"Hmm, no level?" I say as I notice the lack of new level notification from that last kill.
I admire the still fresh blood on my blade and arms while heading toward the room with the three goblins. My heart starts racing. A crooked smile appears on my face. Bloodlust. This must be pure bloodlust. The hunger in my belly replaced with an absolute hunger for blood. I hold up my dagger, admiring how the wet blood looks on my dagger, how the soft blue glow from the dungeon walls glistens off it. I love how it smells... the smell of iron. I almost wonder how it would taste.
I reach the next room, my hunger for blood and death reaching an insatiable peak. If this were a video game, I would have the appearance of being cloaked in a bloody red vapor emanating from deep within my body. That would make me look so cool right now!
In my current state, I don't even stop to think of a plan of attack. I just walk straight toward the group. There is no point to planning this encounter. I just want to see their blood. How I go about relieving them of their blood matters not. I continue to walk toward the group, my shoeless feet silent against the cold stone floor. The group doesn't notice me until I am almost right on them.
"You are all dead and you don't even know it." I say coldly.
The group notices me as I say this, and they all cry out. The goblins with the club and sword start running at me. The one with the cane stays behind. The goblin with the club reaches me first, swinging wildly. I dodge it like it wasn't even there, and then slash the goblin across its face, splitting its face in half. It drops its club, grasping wildly at its face as that precious blood start pouring down its body and to the floor. Glorious!
The sword goblin is right behind the first one. It swings its pathetic sword, trying to cut off my head. I deflect the sword without much effort and strike with an upward slash. A massive gash opens from its groin straight through its chest. Its organs spilling out on the floor with that satisfying sound I am starting to love. I close my eyes for a few seconds to just bask in the carnage. The scent of blood permeating the air, the screams of pain and desperation echoing off the walls.
I smile as I turn my attention toward the last goblin. I stop as there is something happening with this goblin. Its staff is glowing white.
"What the fuck is that?!" I say in response to seeing the strange glow.
Out of the corner of my eye I see the same glow. I turn and see the goblin whose face I split in half. Its wound glowing white as well as the spell takes effect. I watch as the wound I created starts mending. Flesh regenerating, bone knitting together, skin fusing back together. Blood ceases to flow and the goblin starts to recover.
"Is that a healing spell?" I ask seeing what I didn't consider to be possible.
Unfortunately for the goblin, the damage I caused was too much for the weak spell to completely heal. I walk back to the wounded goblin and strike swiftly with my dagger, separating its mind from its body before the caster can finish healing the damage that I caused.
"Heal that you little fucker!"
I turn my attention back toward the caster. It's cane no longer glowing, a look of anger on its face.
I lick my lips, "Hmmm, squishy healer. It's time for you to die."
My bloodlust ramps up. I'm looking forward to causing this one great pain. I kick the severed goblin head out of my way, and then walk straight at the caster goblin, glaring at it with murderous intent. The goblin takes a step back, raising its staff toward me. The staff begins to glow red this time.
"GUAK!!!!" It screams as a projectile of flame shoots out from the staff, rocketing toward me.
I stop my advance, startled at the attack. I raise my arms to defend myself, and the blast slams into my arms, searing my young skin.
"AHH FUCK!!!"
That did some damage. My forearms are smoking, some charred skin crackling, but most of my arms red and blistering. I figured this was just a healer and didn't consider the possibility that it could also use attack magic. That was a serious miscalculation on my part.
"You are more dangerous than I thought!"
I can't let it hit me with that again. I take off in a dead sprint, closing the distance between us in a second. My attack was vicious and decisive. The staff and the right arm holding it, thudding to the stone floor, separated from its previous owner. I grab the disarmed goblin by its scraggly hair on the back of its head and pull its face close to mine. I peer into its eyes as I bring my dagger up to its face, the razor-sharp point of the blade millimeters from its soft left eyeball.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
"This is for the pain you caused me!"
I slowly advanced my blade. The point of my dagger pierces the cornea and then slowly slices cleanly into the goblin's eye. The goblin tries to struggle and get away. I tighten my grip on its hair as I hold its head steady. I keep the blade slowly advancing, extremely slow. There is no need to rush this. I'm savoring every second of this. I advance the dagger until the eye is now severed in half; I feel the tip of my dagger hit the bone at the back of its eye socket. I bare my teeth in a cold grin as I apply steady pressure to the dagger. I feel a pop as the tip of the dagger breaks through the bone and enters the cranial cavity containing the goblin's brain. The goblin increases its effort to get away from me, but it's missing an arm, and I'm stronger. I hold my victim steady; my mission is to be completed. I stare straight into the goblin's remaining good right eye. I can see the fear in the creature's eye. It is afraid of me. It doesn't want to die. That is just too bad, but that's not its choice anymore.
I never avert my gaze in its eye as I continue applying slow but steady pressure on my dagger. The blade sinks further and further into the goblin's skull at an agonizingly slow pace. The goblin starts shaking as my blade slowly slices into its brain. The fear in its eye is intensifying. Its fear is almost palpable. I can almost feel it, and I can almost taste its fear.
"Delicious." I whisper leaning in a little closer.
The blade is halfway into the goblin's skull, surprisingly, very little blood draining from the wound in its eye. The goblin continues to shake and struggle as my blade continues to sink further and further into its head. Finally, the hilt comes to rest against the goblins eye socket. The fight from the goblin starts slowing. I see its jaw start to go slack, the right side of its face drooping causing drool to fall from its mouth.
I start applying lateral pressure on the blade, pulling the handle toward the right. The blade in its skull is slowly moving toward the left, beginning to slice my victim's brain in half. The goblin starts convulsing as neural connections in its brain are severed. Suddenly, the goblins right eye rolls back in its head, its body suddenly goes limp as it mercifully dies. I smile and pull my blade from its head, allowing the body to drop to the floor. I stand over the lifeless body, feeling the wrath course through my veins. I have slaughtered this goblin, in a way completely devoid of any mercy.
Title Acquired: Merciless
New Level Acquired!
New Level Acquired!
I smile as I see the level up notifications.
"I guess I was just shy of leveling after the goblin in the hall. Because there were three goblins here, I got enough for another level after that."
"That title!!" I laugh seeing that flash in my vision.
Something deep down inside me finds deep satisfaction at that title.
"Merciless" I say with a grin. "Fitting."
The sword goblin was almost finished being absorbed by the time I turned my attention toward the two fallen foes.
"Ohh, what's that!" I say seeing something lying on the stone floor.
I walk over and pick up a fur covered leather vest. This will do nicely. I set down my dagger and I take off the tattered shirt I've been wearing for more than 5 years now and tuck it into the waist of my tattered shorts. I'm not ready to part with it just yet. My mother's blood still stains it. It's all I have of her.
I put on the vest, which somehow fits perfectly, and I immediately feel a bit stronger. It's a generic leather vest, lined with greyish-white fur. The long fur sticks up around the collar, and down the front of the leather. It looks like I have an animal skin draped over me. There is a small leather guard attached by straps to the vest, which protects the upper areas of my arms.
I pick up my dagger and cast my water spell to clean it off once again. I leave the blood on my arms and hands. I'm not done yet. Then I start heading deeper into the dungeon. This room is larger than I thought when I first entered it. I just doesn't seem to end, going further and further back. Suddenly a figure appears from the shadows.
"Oh god another one of these fucking things?!" I say as the Troll comes into view.
"Well, ok! Let's go big guy!"
This monstrosity is carrying a terrifyingly sharp axe. I don't care as it doesn't intimidate me one bit, and walk straight toward the massive monster, seemingly unafraid of the certain death this monster represents. It cocks its massive axe back with its long arm and takes a massive swipe at me, the arc of which seems to cover from one side of the room to the other. It's a deadly swing that could cut down an entire party of adventurers in half. To me, it is nothing but an annoyance.
"You are sooo slow!" I say with disappointment in my voice as I easily duck under the heavy axe.
I run straight for the troll's right side and slash deep into its right shoulder from the deltoid down into its armpit, severing muscles and nerves. The arm suddenly severely injured and borderline useless, the troll struggles to lift the axe. While it struggles with its injured appendage, I have already moved behind it.
SHING!!
SHING!!
I slice cleanly through the tendons and ligaments in the back of its knees. The monster howls in pain and falls forward as its legs can't hold up his weight anymore. It only avoided a face plant by bracing itself with its remaining good arm. I walk around it to where its axe lay on the stone floor. I tuck my dagger in the waist band of my shorts and pick up the axe.
"Holy crap this is a bit heavy!" I say as I lift the axe that's almost as large as I am.
I walk over to the troll directly in front of its face. It growls at me as I swing the axe upward like I'm getting ready to split some firewood. I drive the axe down letting its weight and gravity do most of the work, splitting the head of the troll clean in half, blood fountaining everywhere as brain material slips out from the wound and onto the floor. The troll immediately drops lifelessly to the floor.
New Level Acquired!
New Level Acquired!
New Level Acquired!
New Level Acquired!
"Hell yeah!" I exclaim in triumph. What used to terrify me is now nothing but fodder to fuel my thirst for blood. I'm not done yet. It's time to slaughter more!