I can do nothing but stare at the face of the long-dead woman.
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a dead person. Hell, it’s not even the tenth time.
But here? What is she doing here?
I can hear the trees at the edge of the clearing crackle and pop. The noise reminds me of where I am and pushes me into action. Leaning forward, I grab the woman’s remains and haul her out of the pit. With my mind in turmoil, the stench of her rotted body is forgotten, and I quickly lay her out on the ground. I look at her one more time before I begin the process of unlatching and pulling all of the bodies out of the remaining holes.
It takes time that I probably don’t have to spare, but I ignore that fact and continue on until it is done. After an unknown amount of time, I have all of the bodies lying next to each other in the clearing.
As I expected, all of them are human.
In various states of decomposition and disarray, twelve human corpses all stare lifelessly into the sky. Some look to be missing limbs, while others have visible stab wounds riddling their bodies. Stepping forward, I numbly begin the process of going over each body’s wounds.
First body: The woman I dug up originally. She looks to have been in her early thirties. Her hair is brown and her eyes are the same. She is wearing a nurse uniform from the hospital I had been at before coming here. Cause of Death: Stab wound to the heart.
Second body: An older man with a full gray beard. He wears a leather vest and button-down shirt. He also has one of those southern ties on, I don’t remember what they are called. His eyes are blue. Cause of Death: Internal bleeding.
I thought I was the only one here.
Third body: A young boy, probably no older than a freshman in high school. He is wearing the oversized gray sweatshirt they give to overnight patients. I assume he was wearing the matching sweatpants, but everything below the rib-cage is missing. Cause of Death: Exsanguination.
There were at least twelve other people in the cave.
Fourth body: A young woman. Early twenties… maybe twenty-two or three. That would make her only a couple years older than I am. Spearhead to the throat.
Why was I the only one left in the cave?
Fifth body: A male doctor. He is still wearing his surgical scrubs. Shattered skull.
Did they leave me behind?
Sixth body: A man wearing a graphic T-shirt and dark jeans. Disembowelment.
Did they leave me to die?
Seventh body: Exsanguination.
Eighth body: Missing head.
Ninth body: Asphyxiation.
I stop thinking and methodically go over the last few bodies. The process fills me with disgust, but I have already learned what I needed to about these people. They were clearly killed by goblins. The wounds look completely unlike the ones I had found on the goblin corpse that I came across while following the ice trail. There is one thing I notice, however, that I don’t think was done by goblins. I walk back over to the body of the man with a graphic T-shirt and jeans. I roll up his pants and take a closer look at his ankles.
There is a cut on both of his heels. Each cut travels straight through his Achilles tendon. The cuts are also clean and precise.
It reminds me of a scalpel.
I’ve found similar wounds on four other bodies. I make sure to shelf the information away before beginning to strip a few of the bodies. I have a hunch that I will need to follow up on if I end up getting out of here, so I make sure not to take the exact clothes of any one in particular. I grab the dark jeans of the man closest to me, the hoodie of the young boy, and the socks and shoes of the person with the same size feet as me. I put on the various clothing over my makeshift underwear before grabbing my mace and heading back toward where the shack was.
By now, almost all of the clearing is ringed by flaming trees. It seems my plan for a few easy levels has now turned into a full-blown wildfire. I can’t really muster the will to care very much right now, so I continue running past the cinders of the shack and onto the path that heads out of the camp.
Remembering how far I had to hike before the fork, I make a quick pitstop at the pond that I had spotted before. When I arrive, I find that the wildfire is spreading a lot faster than I had previously thought, as the entire area is filled with flames as well. I quietly thank my trait while I run straight through the fire and into the pond. After I have had my fill, I make my way back to the main path and am about to continue toward the fork when I feel a warm breeze drift between my legs. Looking down in confusion, I realize that I had made a slight miscalculation.
My clothes don’t have Thermal Resistance.
I click my tongue in annoyance before running back to the clearing half naked. Since I’m in a hurry, I just grab some random articles and book it back to the trail. I am thankful for my earlier trip to the pond as I sprint all the way to the fork. I check out both ways, and it looks like the left path is clear, but the right is not. I want to continue down the left path regardless, but instead I hike off the side of the fork and get into a prone position in the grass nearby. I am far enough away from the trees to not burn my clothes again, so I settle on the ground and stare down the right path where I spot an approaching group.
They are far enough away where I can’t identify their levels yet, but since I am using , the light of the fires is dimmed, and I can see that there are around four goblins heading my way. They look to be partially covered in ash and in a hurry, so I assume they are on the run from the forest fire.
I start cycling the thermal energy from my radiation through my mace as I wait for the goblins to get closer. By the time the metal is glowing a dull red, I can finally see their levels.
< Goblin - Level 4 >
< Goblin Seeker - Level 6 >
< Goblin - Level 2 >
< Goblin - Level 4 >
The levels look manageable, but the goblin seeker worries me. I have no way of knowing if it is the same goblin as before since all goblins look pretty similar to me. The goblin seeker does have dark tattoos like the one from before, but I imagine that could be standard amongst seekers.
Instead of bothering with the what-ifs, I center my thoughts and engage to extract any information I can from the group. The goblin seeker has two knives on its belt while the rest of the motley crew is carrying various other weapons. The level 2 looks to be toting around a glorified club, which seems to just be a thick branch it found in the woods. The other two goblins have a hatchet and a small hammer. To me, it looks like the group was formed out of necessity rather than actual strategy, as it seems the goblin seeker is the only combatant.
I don’t let my thoughts about what the others are carrying determine my level of confidence though. Regardless of their levels and weapons, they still likely have me beat in physical stats.
I watch as they finally reach the fork. The goblin seeker points where to go, and all of the goblins turn their attention toward the left path: the opposite direction of where I am hiding. The second I disappear from their peripheral vision, I quickly get up and sprint directly at the group. With their backs to me and the roar of the fire around us, none of the goblins notice me as I get closer and closer. None of the goblins except one, that is.
The goblin seeker turns around and draws its knives as I am only a few steps from the level 4 goblin standing at the rear. The monster moves with speed that I can still barely track even with my newly increased stats. Before I can complete my swing at the still ignorant level 4, the seeker shoves the monster out of the way and continues toward me. I still lean into my swing and adjust it slightly to predict where the seeker will move next. Even then, I am not fast enough, and the seeker is able to dodge out of the way. On the bright side, the goblins were in such a clustered group that my swing is not completely useless, and I feel a satisfying crunch sound out as the mace head shatters the level 2’s ribcage.
The level 2’s limp body is flung into one of its buddies, and both of them crash to the ground while I advance on the level 4 that the seeker pushed out of the way. The seeker is bounds ahead of me in raw speed, so I go to whittle down the rest of the group. The monster’s initial move to protect its friend has given me an idea, and I ignore a couple slices to my back from the seeker and instead swing at the level 4 who just barely got its Pawling and is raising its hammer in a foolhardy defense.
My mace whistles down toward the goblin’s unprotected head but it is deflected at the last moment by the goblin seeker who appeared in front of its buddy. Now that the seeker is reeling from blocking my strike, I drop the mace and tackle the monster. I can feel cuts along my arms due to the seeker’s attempt to escape my grip, but I crank up as far as it can go and a visible wave of heat spills from my skin and begins roasting the goblin.
< Emit Lvl. 6 -> Emit Lvl. 7 >
I latch onto the goblin like a spider and listen to the monster scream while I work on restraining its arms. The seeker is strong, but I can tell that it has invested more in AGI based on its lean frame. I am running out of radiation very quickly due to my current output, but for the time being it is worth it to keep the other goblins from getting close. I am finally able to wrangle the monster enough to slip my arm around its neck, and the monster quickly abandons its weapons in a primal effort to tug on the arm that is cutting off its air flow.
At this point, the monster’s skin is a fine medium rare, and since I can feel my radiation bottoming out, I make a split decision and bite deep into the goblin’s neck. I can feel crispy skin, blood, and other slimy things on my tongue, but I push the feelings away and bite as hard as I can until I feel the goblin beneath me go still.
< You have defeated: Goblin Seeker - Level 6 >
Throwing the body away, I scramble to my feet just as the wave of heat around me dies off. The level 4 nearest me roars and charges me with its hammer. I dive out of the way of its first attack and swiftly pick up my mace to return the favor. The other level 4 makes itself known and slams into me from behind, sending me into the dirt and making me drop my weapon.
I recover faster due to my recent level ups, but I am still not fast enough to dodge as the goblin with the hammer swings down at me. I raise my ruined left hand to defend myself and instinctively try to mana into my limb to somehow block the attack. I can feel the skill work and mana rushes into my arm.
< Infuse Lvl. 2 -> Infuse Lvl. 3 >
The hammer still travels unimpeded into my hand, and I quickly lose all feeling in the extremity as the hammer shatters my bones but does not move any further. Taking advantage of the failed kill blow, I lunge forward and bury my fingers into the goblin’s eyes. The goblin screams in pain and swipes at the air, but I am already sprinting straight for where I dropped my mace. The goblin with the hatchet swings at me from behind, but this time I am expecting it and slide underneath the swing. When I finally reach my mace, I skip forward to grab it before infusing my right leg with mana to stop myself on a dime. I miscalculate a bit due to my unfamiliarity with the process, and instead the weight shifts off my foot, and I find myself immediately pivoting directly back into the goblin who was at my heels. It is clear that neither of us were expecting that move, but I try to readjust as best I can and use the momentum to swing at the monster. We both collide and bounce off of each other, so my swing just ends up clipping the goblin’s hip rather than its head like I had planned.
Regardless of my misstep, the mace still does the job, and the goblin attempts to take another step toward me but collapses due to the blow. I follow up without hesitation and more mana into my right arm before swinging down and splattering the goblin’s head like a watermelon.
< You have defeated: Goblin - Level 4 >
I ignore the notification and dash forward a few steps toward the last standing goblin before swinging for the fences once again.
< You have defeated: Goblin - Level 4 >
Blood is splattered all over me and my arm is a mess, but I stalk back over to the last goblin who is twitching on the ground. It is clearly out of commission due to my opening attack that had indented its chest, but I give it one more hit to the head to end it.
< You have defeated: Goblin - Level 2 >
< Congratulations! You have reached: Level 8 >