I rolled my body towards the adventurer’s feet as the sword blade slammed into the wood flooring behind me with a dull thud. Before he could recover his sword, I swung my shovel towards his right arm. The blade of the shovel struck into the arm with a sickening crunch.

“Gaaah! My arm!” He howled, dropping his sword to the floor. Seeing an opportunity, I leaped to my feet and tackled the injured swordsman to the ground. Just as I was raising my shovel to pummel his skull, I felt a hand grab my arm. Looking up, I saw the giant man from earlier.

“Baad move!” The giant drawled before slamming a meaty fist into my face. My body was thrown back by the power of the fist, only kept in place thanks to the grasp the man had on my arm. My head was spinning as I tried to recover myself. Before I could, however, I felt my body go weightless for a fraction of a second before I crashed into the wall with a loud thwap.

“Boss, you ok?” I heard the giant ask. My breath came out in haggard, pain-filled gasps as I struggled to recover. Ever so slowly, I stood up, fighting against the exhaustion eating away at my mind, and the cries of pain I could feel in every fiber of my being. That bastard just threw me! Just how strong did he have to be to throw me with a single hand? I groaned and grabbed my side. I think I might have actually broke a few ribs... Looking next to me, I saw my fireplace, and more importantly, the fire poker. I grabbed it with my right hand before staggering over to the goliath who was busy helping his comrade up.

“Hey, asshole. I’m not finished with you yet.” I wheezed. The man turned to face me with a surprised look on his face, but the moment he did, I stabbed the pointed end of the fire poker into his throat.

“Now chew on this.” I snarled while forcing it several inches further down his throat. The man choked and sputtered on the metal bar that was shoved down his throat. He used one hand to shove me back several feet before grabbing hold of the bar and slowly started to pull it out while wincing in pain. Before he could pull it all the way free, however, I stumbled forward and grabbed the handle of the fire poker. I then pushed the fire poker back into his throat with my full body weight behind the push.

The goliath immediately began to flail, landing several hits on my head and chest. But I ground my teeth and held on, refusing to be beaten back this time. But his struggle was futile as the fire poker tore through his throat until only the tip of the handle was left sticking out. I staggered backward, watching the man. He stared at me with wide, fear-filled eyes as he coughed and hacked before finally collapsing to the ground.

“You… You killed him.” A voice sputtered from the side. Turning to look towards the source of the voice, I saw the last adventurer. The one who first asked if they could sleep in the barn. He was currently on his ass, staring in shock at the dead corpse of his friend. He’s still alive. But not for long. I picked up my shovel and started walking towards the adventurer.

“Hey! Wait wait! We can talk about this, ok!?” He quavered while crawling backward. Hearing this, I hesitated. Would I really murder a defenseless person..? Sure he tried to kill me, but that doesn’t mean I had to kill him, right? The adventurer smirked as he leaped towards me, dagger in hand.

“DIEEE!!” He roared as his face twisted with rage. I raised my left arm to defend myself while clumsily swinging my shovel upwards. I managed to clip him on the chin, causing him to stagger back with a pained yelp. He managed to stay on his feet this time, snarling in frustration. He was cradling the arm I hit earlier close to his chest and now had a large bloody gash on his chin too. I probably fractured both by now.

“Why the hell are you so god damn tough!? This was supposed to be a simple steal! In and out!” He growled out slowly.

“What do you mean in and out? I have nothing worth stealing!” I shot back while tightening my grip on the shovels handle as my anger began to rise.

“Ha! You don’t even realize, do you? Whatever, I’ll just kill you and finish the job!” The adventurer replied before throwing the dagger at me. I barely raised my empty hand in time to defend my face when the dagger buried itself hilt deep into it. Before I had the chance to react, the boy slammed me to the ground. With one swift kick, he knocked my shovel out of my grasp before grabbing the knife by its handle.

He then twisted the blade slightly, inciting a pained cry from me as he began to push the blade towards my throat. I grabbed my wrist and pushed back the knife in a desperate struggle to live. Just as the tip of the knife grazed my throat, I began to turn the knife away from me. I grabbed his fingers and began to twist them backward until a series of loud pops erupted from them. He released his grip after I broke his fingers and I quickly turned my hand around so the knife blade was towards him.

I grabbed the knife handle with my other hand to steady it before stabbing the blade into the adventurer’s stomach. With a furious bellow, I pulled the knife out of his stomach and my hand before plunging it into his throat. I then pushed him off me with my good hand before sitting back up, panting heavily. My shirt was damp with sweat and blood and was sticking to my skin.

“This was not how I imagined my night would go…” I wearily mumbled, looking over at the various bodies strewn across my cabin, I couldn’t help but sigh. Why did I have to kill these people? What were they even after? Looking at my blood-covered hands, I felt bile start climbing its way up my throat. I leaned over onto my side and started spewing out my dinner all over the floor. After a minute or two of barfing, I managed to recover and take a look at the mess.

“I need to fix myself up and do something about this now…”

X237

I'm not late updating! You're just early! Yeah... That's definitely the reason I'm posting the chapter at 10:24 pm!