Chapter 13 – The First Kill's Weight
The ruined marketplace stank of rot. Broken stalls leaned like crooked teeth, shadows stretching long across the ground. The two goblins hunched over the stray dog's carcass looked up as Kael's boot scraped against a stone.
Their yellow eyes gleamed. Their mouths curled into savage grins.
One dropped the meat it had been tearing and snatched up a chipped hatchet. The other hissed, clutching its sharpened bone shard. Their guttural chatter rose like mocking laughter.
Kael's pulse thundered, but his grip tightened on the iron rod.
"No running," he whispered to himself. "Not anymore."
The first goblin screeched and charged.
Its hatchet swung in a deadly arc, the blade catching what little light flickered from the shattered streetlamps. Kael barely managed to step aside, the iron rod coming up just in time. Metal clanged against rusted iron, the impact jolting through his bones.
His arms trembled, but he shoved back. The goblin snarled, stumbling, and Kael swung again. The rod smashed into its shoulder. The goblin cried out, twisting away before the blow could shatter bone.
The second goblin came in from the flank, its bone shard thrusting for his ribs. Kael twisted, the weapon grazing his side instead of piercing deep. Pain flared sharp and hot, but he grit his teeth and drove his elbow into the creature's face.
The goblin screeched, stumbling back.
Kael's breath came in ragged gasps. His body screamed that he couldn't keep this up, that his wounds were catching up to him. His vision blurred at the edges. But in front of him, the goblins circled, emboldened by his weakness.
And the system's cold reminder flashed again.
[ Quest Progress: 3/5 ]
[ Time Remaining: 21:31:12 ]
Failure meant losing everything.
He forced his stance wider, grounding himself. His eyes sharpened. "If you want me dead… you'll have to try harder."
The hatchet-wielder screeched and lunged again. This time, Kael met it head-on. He swung the rod with all his strength. The weapons clashed, sparks flying, and Kael used his momentum to slam his boot into the goblin's gut. The creature choked, staggering back.
The second goblin leapt at his exposed back. But Kael had been waiting. He spun, ducking under the strike, and thrust the rod forward like a spear.
The jagged tip pierced the goblin's chest.
Its yellow eyes widened, a screech choking in its throat. It clawed at the rod, twitching, before collapsing to the ground.
[ Enemy Defeated. +40 EXP. ]
Blue light flickered across his vision. Kael gasped, his arms shaking. His first true kill.
But there was no time to savor it.
The hatchet goblin shrieked in rage, rushing him with reckless fury. The weapon hacked wildly, each swing threatening to tear him apart. Kael ducked one, parried another, but the third came too fast—
Steel kissed his arm. A shallow slash tore across his skin. He hissed in pain, the iron rod nearly slipping from his grip.
The goblin saw weakness and lunged again.
Kael's vision swam. His knees almost buckled. But deep inside, the memory of his sister's face burned. Lira, starving, telling him to eat while she wasted away.
"Never again!" he roared.
He caught the hatchet mid-swing with the iron rod, forcing the goblin back. His entire body shook from the strain, but he poured everything into one last strike.
The rod came down in a brutal arc.
Crack.
The goblin collapsed, its skull caved in, blood pooling beneath it. Its weapon slipped from its limp hand, clattering uselessly against the stone.
Silence.
Kael stood over the corpses, chest heaving, arms trembling, covered in blood that was both his and theirs. His weapon dripped, his legs threatened to give way. But he stayed standing.
And then—
[ Enemy Defeated. +40 EXP. ]
[ Quest Complete. ]
[ Reward: +200 EXP, Random Equipment Box. ]
Blue screens cascaded before his vision, flooding the dark square with their ghostly glow.
[ Level Up! ]
[ Level 2 → Level 3 ]
[ Stat Points Gained: +10 ]
Kael dropped to one knee, gasping. His whole body shook—not from fear this time, but from the overwhelming weight of what he had done.
He had fought. He had killed. He had survived.
The corpses lay sprawled in the dirt, ugly and twisted, but to Kael they were proof. Proof that he wasn't weak anymore. Proof that he could fight against the world that had crushed him for so long.
Tears stung his eyes. He wiped them with the back of his hand, leaving smears of blood across his face.
"…I did it." His voice cracked, a laugh bubbling up. "I really did it."
The system chimed once more.
[ Reward Unlocked: Random Equipment Box ]
A small blue icon pulsed in his vision. Kael reached out, hand trembling, and willed it open.
Light flared—and something solid dropped into his palm.
His eyes widened.
It wasn't rusted iron. It wasn't scrap.
It was a weapon. A real weapon.
The beginning of something greater.