“So cold,” muttered Pyke.
It was early morning when Pyke had woken up and left the Impure Mug tavern. While opening the tavern door he was greeted by the sight of about four bodies that lay there motionless.
He walked towards the first body and kicked the man on the rib only to have the body squirm and resume its motionless state.
He walked over the first three bodies and reached the last body which held a mug near its mouth which still had some wine in it. His throat felt dry so he picked up the mug and drank the wine and only parted with the mug when the wine was empty.
Apparently, these people had drunk the night away and when they decided to go back home, they collapsed outside the tavern and some of them had lost all sense of self-control and they just piss themselves.
Pyke didn’t judge them because he had once been caught up in a similar situation which made him re-evaluate his priorities in his life. This sudden change helped him keep the drinking to an acceptable level.
He clutched the sword on his waist and walked towards the city gates. On his way, he noticed that none of the shops had opened but one merchant was in the process of hauling his good which was covered with sheets inside the store.
As he walked past the merchant, he caught a glimpse of what he was unloading so early. The goods were slaves and particularly dark elves mixed in together with some other race which he couldn’t tell from the way they were all squeezed in together.
However, the only things one could see were whips and stab marks littered across their bodies which meant that most probably they were hunted from their villages. He didn’t feel any remorse as this was a common occurrence across most of the races.
They were all taught from early childhood that all races belong to the Goddess of Harmony were evil beings which required them to be purged. Thus, growing up around that notion most people were quite okay with this sight as they saw themselves on the right side of history.
When he was near the city gates, he noticed that the night guards were changing shift with the regular guards. From their eyes, most of the night watch squad looked worn out and dragged themselves slowly waiting for shops to open so that they would eat and sleep.
“Sir, where is your guild card,” asked the guard as he reached the gate.
He reached deep into his pocket and removed a rusty worn-out guild card that had his name and rank. Once the guard confirmed his card, he let Pyke pass through the gate.
Pyke continued walking until the city wall faded out of sight and he was inside the forest of Nirit.
Inside the forest of Nirit stood the local city dungeon where he usually went every day to hunting monsters and trying to raise his rank.
The entrance of the dungeon was a cave that was surprisingly well lit. He walked inside and went to his usual hunting spot. Before he reached there, he found a few herbs which had recently matured.
But before he picked them his intuition told him something was wrong. He unsheathed his sword and held it tightly with both his hands.
Pyke heard some unintelligent sound growling and running towards him as its plan had failed.
When the creature came into view, he saw it was a goblin. He had wanted something to warm him up and this goblin just happened to be the perfect punching bag.
The goblin began to run even faster trying to scare the person but today that didn’t work. Once the goblin was near Pyke it leapt at Pyke who made quick work of it by slashing at its neck which chopped its head off.
Pyke then walked towards the head and cut off the goblin ears as proof of killing a goblin and he continued to head further into the dungeon.
“Finally,” said Pyke after seeing the level 18 sign on one of the walls.
Suddenly Pyke felt a swoosh sound that just passed over his head. He instinctively jumped forward and then looked at what was behind him. What he saw behind him was a kobold armed with some kind of rusted sword.
From how the sword looked he thought that maybe the Kobold had collected from the dead adventurers.
Currently, he was a D adventure and Kobolds were usually ranked D with some few exceptions which had developed thought that was ranked a C rank.
Most Kobolds which were D ranked were usually killed by the C rank and the C rank Kobolds are then killed by the B rank adventurers.
From what he had learnt in the adventurer’s guild was that a monster required one to have a higher level than it to be able to successfully kill it. But to fight monsters of the same rank as an adventurer was mostly unwise as most adventurers usually died.
Pyke was unsure which Kobold was so he kept his guard up in case the worst happened and he was forced to retreat.
‘Earth attribute, Lesser self-healing’
He activated his skills as he prepared to tackle the Kobold.
Both of them suddenly ran towards each other when the Kobold slashed its sword at Pyke’s left thigh who then blocked it and returned an attack of his own by having a spike suddenly appear from the ground and pierce the Kobold’s right foot.
This caused the Kobold to shriek in pain as it now concentrated on removing its heavily bleeding foot from the spike. Pyke having found an opening slashed at the Kobolds left hand which it parried which now left Pyke defence open with the Kobold exploited and delivered a knee strike to Pyke’s gut.
The sudden essence of pain left Pyke on his knees while the ‘Lesser self-healing’ skill started to slowly heal him. Now the Kobold attacked again and this forced Pyke to raise the ground near him to form a wall between him and the Kobold which was cut down by one strike from the Kobold.
Having the wall cut down Pyke then threw dirt onto the Kobold eyes which caused it momentarily blindness as it tried to get rid of the dirt.
Pyke stabbed the Kobold knees which rendered it unable to move and caused it to fall.
When Pyke saw it was down, he let his guard down and the Kobold now free of dirt caught Pyke’s right ankle and twisted it causing him to also fall.
With both of them down the Kobold then pulled Pyke near itself and started choking him.
In a situation of raw strength, the Kobold was superior which left Pyke desperately gasping for air.
Pyke’s hand moved aimlessly around the ground searching for something to use as a weapon and his right hand caught hold of a rock which he used to strike the Kobold’s skull.
The only problem was that this Kobold’s skull was exceptionally thick and even though blood was dripping from its skull it still didn’t let go of Pyke’s skull.
This human had brought it so much pain so the only way to quench its thirst was by killing him.
Now Pyke’s legs had started trembling and he could feel his consciousness fade. As the final attempt, Pyke activated his ‘Earth attribute’ skill to form a short knife which he used to stab its right eye.
Now the pain was too great for the Kobold to even ignore so it released Pyke who gulped huge chunks of air as he felt life flow back into him.
Before he got carried away, he grabbed his fallen sword and limped to where the Kobold was now retreating slowly with its blurred vision.
When Pyke reached it, he stabbed the Kobold’s back along with its spine and the Kobold collapsed unable to move any of its limbs.
As he saw the Kobold was unable to move, he looked at in the eye which was now filled with fear. Their roles had changed and now it was the hunted something which it had yet to experience.
“Don’t show me those eyes,” shouted Pyke.
He chopped off the Kobold’s head and when he saw its eyelid close, he knew it was finally over.
He sat down beside the now dead Kobold as he started feeling the effects of ‘Lesser Self-healing’.
The healing was wouldn’t fix his dislocated ankle now as it would take a few days. He thought of visiting the church but remembered how expensive those bastards were. It was maybe for the good to let his body slowly heal.
Now how would he get back to the city he started wondering. He wanted to form a staff using his earth skill but his mana had been largely expended and using any more of it would risk a blackout and considering his location that was not the best idea.
He took the Kobold's head and cut off the ears which he put together with the goblin ears and forced himself to stand up and he continued to limp slowly until he met a group of adventurers who were coming into the 18th floor.
“Does any one of you have a healer or healing magic,” Pyke desperately asked.
“None of us is a healer but we happen to have a pain reduction item,” replied one of the female adventurers.
“I think that may help,” said Pyke as he slowly sat down on the nearby rock.
“So, what happened down there?” asked the lady.
“I was unlucky any met with a Kobold,” replies Pyke.
“If you met a Kobold and it injured you this badly then that means you are D ranked. What were you doing in the C rank section?” she asked.
“I didn’t see the sign,” replied Pyke calmly.
She saw that Pyke was lying but she didn’t push further considering his injuries. Thus, she took out the pain reduction item and hang it on his neck.
Just as the necklace had been placed upon him, he could feel the pain greatly reduced to the point where it manageable.
“Don’t lose it, Pyke,” she said as the group walked further into the dungeon.
He wanted to ask how she knew his name but before he had the chance the group was already out of sight.
Thus, Pyke continued to slowly walk out of the dungeon. Luck was on his side again as he managed to get a lift from a merchant cart which was travelling to the city.
By the time he had reached the city, it was midday. Once he got off from the cart, he thanked the merchant and made his way to the adventurer’s guild.
When he stepped inside, he didn’t find the large crowd of adventurers that were usually there so he was relieved and he walked up to the reception desk.
“What have you brought now, Pyke,” asked Irim who looked irked by the mere sight of Pyke.
“I just want to sell some items,” replied Pyke who also looked annoyed.
Pyke then dropped the goblin and Kobold ears on the counter which Irim look at with disdain.
“So, you have only managed only one Kobold and goblin?” asked Irim.
“It seems so,” replied Pyke.
Irim walked talked to the next receptionist who gave him the reward which he then passed on to Pyke.
“One silver and three copper coins,” said Irim.
After Pyke checked the amount was correct, he put the money into his pocket and walked towards the tavern where he went and laid down on the bed were slept without worries Kobolds and Goblins.
Thus, on that day, one adventurer lay on his bed with his body full of injuries while on the other side Letifer was preparing to begin his day.
