Frozen still, both man and goblin stared at one another.

Somewhere deep inside Zeke hoped that if he didn't move a muscle, the creature before him would just ignore him.

But sure enough, just 20 meters away, staring straight into his eyes, stood a hunch backed goblin.

Short and stocky, as tall as Zeke's waist and with the appearance of a lean child mixed with a century old grandfather. The most notable features were as follows... the head had a pair of long pointed ears, a sharp chin with significant underbite, the nose too was quite large and dominated its face. Its iris were a murky green that matched its skin and the pupil was a deep black square, much like a goat. A few obscenely large warts were strategically place on it body to reinforce the ugly factor.

Finished with the stare-off the goblin started slowly walking towards Zeke's prone figure. It reached to its dirty brown loincloth and pulled out a decrepid stone dagger, moving it in a menacing manner.

Zeke was overjoyed at the encounter... just kidding. He was quite concerned. He quickly evaluated his options as the ugly approached.

Bad news: He was being approached by an ugly little goblin.

Good news: His cave was only a few meters away, he'd easily reach it before the goblin reached him. Which Zeke wasted no time in doing.

Zeke decided to leave the wooden club behind in sake of speed. Hoping that the cover of the cave would provide a better chance of victory than the weapon. If he waited by the entrance he could crush the thing's head with a rock as it entered, although he really just hoped that the goblin would be too fearful to enter the dark cave in the first place.

Quicker than ever before Zeke scrambled around to the cave entrance, muscles on fire from the strain. As he entered he slid towards the closest rock, grabbed it and barrel rolled on the floor to the cave mouth. With much effort he pushed his back up the wall with his legs and free hand in some sort of pseudo standing position. His legs were trembling at the weight of his figure but Zeke's fight or flight adrenaline held them up. He played the scenario is his mind. essentially, the goblin walked in, and he fell towards it with an overhead swing, rock to head, easy done.

A rustling could be heard outside, branches snapped at the weight of a goblin running towards the cave.

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Zeke saw the shadow of the goblin just before it entered the cave giving him a little time to judge its arrival.

A small green body entered the cave and Zeke began his descent upon it.

Zeke hit it, and hit it hard as he fell down.

Just not where he aimed.

Instead of ending the ambush with a single strike, he only manage to scrape the rock down the goblin's spine and finally crushing the creature's left foot, completely obliterating the fragile bones. He didn't expect it to barge in so fast and almost completely overshot it.

With a huge yelp Zeke's body crashed on the jagged stone cave floor, winding him and cutting his forearms on the small stones beneath. Zeke hadn't considered the damage he'd receive from his own attack, as the plan was to win in one hit.

The goblin writhed on the ground letting out an ear-piercing scream, but never once letting go of the small knife in his hand. It fought the pain, tackling the downed Zeke and stabbed man's exposed back.

It was Zeke's turn to scream now. But he didn't waste too much time as he knew that screaming wouldn't stop the onslaught from the mounted savage.

Twisting his body around he sent a backhanded fist to the goblin's face, hitting it right it the ear. It went flying to the far side of the cave, not before it sliced the offending arm as it blasted away.

Zeke wasn't in a good spot.

Some would say it's a bad spot to be in.

Using his left arm to hoist him up to the Goblin's level he curled his fingers around a nearby rock and faced the hostile.

Both were breathing heavy, both bleeding but the goblin more so. Every second that passed was an advantage for Zeke, the goblin was losing blood fast and it's skin had even gone a shade lighter due to blood loss.

The monster noticed it too and began a deadly final charge, abandoning all thoughts of living, it only intended to inflict as much damage to the man before it, before dying. It cried out in blood lust as it ran on its broken and bloodied foot.

Zeke recognised the deaththrows of the cornered goblin and initiated his own last attack.

Specifically, throwing the rock at it's face.

He waited, seconds turned to minutes as an unreal focus slowed down time.

The goblin stood at 4 meters away... 3 meters... 2 ... now!

He pifted the rock with every ounce of energy, aiming for the impending ugly head.

The goblin saw the throw and desperately tried blocked the rock with a frantic swipe of it's claws, managing to knock it off course so that the projectile hit the side of his face, not the place between it's eyes.

What it didn't block was the follow-up rock that slammed into the top of his head as he was temporarily blinded by its own arm. A slow deep red blood flowed down the goblin's head as it lifelessly crumpled to the blood coated stones below.

Zeke too fell on the rocky floor, completely spent and mentally exhausted. His final attack had driven his already devastated legs beyond their limits.

He just laid there unmoving, his body wasn't even capable of movement, but the adrenaline prevent his consciousness from slipping away. He knew that in a few minutes he would black out from exhaustion.

With his remaining mana he began casting a Blood Regeneration at his back, where he'd been stabbed and was bleeding most. He felt the warmth travel to his thighs and sternum, at least he would survive untill tomorrow. With his final action fulfilled, the bloodied man entered a dead sleep.

Level Up!

Level Up!

Reached level 3!

Attribute points +6