoved it. It's wheels were turned the wrong way, and he didn't have the strength to -
Negative energies have run their course
[Terror] status effect lost.
New status effect logged.
Oh.
OH.
Suddenly, Al felt better. All of a sudden...having his pants soiled from that felt...stupid. Not pressing his advantage when the goblin fell? Stupid.
Yet, that was exactly what had happened. And if the blue windows were anything to go by...it was because of a status effect.
That made more questions though, because did that mean it was artificial and he wasn't actually terrified, or was the...system (tentative) messing with his head?
He saw a movement out of the corner of his eye as the goblin lifted its spear.
It was going to throw.
Al threw himself to the side and the spear missed him, but hit the bars of the cart and fell to the floor.
He grabbed it and then pointed it at the goblin, slowly inching forwards.
The screams were getting quieter and while he hoped it was because somehow the goblins were being killed off by others, he doubted it. No, it would be better to assume that it was because everyone had run away or died, and that meant he needed to act now.
But what could he do? He'd never even played around properly with a mop before as a kid, spending his time on his dad's phone instead.
Now? Now he was a physically unfit student caught off guard on his break in a situation that he was pretty sure no one else but the others in the store had been in. And were.
Swallowing - and shifting uncomfortably as his body chose that moment to make the damp area at his pants aware to him - he thrust the spear at the goblin...and failed pathetically.
The goblin easily caught the spear and pulled him forwards, opening its mouth full of sharp, sharp teeth.
Despite never having been in a fight before, he'd played more than enough fighting games, and decided to go in with the pull and shoulder check the bastard. He was reluctant to let go of his spear or move his head too close to those teeth for a headbutt.
It seemed shorter than him at least - not uncommon at six foot four - and would hopefully be unable to take the hit.
As he hit it though, he felt the hard, wiry muscles underneath its flesh and all he managed was pushing it down. Still, now the spear was held with its point towards the goblin, and his body seated on it near the waist. It was harder to maintain a decent grip of the spear from here, because the goblin was now desperately pushing the spear away and letting out loud screeches, answered by more of them from the fresh fruit section near the front.
'Oh crap,' thought Al as he, now also desperate, strained to turn the spear into its neck and push it in.
Slowly but surely, it was pointing the way he wanted, even as the goblin bucked and twisted to try and get out from under him as he placed his weight and leaned hard onto the spear, finally managing to push it into the goblin's throat.
Blood came out, at first slow, and then more, and the goblin's struggles strengthened instead of weakening, even as his own muscles started to give out.
Inevitably though, the goblin died.
You have defeated a new enemy!
Common Goblin (F)
+50 Kill Points
First kill!
+100 Kill Points
Well at least that confirmed it was de -
Kiiiii
Darn. He really needed to stop jinxing himself.
A goblin climbed in over the shelf on his right and yet another turned into the aisle from in front of him.
He needed to run.
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One was a desperate struggle and two would definitely kill him. This was a supermarket store so they could definitely fit two abreast and that was even without taking into account that there were clearly more.
His spear was just a hard wooden stick with a stone point at the end, and he'd barely punctured the goblin's neck so it slid out easily and then he was running back the way he came, even as he shoved the goblin coming over the shelf in the chest and dropped it back into its aisle.
Sure enough, he heard the telltale pattering of its feet as it ran the other way, so that it could come out in front of him, while the other goblin was trying to climb over the cart barricade.
An opportunity then. He skid to a stop and his feet slipped a bit as he turned and charged the other goblin.
It occured to him that this was probably stupid of him, but this was as good a chance as any, and the goblin that was now quickly righting itself while standing in the cart seemed to agree.
It raised its spear and threw it, straight at him!
"Hah! Guess you are stupid after all! You're just -"
He turned his body and let the spear fly by - not. The goblin retracted its spear at the last minute and then thrust it hard at his throat.
"-Damnit!"
He slapped the spear away with one hand, and awkwardly pushed the spear at the goblin with the other.
Perhaps due to his charge, it was atleast enough to push the goblin back, making it stumble as its the back of its legs met the side of the shaky cart and then he grabbed its spear and pulled, like the first goblin had.
Unlike that time though, the goblin had no space to charge with and so it could only try and resist.
The goblins weren't weak like games had led him to believe, but they were essentially as strong as a normal human. Probably.
He didn't know how strong a normal person was, the goblin's resistance failed and it fell forward, choking itself a bit as its chest met the rim of the cart.
Then he moved his arms over and placed his elbows over its head, pushing down, if he could hold it do -
Snap
Ah.
The goblin sagged and Al slipped, hitting his head against the green body's back.
There was no box this time, yet, he was certain that this one was also...dead now. Because of him.
He wasn't sure how he felt about that, but the other gobin was coming from the other side already.
Introspection and psychoanalysis could wait.
Swallowing - again? Al realized he was doing that a lot - and then charged the goblin coming the other way.
It wasn't in a disadvantage like the other two goblins. It had its spear and footing.
It wouldn't be killed like the two before. Yet, he was bigger than it, and probably heavier. Tired, but weight didn't need energy to be heavy. No he just needed to abuse his size advantage.
The goblin knew that too.
It had closed a lot of the distance, but he still had space for a running start. It started running harder.
Al closed his eyes for a second as he started to run, and then he was staring at the goblin as he charged.
As the distance closed the goblin angled its spear towards his torso. Certainly, he could die from that if he ran into it.
But he wa also pointing his spear at the goblin.
As a disadvantage though, he realized his spear was pointed at its chin. Angling the spear downwards felt...uncomfortable, but the skull of most living things was tough. He didn't know about zombie movies, but he was pretty sure bones were harder to break than games would have you believe.
Worse, as he reached the first goblin's corpse he was forced to run around it, losing some momentum.
At the moment of truth, his eyes closed and he blinked, even as he awkwardly turned his body to dodge the spear.
It cut a gash in his side, and his own spear slammed into its shoulder.
Again, he came out on top though, and the goblin hit the ground hard.
It hurt. His chest felt heavy and the gash burned, but he couldn't stop here.
Rather than trying to get the spear out of its shoulder, he grabbed its spear instead and then turned it away from himself, pinning the goblin's other hand under his butt as he shifted and then with the other hand he choked it.
He didn't need to try too hard.
The back of its head was on the cold, tiled floor and the pressure from his hand was enough to close its windpipe.
It struggled, but somehow, it felt familiar.
Ah, right. The same as the first goblin. The same as those chickens he'd seen slaughtered on a video before.
And for some reason...it felt good.
Al felt a grin appear on his face even as the goblin's pupils dilated and it died.
He still had a grin when the more cries were heard from the goblins.
He still had it when two goblins turned the corner and started running down the aisle. The cart barricade would need to be used agai -
Bang bang bang bang bang bang
Several shots rang out and he saw blood explode out from several places on the goblin's bodies as they fell.
He could see a policeman in his twenties standing there, with blood spatters here and there on his uniform.
"Uh...hi?"
The policeman stared wide-eyed at him and jumped a bit as a new window appeared before his eyes.
The goblins have been exterminated!
Congratulations Mortal!
For being forced to participate in an early Incursion
+200 Kill Points
For successfully clearing the mission
+100 Kill Points
You have earned (a) new title(s)!
Headstart: You've been involved in battle before the shields fell!
+100 Kill Points
Melee Combat Proficiency (Basic) gained!
Your Status has been unlocked early!
Level up!
"I'm...alive?"
Al's adrenaline faded and he collapsed as his muscles gave out.
That seemed to shake the policeman out of whatever he was thinking too as he jogged over and pushed the carts out of the way.
"Sir, are you ok?"
Al stared at the policeman hard for a second before he turned his gaze back to the bottom of the shelf.
"No. I have got cut by this goblin's spear."
"I'm going to check the wound, ok?"
"Yeah."
Why was he wasting time on this? And why did the wound feel so...burny?
It burned harder as the shirt was peeled off from the wound and he heard the policeman mutter something as he checked the wound.
Ah darn it. It was bad wasn't it?
Al closed his eyes and tried to shift into a more comfortable position, but the policeman slowly heaved him back to his feet.
"We're gonna need to get you to an ambulance, alright?"
"Yeah."
Al felt like something was wrong, but felt too...tired to speak properly. 'Yeah' should be fine?
He really needed to sleep...
The rest of the walk out the store and into the ambulance felt like a dream as he simply stumbling along and leaned on the policeman for support.
There were bloodstains everywhere now, and he had to walk around some bodies - people and goblins.
Then they laid him into a nice, soft, bed and everything was black.
----------------------------------------
When Al awoke next, it was in a boring hospital room, with an IV hooked up to his arm and an uncomfortable itch and mild burn from the place where he'd...been...slashed by a spear...
Everything came back to him and he adruptly sat up in his bed, hissing at the spike of pain from his side.
A female doctor who looked like she was in her thirties walked over, along with another man in a suit.
The man spoke up before the doctor.
"Sir we'd like to ask you some questions..."
Oh well, thought Al.
This was probably better than goblins, right?