As Harry suddenly jolted from his dreams, he saw the enlarged face of Anun peering down at him.
"Had a nice nap?" Anun laughed.
"I- wha- where am I?" Harry stammered out.
Kai spoke out first, "The Room has reopened. We wanted to wake you up to ask if you wanted to come with us."
Harry glanced at the gloomy corridor that seemed as if it was going to consume him the moment he turned his back on it.
"Yeah, I'll come with you guys."
"Great, then let's go."
The trio then walked into the rift, prepared for what was to come.
[Host, wake up.]
"Yeah, yeah, I'm awake," Zero replied as he sat up and rubbed his eyes groggily. "I needed that nap. When did the Room reopen?"
[Three minutes ago.]
"Alright, then let's get going," Zero said as he stood up and stretched. "I'm still starving though..."
[Your rate of regeneration has slowed by about twenty-five percent, host.]
"I hope those three have some food for me to eat, otherwise, I'll have to resort to eating one of those goblins." Zero drily laughed.
Zero then walked over to the podium and pressed his hand against it. The walls began to split apart again with a rumble as it revealed the orange-tinted rift within. Zero then stepped forward into the rift with his bow on his back and sword armed in his hand. When he stepped in, he once again felt the familiar feeling of weightlessness before landing on his feet again in the familiar jungle full of trees.
"This isn't where I left from," Zero pondered. "And this also isn't where I first entered earlier. Does the location of entry change every time the Room reopens?"
[You are correct, host.]
"Damn, then this is going to take a hell of a lot longer to find those three again."
[Before that, host, you should probably worry about the problem in front of you.]
"Yeah, I know," Zero replied as he stared at three goblins who were staring back.
Zero broke the silence first, leaping behind a tree as the Goblin Archer raised its bow, snarling. An arrow hit the tree Zero was hiding behind, as the goblin wielding a sword at the forefront ran toward Zero's location. Before it could reach the tree, though, it heard a shout.
"{Piercing Shot}!"
An arrow flew toward the goblin's head, and it dove to the side, the arrow narrowly missing its head. As it cackled in glee at the missed shot, Zero also laughed.
[You have slain a Goblin Archer. +15 Experience Points.]
"One down, two more to go."
The arrow wasn't intended for the sword-wielding goblin, but instead for the Goblin Archer hiding behind the other two goblins.
The Spear Goblin glanced at its dead comrade and let out a low growl before charging toward Zero with its spear glowing red. The other goblin got up from the ground, also rushing toward Zero with its sword shining light blue.
Zero quickly aimed with his bow and shot an arrow at the Spear Goblin before dropping it and wielding his shortsword in his hand. The Spear Goblin, unable to avoid the arrow due to it being shot from close range, was hit in the leg by the arrow; hindering its movements.
Zero then cast {Enhance Sharpness} on his sword before running toward the sword-wielding goblin, raising his hand and shouting, "{Ice Aegis}!"
The goblin was startled at Zero's aggressiveness and hacked down with its sword. However, it was then stopped by a blue barrier that had appeared and repelled the sword away, causing the goblin to lose its balance. Zero took advantage of this opportunity and removed the barrier before rushing at the goblin and kicking it in the stomach.
It grunted and landed on its behind, allowing Zero to slice off its head. He then turned his attention to the other goblin, who had started retreating in fear.
Zero rushed at it and swung his sword at the goblin which quickly raised its spear to block the attack. The two weapons collided before Zero's blade suddenly snapped in half with a crack.
"Shit!" Zero cursed as he quickly dropped the sword onto the ground and grabbed an arrow from his quiver.
Zero then recast {Enhance Sharpness} on the arrow before ducking the goblin's swing of its spear, lunging up, and plunging the arrow into the goblin's neck.
The goblin dropped its spear and it clutched at its neck, choking on its blood, before eventually collapsing to the ground. Zero then walked over to the goblin, gripped the arrow, and yanked it out of its neck before placing the arrow back into his quiver.
He collected his bow from where he dropped it earlier and traded out his broken sword for the one the sword-wielding goblin had.
Zero let out a breath of relief at another survived battle and relaxed his tense muscles before an impact suddenly hit him from the side. He grunted and felt the wind knocked out of his lungs as he smashed against a tree and fell to the ground.
"Argh..." Zero groaned. "What the hell..."
As Zero looked up, he spotted a massive goblin standing where he was earlier. The goblin had two tusks that protruded from his lower lip, bulging muscles all over its body, a face that was painted in red markings, a giant war axe strapped to its back, and was standing at an impressive 2.5 meters tall.
"(Outsider, I am Ooruk of the great Metal Blood Tribe, serving as one of the two Queen's Guards,)" The goblin spoke in a deep voice. "(I request for your name before I kill you.)"
Zero stared blankly at the goblin before climbing up from the ground and running away.
"(Cowardly outsider,)" Ooruk growled as it sprinted after Zero.
As Zero kept running, he could begin to feel his legs tire and his breaths stagger.
"(Outsider!)" Ooruk roared at Zero. "(Stop running and fight me with pride!)"
Zero didn't respond for two reasons; he didn't know what the hell Ooruk was shouting, and because Ooruk was rapidly closing the distance between them.
He then spun around and threw the sword in Ooruk's direction before he unslung his bow and fired an arrow at Ooruk.
"(OUTSIDER!)" Ooruk roared again as he swatted the sword and arrow flying at him away.
I can't keep running like this, it's going to catch up with me eventually. I have to surprise it with an attack. Zero thought as he ducked behind a tree out of Ooruk's vision.
As Ooruk reached the tree Zero was hiding behind, an arrow shimmering with a light green flew towards its face. Ooruk quickly raised its hand to block the arrow, causing the arrow to penetrate its hand instead of its head. It grunted in pain and ripped the arrow out of its palm and noticed Zero dashing out from behind the tree with an arrow clutched in his hand.
"(Puny bastard!)" Ooruk roared before throwing a fist at Zero.
"{Ice Aegis}!" Zero shouted, causing Ooruk's punch to collide with a shimmering blue barrier.
Zero then threw a handful of dirt that he had prepared at Ooruk's face, causing it to be blinded temporarily.
"(Stop with these cowardly tri- ARGH!)" Ooruk yelled in pain as Zero shoved the arrow he had cast {Enhance Sharpness} on beforehand into the goblin's side.
Zero quickly tried to retreat away, but Ooruk suddenly kicked out, hitting Zero in the stomach and causing him to fly backward before rolling to a stop. As Zero groaned and tried to get up, he felt someone lift him by the head up into the air.
"(You fight with no honor.)" Ooruk growled. "(You do not deserve to be killed by my weapon. Now, die.)"
But before Ooruk could crush Zero's head, Zero opened his mouth and said, "{Crushing Bite}."
Zero's teeth snapped shut into Ooruk's palm ferociously before he yanked it back out, along with a chunk of Ooruk's flesh. The goblin gave a pained shout before inadvertently releasing Zero from its grasp.
Zero landed on the ground, quickly took out one of the few remaining arrows in his quiver that didn't fall out from the scuffle earlier, spat out the flesh and blood in his mouth, and chanted, "{Enhance Sharpness}, {Piercing Thrust}," before reaching behind Ooruk's left leg and severing his Achilles tendon.
Ooruk knelt almost immediately, and Zero rolled out of the way without forgetting to plunge the arrow into the goblin's calf. Zero then jumped up, unslung his bow, and took out an arrow from his quiver, casting {Enhance Sharpness} before notching it on his bow.
Ooruk stared at him with bloodshot eyes before opening its mouth and letting out a roar. The noise reverberated within Zero's skull and he quickly covered his ears as blood began to trickle down.
[Skill Acquired: Deafening Roar]
Zero opened his mouth and let out an equally loud roar, although it didn't seem to affect Ooruk as much as its roar did to him. However, it stunned Ooruk for enough time that Zero could pull back the bowstring and send an arrow flying right through its eye and into its brain.
Ooruk collapsed to the ground, motionless, as a system message appeared in front of Zero.
[You have slain a Hobgoblin. +100 Experience Points.]
[You have leveled up, host. Please check your status window.]
"Status," Zero weakly called out as he collapsed to the ground.
80/500 EXP
Name: Zero
Title:
Race: Human
Class:
Level: 5
HP: 35/250
MP: 8/31
STR: 4+
END: 5+
INT: 7+
AGI: 5+
Zero smiled at his new stats before fainting from the extreme hunger, exhaustion, and injuries from the battle.
As Kai, Anun, and Harry walked through the jungle, Anun suddenly called out, "Hey, isn't that the guy from earlier?"
Kai and Harry glanced over and saw a blood-covered figure lying on the ground a few meters away from the massive corpse of a goblin.
"Harry, you're a healer, right?" Kai shouted as he ran toward the figure. "Heal him, he's severely injured."
Harry also ran over to the person lying on the ground and chanted, "{Major Heal}."
Harry then looked at Kai and said, "This'll take a while, so please guard me in the meantime," before closing his eyes.
Kai walked over to where Anun was standing; next to the goblin's corpse.
"He killed a Hobgoblin alone?" Anun whistled. "He's pretty good."
Kai nodded and said, "This should be the Mini-Boss, so we'll be able to clear this room after cleaning up the stragglers."
"Alright. Let's get to it after Harry finishes healing that guy. I'll secure the perimeter in the meantime," Anun replied as walked off.
"A Hobgoblin, huh?" Kai muttered as he kicked the corpse over. "And with only a bow and arrows from the looks of it. Who the hell is this guy?"
"Kaarvishki Oochaoi Skuurizcharu," Its majestic queen sitting from her throne told him. "You have failed. You let those filthy humans escape."
"M-my queen, I-" The Goblin General began tremblingly.
"No. No more excuses." Its queen said sharply. "Borgk, take him to the hole."
"N-no! Anything but that!" The Goblin General wailed as a Hobgoblin resembling Ooruk picked it up by the scruff of its neck.
Suddenly, an old goblin wearing robes and wielding a staff walked into the hut rasping, "My queen, I have urgent news."
"Speak." The queen closed her eyes and commanded.
"Ooruk is dead."
"What?" The queen's eyes shot open as she exclaimed.
"Yes, I can no longer detect the {Life Seal} placed on him," The goblin continued.
"Those outsiders. It must be those outsiders again," The queen replied as she gnashed her teeth.
The queen then took another look at the Goblin General and said, "Kaarvishki Oochaoi Skuurizcharu, one last chance. Kill those outsiders. And this time, Borgk will accompany you."
The goblin named Borgk tossed the Goblin General to the ground and the general quickly climbed up to its feet before saying, "Yes, I understand, my queen. Thank you for sparing this one's life."
"Borgk, make sure you do not fail me," The queen said as she looked at the Hobgoblin.
"Yes, my queen," Borgk replied. "I will slaughter all of those outsiders under your glorious name."
Then, it followed after the Goblin General as they both walked out of the hut.
The queen then looked back at the old goblin before saying, "Toruk, can you locate Ooruk's body? He was a loyal one who has served me for many years and deserves a warrior's burial."
"I will try, my queen," Toruk rasped as he bowed and walked out of the hut.
The queen sat back on her throne and gripped her armrest so tightly that it shattered into splinters.
