clang
The sword was the first to hit the ground. Tim's hand, holding the hilt with an iron grip, grew soft even before the last embers in his eyes were extinguished.
thud
His body hit the hard cave floor. The will to survive, the resolve to persevere, or perhaps his unspoken regrets were reflected in the last silent movements of his lips, with no air to carry the words.
"TIMMY!"
The halfling rushed from behind, kneeling before the body with a frozen expression of disbelief - with undertones of fear.
I, too, would have likely joined him, if not for the figure slowly walking out of the darkness, making it hard for me to avert my eyes.
The creature was about as tall as me - somewhere between 1.8 to 1.9 meters.
However, its frame was wider, and the muscles of its humanoid body more defined.
It wore clothes from some unknown, thick and tough looking fabric. Its muscular arms and thick torso were covered by a large chainmail, and the upper half of its head was protected behind a plain, rounded metal helmet. Behind its back, I saw the hilt of a massive sword, similar in size to Bern's claymore, but slightly shorter and wider.
The creature's skin was a shade between pink and crimson, and another distinction from humans were its facial features – the huge flat nose, the large mouth, and large sharp ears, somewhere between human and goblin, perked upwards, concealing some of its surprisingly smooth black hair, which was tied behind its head.
Its eyes, shining in ominous yellow light, locked in on me as it slowly walked forward and… spoke?
"Wretched humans…"
Its voice was rough, and the accent was weird, but this was the same language Sebastian - and every human I've met so far - knew.
As it walked forward, the halfling's trembling whisper reached my ears.
"H-hobgoblin.."
So that is what a hobgoblin was? If it were any other time, I'd be thinking of new ways to curse whoever wrote that local monster guide, but right now, I had no such luxury.
"First.. you kill my scout with your traps. Then, you slay half my servants.. the ones I spent so much time on!.."
The hobgoblin's tone, already menacing, cracked to reveal a mighty undercurrent of pure, barely restrained hatred.
plup
As he spoke, I heard the sound of bare feet touching stone. I quickly threw a glance backwards, seeing two goblins appear out of nowhere about 10 meters behind us.
No, it wasn't out of nowhere. Before turning back my head, I noted the barely visible exit of a small, seemingly vertical tunnel – one which was hidden behind the cavern wall's curvature when looking from the direction of the one we descended.
"...and now! Even as I retreated with my retinue, still you couldn't let go."
At this moment, my eyes glanced at Tim's unmoving figure, before I bit my lip, hard enough to draw blood, banishing all thoughts that didn't involve immediate survival.
We were surrounded – two sword wielding goblins roughly 10 meters behind us, and around 15 meters in front were two more, as well as their leader, who felt extremely dangerous.
Beside me was a halfling, who..
Throwing a swift glance at his face, I could see the mixture of shock and grief – but also the seeds of clarity and desperate resolve, sprouting in real time.
"...your thirst for blood shall be your end!"
"Hold the rear for a bit!"
As the hobgoblin finished his short and malevolent speech, I chose the course of action which I judged to have at least a small chance of survival. I just had to hope the halfling could hold out against the two goblins for a bit, and that I could somehow do my part in time.
Without waiting for the halfling's reply, I charged forward – straight at the hobgoblin, who had now drawn his greatsword, taking slow and steady steps in my direction.
The goblins remained on both sides of the cavern, slowly advancing forward at a similar pace, clearly intending to create an encirclement, perhaps even grateful for my reckless charge, straight through the middle of the cavern.
I reached a distance of about 6 meters from the hobgoblin, bending my knees, and raising my sword straight forward from chest level, pointed straight at the enemy.
The hobgoblin raised the dark-gray greatsword vertically above his head, taking a stance of his own.
I could feel the air begin to shift and stir around it.
[Charge Thrust] !
My body shot from its position, instantly covering the distance between me and my target – the sword-wielding goblin to my right, which was patiently awaiting its opportunity to pounce at me from behind after my skill use, only to suddenly see me turn on my heel and shift my direction.
Clang!
My sword pierced through the goblin as if it was a sack of cotton, momentarily pinning it to the stone wall, before I used the rebound force to throw my sword back, getting rid of the corpse and turning back toward the true threat.
The hobgoblin stood where he had, with the same stance, but now turned in my direction.
I thought I could see traces of surprise on its face.
As quickly as I could, I threw a glance at the halfling. What I saw was one of his assailants falling to the ground, a spray of blood bursting from its throat, and him desperately spinning a small wheel, trying to reload his crossbow, as the second goblin was only meters away.
When I turned my eyes back, not even half a second later, the hobgoblin was already charging at me, sword raised in the previous position. The second goblin had just recovered from its shock, starting to charge as well.
There were still 5 meters between me and the hobgoblin, and nearly twice as much distance between me and the sword goblin.
I may not have had much real combat experience, but at the very least, I was quite good at certain action games that involved swords and tactics - especially PvP.
Lacking real tactical knowledge in this world, I substituted it with fake tactical expedience from the old one – and so far it seemed to work, based on my last misdirection.
So, I decided to trust in myself on this one – mainly because there was no other alternative.
The hobgoblin was slightly faster than me without using a skill, so running wasn't an option.
Dodging felt extremely risky – I didn't know how fast his skill was, but if it was even just as fast as mine, it would be suicide.
And so, I chose my next steps – starting with a charge of my own, in the direction of the enemy, sword held horizontally to my right, and eyes focused on the enemy's greatsword, looking for the most minuscule changes.
As I was about to step into the reach of his sword, the air around it stirred, and I knew it would fall within a moment.
However, this was something I had already resolved to take head on, at least this once.
[Arc Shlash] !
Both swords moved in their own respective arcs, so fast that a normal human would barely see a blur.
The arcs, one perfectly vertical, one horizontal with a small diagonal angle, had a single intersection point.
CLIIIIIIIII
As the swords met in the air, the high pitched, grating sound pierced my eardrums, making my teeth feel like they were about to fall off.
The air was filled with sparks.
The impact, and the resulting vibrations reverberating through my sword, reached my hands and arms, instantly turning them numb, and sending me stumbling back a few steps.
It took every shred of will and desperation to hold on to my hilt.
A moment later, still stumbling back, I recovered enough of my awareness to look at my opponent – the hobgoblin was also in a similar situation, his sword sent back upwards by the impact of the clash. Although, it seemed he managed to recover slightly faster, and his current dazed expression was in part due to surprise.
Needless to say, after using two skills in a row, not to mention the last clash, my body was already under heavy strain. However, I could not let myself focus on that. Not if I wanted to live.
Behind its leader, the goblin had nearly caught up, sword in hand, and saliva spraying from the corner of its mouth.
The hobgoblin, now 5 or so meters away from me, had recovered his balance, changing the stance of his sword to a lower one.
I, on the other hand, barely stopped my stumbling retreat, lowering my sword and using it as support, while drawing heavy breaths.
The sword goblin, seeing the opportunity to pounce on a weakened opponent, decided to seize it, rushing past his master.
"Skra!"
Only when the goblin was halfway through between me and the hobgoblin had the latter deigned to notice it, shouting some kind of high pitched screeching sound, likely an order for it to stop.
However, even with all the training and discipline, a goblin was still a goblin.
Whether it decided it was already too far in to retreat, or, more likely, let its bloodthirsty instincts take hold, the goblin leaped forward, swinging its sword.
The moment its feet left the ground, I raised my eyes.
My fingers tightened around my sword in some sort of backwards grip, as I performed a reverse half crescent upswing – or at least, that's probably what it was called.
This was not something I practiced earlier, so the force of my strike wasn't even at half my peak, but this was more than enough for a feeble goblin, whose sword fruitlessly bounced off of my own in a hopeless attempt at deflection, while the arm holding it flew into the air a moment later, spraying more of the disgusting brown-red liquid all around.
Throughout all this time, I did not, for once, let my eyes slip off the hobgoblin – be it his feet earlier, or his face now.
The moment his subordinate fell, surprisingly, the only emotion I could see on his face was a glimmer of disdain.
He simply watched me revert back to my regular grip, intently glaring at my sword's every move, before silently adjusting his stance, and moving towards me.
No, he was not moving towards me, he was running diagonally, trying to take up a position between me and the halfling!
As I followed his trajectory with my eyes, I saw Pinpin on the ground, wrestling with a goblin – both their weapons were thrown on the ground nearby, as well as the crossbow.
This was the worst case scenario. The hobgoblin must have realized I had little to no chance against him alone, and thus, decided to cut me off from my only ally – likely confident in the goblin's ability to bite through the small man's neck.
I began sprinting along the wall, but with my enemy's superior speed and position, I knew I'd never make it in time to help. Not unless I took drastic measures. After all, since I considered this the worst case scenario, it meant I did consider it.
Since my current situation was terrible, I'd have to take another massive gamble. One of two.
Before my clash with the hobgoblin, I considered trying to break through and change positions, but that idea was promptly discarded.
As such, I had to bet on the one thing that wasn't quite ready yet - but was at least "close enough", my last card to play in a situation this desperate.
I bent my knees, similarly to how I did with [Charge Thrust], but slightly different.
My leg and cardio muscles tensed differently, too, the difference becoming greater the further away they were from my belt.
It was now or never!
[Charge (prototype)] !
My body shot diagonally as well, overtaking the hobgoblin, and ending up two meters 'ahead' of him, and about 6 meters away from the struggling pair.
This time… I managed! I only stumbled at the last step, costing me a fraction of a second to regain balance.
My opponent, clearly holding a wealth of combat experience I could only imagine, was surprised for even less than that, adjusting his course and swiftly swinging his sword at my right arm.
His sword's momentum was much lower than before, his current stance clearly being a defensive one, perhaps focused on controlling his surroundings and punishing breakthrough attempts with swift strikes just like this one.
I had time to turn to the side and block, but with my current footing, I would likely be pushed back, dragging me into a dogfight I could not afford.
Instead, I focused on the same motions as before, pushing through my muscles' desperate pleas for mercy.
During the last skill usage, I felt like I finally found the last few pieces of the puzzle – I only needed to insert them into the right holes, and the picture would be complete. The final imperfections of my skill could be corrected.
And so, even when I saw the blade, swiftly approaching my right shoulder, I completely blocked it from my consciousness, focusing everything on my skill instead.
Just as I felt something barely touch my shoulder pad…
[Charge] !
Gritting my teeth through the pain, I covered the 6 meters between me and the struggling companion, using my pained arm to lightly swing my sword – enough to cut through the goblin's neck from behind.
Pinpin's exasperated eyes turned to me… quickly shifting to something behind me.
I already knew I wouldn't be allowed to take such gains for free.
Turning back around, the hobgoblin was now charging at me with his sword over his head – it was the stance I recognized from his first skill usage.
At this point, I could barely move my hands. And I knew that I somehow had to buy time for my ally to recover, then bet everything on a joint assault.
The hobgoblin also realized that, likely hoping to quickly finish the fight with one or two big moves. Its own movements were slightly slower than before, but not nearly as much as my own.
The situation looked hopeless – and, indeed, it was close to that. Yet, I still had one last card left to play. Not a skill, but an ability. One which I hadn't trained, since it didn't have a proficiency meter indicating such possibility, yet one that I did test one time.
And so, taking a deep breath, I played that last card.
[Stamina Burst] !
Immediately, I felt my body becoming lighter, and my vision becoming clearer.
I wasn't in the condition I was at the start of the fight, but I was slightly better than after my earlier clash with the hobgoblin.
Running on burrowed time, I could probably use two skills – afterwards, I'd be out of commission for a long while.
As the hobgoblin reached the same distance as before, his sword descended, and once again, my sword rose to answer his challenge.
[Arc Slash] !!
CLIIIIII
The following scene was a near repeat of the previous clash, up until we both stumbled back.
As the world slowed down again, erasing everything except me and the hobgoblin, I was watching my enemy try to retain his balance, as did I.
My own movements were slower than before – however, so were his. I saw that I would regain my balance a few moments sooner. And yet, there was a problem.
My enemy's skills, when deflected, returned the sword to its initial position. The same was true for [Arc Slash], yet this skill was clearly not enough to finish the hobgoblin off. I needed something that could close the distance in an instance, letting me finish this with a single strike.
I still had enough energy to use [Charge Thrust] – however, getting into that stance would cost me precious moments.
…Well, not like I had the luxury of choice. In a moment, I would regain my footing, and be forced to make the only choice I could make.
I braced myself against the ground, regaining my footing for the final time in this battle. Immediately, I began tensing my leg muscles – however, the [Thrust] part of the skill required me to first bring my sword into the right position.
Each fraction of a second left like an eternity.
My sword was slowly moving into position, as the hobgoblin was slowly recovering his stance.
By the time my sword reached its destined position, pointing defiantly at the hobgoblin from the height of my chest, the air around his sword had already begun to stir.
I was too late.
Now, this would become a single life-and-death exchange.
I still had a bit over half a second before my skill would be ready.
Throughout the first 300 milliseconds, I saw 3 scenarios – all three ended with me piercing this damn bastard. However, all 3 also ended in his sword reaching me, as well.
The first two, which meant mutual assured destruction, were instantly discarded.
The third one, where I tried to twist my body and shift my strike slightly to the left, could end up with his sword "only" cleaving my right arm, and if I was very lucky (and flexible) – just chopping some of the flesh, maybe breaking the bone. In this scenario, my potion could provide sufficient first aid to avoid a crippling injury.
Less than 100 milliseconds remained as I made peace with my plan.
CLANK!
Suddenly, the quiet sound of a trigger being pulled, a spring being sprang, and a bolt being launched reached my ear.
fuuhhuu
I could have sworn I even heard the faint sound of the small iron bolt piercing the air, entering my sight a moment later, its upward diagonal trajectory starting somewhere near the ground to my right.. and leading straight to a spot between the hobgoblin's eyes.
My skill was ready, and so was his, but none of us made a move, our eyes locked in on the bolt.
Of course, the hobgoblin was forced to make a choice.
Instinctively, he leaned his head forward.
CLANG!
The sound of steel meeting steel reverberated across the cavern, as the bolt hit the hobgoblin's helmet.
In the next moment, it was already tumbling through the air in a different direction, having failed to penetrate the helmet – only a small dent remained as evidence of its attempt.
However, despite that failure, it managed to deliver something else, even through the metal - its kinetic energy, straight into the hobgoblin's skull.
For a moment, his eyes became dazed, the air around his sword flickering weirdly. That moment was enough for me.
[Charge Thrust] !!!
With all my remaining might, I launched myself off the ground.
As I entered the hobgoblin's range, his sword did not descend – however, my sword had found its target, piercing his neck and severing the bone in a flash.
The hateful glimmer of his yellow eyes dimmed, as his body grew limp, lifelessly falling backwards.
Instinctively holding on to my sword, I simply lacked the energy to pull it out from the corpse, instead getting dragged and falling forward myself, my face painfully landing on a bunch of linked steel rings, stained with fresh blood.
I tried to stand up, but my legs could not bear the strain, forcing me to instead fall down again, and simply roll onto my back, laying near the corpse, my armor and hair slowly soaking in the emerging pool of blood.
The world began to darken.
The last thing I remembered was seeing a small worried face, shouting silly words that my ears couldn't even register.
Then, darkness engulfed my vision.