My heart raced as I stared at the goblins making a mad dash for us.
"We must attack the eight remaining goblins before they can group up and surround us," I yelled.
Zayn and I charged at the goblins. I made contact first. The goblin I faced wielded a sword and swung it downward at me. Predicting this simple move, I was already in the process of swinging my axe up to counter it. The second our weapons collided, a metallic ring resounded in the air, stunning the goblin momentarily, and its weapon went flying backward. Taking advantage, Zayn lunged forward and decapitated it.
"One of you get the sword if you can, but keep your distance. For now, I believe Zayn and I are enough. Support us if you can, but try not to get in our way."
I felt confident enough in our abilities to declare this for some reason.
No objections sounded from behind me. Connor and Claire stared at the sword and waited for a chance to retrieve it. Ryon linked up with them and seemingly decided to defend them while they retrieved the sword.
Zayn ran past the first three goblins, who momentarily tried to strike him but soon drew their focus back to me, who was closer.
The closest goblin lunged at me with both of its hands tightly gripping a dagger. Using my range advantage, I swung my axe down on its head before it could reach me, killing it in one blow. With its death, the dagger flew from its grip, and I caught it with my free hand.
"Shit!"
I'd swung too hard and the axe was now lodged in its skull. I didn't have time to free it as two more goblins bore down on me.
I scanned the area with a fleeting glance. I didn't see other goblins; they were probably focused on Zayn.
I focused on the two goblins right in front of me, creeping ever closer. I used the lodged axe to pick up the goblin I'd just killed and tossed it at the closest one, then I took the dagger and threw it, impaling the second one between the eyes. It didn't die immediately but staggered around, clutching its head and trying to rid itself of the dagger.
The first goblin lay underneath the one I threw, trying to free itself. I rushed forward and grabbed the handle of my axe, still lodged in the goblin's head. I used my foot to kick the dead goblin to free it of the weapon, then I mercilessly cleaved downward as it tried to stand up. Green blood splattered everywhere.
I paused for a moment above the corpse of the goblin as its green blood dripped down my face.
Why was I not bothered by any of this?
Why does this feel natural?
I guess there was no point in questioning it. My only answer right then would have been that the "past-future" me influenced the me now… not that it even made any sense.
Mentally and physically exhausted, I fell to one knee only to look back and see the goblin who had been impaled with the dagger preparing to strike me. With little time to react, I held up my left arm with the jacket still wrapped around it to defend myself.
I winced and gritted my teeth, waiting for the incoming strike, only for it to never come. Ryon blocked the path of the goblin's sword with his own.
"Hya!"
Claire, with a picked-up sword, then sliced the goblin's ankle, tripping it.
From my crouched position, I fell back while kicking the goblin the opposite way it had been falling. Unable to withstand this torment, the goblin lost the clutch of its weapon and helplessly fell to the ground. Before it could get up, Connor took the axe from the second goblin I killed and used his massive strength to strike the goblin dead.
With my goblin group taken care of, I hurriedly looked toward Zayn, only to be surprised by him calmly searching the goblins' corpses…
He not only had enough strength to kill all those goblins alone but also enough vigor afterward to search their bodies. These green things may not have been all that strong, but they had strength that defied their size. How well-trained was his body? No, he didn't look all that fit. How advanced were his damned techniques for him to kill them without breaking a sweat?! Soul power? No, I regressed and didn't even know anything about it…
Either way… why did he look so comfortable killing these things? I mean… I knew they weren't human, but striking something with a weapon and killing it was not something most would be accustomed to… I could only bring myself to do it because… never mind. Let's not go down that rabbit hole.
I looked over at Claire, Ryon, and Connor, who all looked away or showed some disdain or anguish with their actions in some form. I closed my eyes and let out a wry smile, unsure if it was joy from the fight being over or false joy I was forcing on myself so I wouldn't focus on the gruesome acts I just committed.
A horrendous sound spawned from right next to me, drawing my eyes back open and garnering my attention.
Yeah… this should have been the usual reaction.
While I might have been somewhat unbothered by this gore, not many people of the modern era had seen an axe or sword rammed through another living being. Let alone a living being that held a lot of likeness to humans.
I turned around to see both Connor and Claire vomiting and shaking while averting their eyes from the corpses.
I thought they seemed too calm and too readily agreed to disobey Lucas's orders by fighting. I was surprised they managed to hold it in after the first two were killed… I guess killing one of them yourself and watching someone else do that same thing were vastly different. Fight or flight also played a factor.
I panicked for a second when I realized I didn't see Ryon, but then I saw his foot poking out from behind a tree. Even from my bad angle, I could see how much he was shaking. His shaking abruptly stopped, and he stepped out from behind the tree.
"Hahaha… Can you two explain why the hell you are so good at this? Why are you two goblin-slaying masters!?" Ryon joyously laughed.
He slowly walked towards us with his eyes barely open. Clear remnants of tears in the corners of his eyes.
"It's not over," Zayn, who'd grouped back up with us, spoke as if he didn't even notice the poor mental state of the others.
Ryon's face instantly turned as white as a ghost upon hearing him. I also shared in some of his fear—I was approaching my limit as well.
"What do you mean it's not over?" I questioned him. "We should return before more goblins appear."
"They would escape if we left now," Zayn uttered.
"What?" I asked.
"..." Zayn didn't respond. Instead, he walked toward the goblins' camp.
Not wanting to let him do something dangerous alone, we had no choice but to follow him. Even the three whose facade had fallen and fear exposed begrudgingly trudged along. I tried to get up at first, but failed. My legs gave out, and I started to fall. Perhaps due to exhaustion, or perhaps something else.
"Thanks," I said to Connor, who caught me.
No matter how I thought of it, this was too risky. Even though my vision was slightly blurry from exhaustion, I could see goblins in there. Those green things were running around in a frenzy. Oddly, though, even when Zayn, who was ahead of us, stood at the entrance to the enclosed area, the goblins inside didn't attack him.
"Don't let any escape," Zayn declared coldly when we reached him.
"Pardon?" I asked.
Confused, I looked at Zayn.
Then I looked at the goblins, which were now close enough for me to see through my blurry vision... So that was why they didn't attack Zayn.
"Tch."
Claire clicked her tongue and looked at the ground, defeated.
I also heard a gulp and someone took a step away, but if it was Ryon or Connor, I didn't know because my attention was too fixed on what was in front of me. The remaining goblins were what appeared to be children. They were small in stature compared to the ones we just fought, and none of them appeared to have a weapon.
I dropped my sword, letting it fall to the ground, and a few tears began forming in the corners of my eyes. I had quite a fondness for children, regardless of their nature, especially ones who had lost their parents… let alone watched their parents die in front of them.
Images of that day flashed through my mind. I quickly straightened my thoughts before I let my mental unrest show outwardly.
Think of the present, not the past. Think of the present, not the past. Savior, Savior…
I couldn't let this happen. I knew they were our enemies, but I couldn't condone killing children, no matter the situation!
Zayn started taking a step forward.
"Stop!"
I reached forward and grabbed Zayn's arm, causing a look of absolute confusion and horror to sweep across his face.
Was it that unusual for someone not to support what he was about to do? Why was he giving me that look as if I was nothing but trash?!
"I know they're goblins, but how can you be so merciless?" I asked in a weak voice.
I could not bear to witness this crime.
"Disaster," Zayn replied while appearing absolutely bewildered.
What did he mean?
"Disaster?" A mix of fear, confusion, and disdain took hold of my countenance. "Am I some sort of human disaster just because I refuse to slaughter children?"
I wasn't weird, r-right? It was normal not to want to kill them, right?
"No, it's just... I..." Zayn staggered.
"You're kind," Connor spoke up while yanking Zayn back and slamming down his axe on a child goblin that was trying to sneak up on him in his moment of confusion. "But…" The small goblin was completely annihilated, with the axe having smashed its skull completely and then some. The remnants of its brain and blood were splattered all over the remaining goblins. "T-they are our enemies. Z-zayn's judgment is right, no matter how immoral. To live, we must k-kill them." Connor said, despite his clear grievances with the situation.
"No. That's not what I..." Zayn continued to stammer and clutched his head as if it hurt.
What did you mean then? Your words were confusing… This was all so damned confusing.
"Just rest. We'll do this sinful deed," Connor said, taking on a serious look and walking toward the small goblins. He paused momentarily and, without looking back, said, "I was too scared and just watched you and Zayn fight for your lives… I don't know what this strange place is, and I don't like it. I don't want to take part in this bloody affair, but I doubt I will survive if I'm hesitant to kill an enemy right in front of me… So, if I don't take this plunge into depravity now, when will I?" With an uninterpretable tone, Connor stepped forward, brandishing his axe.
Claire and Ryon, demonically inspired, hesitantly followed. Thus began the unilateral culling of the goblin children.
"Kweee! Kweeeeee!"
The small goblins screamed as they were mutilated one by one.
Depravity…
Was that really what was necessary to survive?
I struggled to hold back the memories upon seeing this situation and decided the best idea would be to let myself succumb to exhaustion before I lost it mentally.
I lay down on the grass and closed my eyes, praying for the goblins' cries to fade…
Huh? When did I fall asleep? How much time passed? I groggily asked myself while rubbing my eyes.
"Task"
(Time remaining: 715:15 hours)
What the hell!? They let me sleep an entire hour and then some?!
Ryon, who was standing over me, beamed a forced smile.
"Look who's awake," he said.
"Why did you guys let me sleep for so long? We're going to be late returning," I protested.
"We thought it would be slower if we had to carry you, so we let you rest. Plus..." Ryon pointed back toward the inside of the goblin camp. "We're going to need help carrying some supplies."
I glanced behind him and saw crates filled with supplies and items that didn't seem like something goblins would have. Were these items planted there for us to take? There was no use fretting about it—we might as well make use of them.
"Where did…" I was going to ask what happened to the dead goblins, but Connor, who was crouched behind Ryon, packing supplies into a bag he had found, cut me off.
"Don't worry about it," he said candidly.
Ryon joined him, and together they filled five bags with canteens and food. I looked away from them and started searching for Zayn and Claire.
Zayn was standing against the wall, lost in thought. I took the opportunity to observe his features, trying to gauge his strength. He had a lean and compact build, not overly muscular but still in shape. I couldn't see any evidence of weapon training on his hands. Did he, like me, have skills retained from a past life? Probably not. Well, whatever. I guess it didn't matter as long as he was on my side. As for Claire…
Claire was also lost in thought. Killing the child goblins must have been weighing on her. I didn't think I could say anything to comfort her because, to be honest, my heart felt heavy too. Suddenly, she slapped her cheeks and put on a cheery smile.
I was jealous. I wish I were that good at controlling my expressions… I decided to take a walk through the camp, stepping over the remaining goblin blood and guts so I could get a visual of everything to describe it perfectly to the others outside our group later.
"Are we all ready to go?" I asked, trying to sound as normal as possible.
"Yes."
"Mhm."
"Yeah, but first," Ryon handed me a crude, red short-sleeve shirt, "put this on."
"Was this just in there?"
"Yup, I don't know why they had a human-sized shirt, maybe it was from past victims… but at least you don't have to walk around shirtless."
Thanks for putting the idea in my head that I'd be wearing a dead person's clothing…
I took the jacket wrapped around my arm off and slid the shirt on, which surprisingly fit my tall frame. I looked over my wound, which was mostly scabbed, and then retied the jacket around it. It doesn't look infected.
After adjusting the jacket for a bit, I looked around at the group. It seemed they'd all gotten over their nerves or at least had gotten better at hiding them. And, in all, the group felt somewhat closer. Though Zayn remained somewhat distant.
I started searching the surrounding area until I found one of the markers I had left. Then we began heading back the way we came.
"Hey, you two!" Claire blurted out, then promptly tripped over a tree root and faceplanted into the soil. She continued from her prone position, "Can you explain now? Why are you so good at killing goblins? It's hard to believe Axel had a desk job, and Zayn looks like the type who has all these wicked hero fantasies but in reality, he's just a guy who sits on his ass all day reading comics and books,"
Hey! I felt insulted even if it wasn't aimed at me.
"I don't know. I'm just following what my body tells me to do," I offered as the best answer I could come up with for now, even if it sounded like complete BS, it's the truth.
From the ground, Claire gave me an unsatisfied look, then rolled toward Zayn, as if asking him, "And you?"
We all stopped and waited for her to stand back up, but it seemed like she was waiting for Zayn to respond.
Zayn remained silent.
"See! See! He thinks he's some mysterious hero!" Claire screeched as if she'd just won the lottery.
I swore I saw the corner of Zayn's lips curl up. Claire's teasing seemed to brighten the mood and helped us forget about the slaughter from the previous hour.
Claire continued, "Whatever, be all mysterious, as long as you protect little ol' me."
Claire put on a cutesy look that made me turn away for some reason. She then slowly got up and dusted herself off.
We all quietly chuckled and continued on our way toward the rendezvous point. However, I could tell… each of our eyes now held a darkness that had not been there before, especially Zayn.