What the hell is this feeling?
It feels like every cell in my body is working overtime. My arm and leg muscles felt like they were about to explode. The only possible answer I could come up with is that whatever is powering up my sword is doing the same to my body. It only started when I moved barely an inch to start making my way toward the monster, who actually stopped in its tracks. But something didn't seem right. . .
Was I always in front of it? Or is it just me?
Just a second ago, I was clearly behind it, watching as it slowly and heavily stomped toward Alyssia as I made my way to it in an attempt to stop it. I was at least a few feet away from it before I found myself in front of it.
"Soma?" Alyssia, who stood behind me, called out my name.
I turned back to face her. Her eyes were wide open. The corners of them were welled up with tears, ready to burst at any moment. She was terrified, scared for her life and the elves hidden away within the tent just a few meters behind her. Her arms shook heavily as her grip on the bow loosened. It seemed she had given up hope just a moment before.
Honestly, I would be too. If it wasn't for the strength I just got, I would have just been a moment too late to save her if I just slowly walked toward the Hobgoblin in my weakened state.
Despair can creep through anything. Even if you prayed to God and found yourself welled up with hope, you'd still have despair looming in the background, waiting for the smallest opening in an instant.
Just a second ago, the both of us experienced the feeling of despair.
Hearing my own name from her voice actually made a smile tug on my lips.
I leaned over to her, and placed one of my hands on hers. The shaking stopped as she looked up at me.
Like me, she allowed herself to smile.
Her hands were soft, yet strong. She wasn't lying when she said she trained with a bow. It must have taken a lot of practice to get to this point. When I glanced at the Hobgoblin, she must have fired all the arrows I gave her. I used my Craftsman skill to make a few extra arrows just in case. When I checked, I probably had around fifty arrows. The monster didn't even bother to take them out, he just let them sit there as blood streamed down its chest with a small puddle forming underneath its massive feet.
To ease Alyssia, I squeezed her hand gently.
"Sit out for a little bit. . ." I said while I turned myself back around.
Before I knew it, the Hobgoblin was bringing its sword down with a great deal of force. Wind blew against the sword while the ground caved in from the monster bracing itself. Its eyes burned red with fury.
My hands gripped my own sword tightly. The moment I brought it up with my muscles tensed up, preparing to take the full brunt of the attack, the ground beneath me shattered. My own two feet sunk into the stone brick beneath me.
I looked back and said to Alyssia, "I'll give you the honor of finishing it off."
Without any more delay, I pushed the sword to the side. Sparks flew as steel grinded against one another, almost like a fireworks display. As the massive sword dropped to the ground, the earth shook from the weight of it. I let out a deep breath as my boot collided with the flat of the sword, grinding it against the stone. The Hobgoblin's balance was offset, one leg being brought up, signaling the beginning to its descent.
A skill menu popped up in front of me. As I brought my sword upward and prepared a swing to begin my heated assault with newfound yet temporary power, a screen appeared before me. This one was unlike the others, but I have seen it once before when I leveled up my Sword Proficiency skill to Level 2. It was a blue screen with the selected skill, Sword Proficiency, in the top right corner.
Below that would be a list of Sub Skills. These were related skills to a normal skill, and most appear when particular conditions are met while using their parent skill.
I saw it after killing an Undead with a swing that I put all my might into the swing. As a result, I gained the skill "Heavy Slash." It multiplied my strength stat by two and added that value to a sword's base attack value. I never had a use for it afterward since all I fought were Undead, so I got used to their attack patterns and fought accordingly.
Another skill was just below that one. It was known as "Quick Slash," which was just a fast swing of my sword. The special effect is increasing my speed stat by 5%. I learned it after I was caught off guard by another Undead after killing a rogue Goblin.
What surprised me was that they were not listed as Techniques. The voice explained that these were simple attacks that anyone can learn at any time. Techniques are moves that are more elaborate and intricate.
As I brought up my sword over my head, I concentrated my strength into the attack.
"Heavy Slash!" I yelled as my arms swung downward.
The blade became light blue while encased in a crimson aura. The Hobgoblin's leg would be cut clean off, directly in the middle of the femur. As it's dismembered limb dropped to the ground,, the stump that remained gushed a purple ooze. This must have been its own blood, it was much thicker than human blood, and the color was obviously much different. Goblins had red blood, much like humans. It seems that during the evolution process, even the inside of your body can change.
At the end of my sword's swing, I twisted my arm slightly, pointing the pommel upward.
I began the second part of my attack.
Heavy Slash required the user to hold a sword with both hands in order to activate it, but I let go of the sword with one hand, leaving it in my right hand. My other skill, Quick Slash, only needed one hand.
And so, I called out, "Quick Slash!"
Once again, the sword's blade turned blue, and it was then coated in purple as it sliced through the stomach of the monster. I moved myself out of the way as to not have myself be coated in the blood of the Hobgoblin.
The monster fell down onto the bricks with a loud crashing sound. It's weight causing everything to shake upon impact. Dust was kicked up, with small shards of debris whipping past my head. I stepped onto its one leg, and walked onto its stomach. My boot pushed down, making more blood seep out from the cut.
As I made my way onto its chest, I looked back at Alyssia, then called and waved her over. She jumped a bit, as she stood there like she was in some sort of trance. But, the elf would make her way over to me, but she walked around the Hobgoblin, while I made sure it was unable to move by pressing my foot into its shoulder. She stopped a few inches away from the Hobgoblin's head. It was clear as day that she was utterly horrified as she looked at it.
It made me rethink what I said earlier, about her killing the Hobgoblin instead of me.
But, this is her kill. Despite knowing that she fears the monster, I can't do this myself. She wouldn't be able to get over her fear.
My dad did the same thing to me. If I was scared of something, he forced me to kill it to get over my fear. He wanted me to be the best I can be, and I understood that. It seems that I took some inspiration from that in this current situation. While the monster groaned in pain, almost motionless, I got off of it and stood next to Alyssia. I poked her forehead.
"Wh-What was that for?" She asked, slapping my hand away from her face. I sighed, and held my sword out.
"You're killing it. I said you'd get the honor of killing it, not me." I told her as I moved one of her hands onto the sword's hilt, making her wrap her fingers around it.
"B-But. . . I can't do it."
"You want to avenge your family? This is the best way to do it."
"Are you seriously doing this right now?"
"Y-Yes. What the hell? Why are you arguing with me about this?"
She scoffed, clearly irritated with me.
I scratched the back of my head. "Look, I'll help you out." I said while walking around to stand behind her. She looked back at me. After staring into my eyes, she turned away and sighed. Then, she nodded. "Fine. Let's just get this over with."
She wrapped her hands around the sword's hilt, and I placed mine over hers. She was shorter than me, so I had to keep myself from getting hit in the head. Slowly, her arms were raised up. I told her to look at the target and keep her toes pointing in the same direction. It seemed her mind was already made up, as she looked at the Hobgoblin's neck, an obvious choice but it remained as an effective way of killing an enemy.
As she pointed the sword up with her arms stretched out, I let go of her hands and took a step to the side.
She looked over at me, her eyes staring into mine, like she was asking for my permission to kill it.
I nodded, and she looked back at the monster as she swung downward, cleaving through flesh and bone before steel clashed with stone. After pulling the sword up, blood coated the blade. Alyssia gave it back to me and I immediately tore off part of a sheet from one of the Goblin tents to wipe it off. I did not want this to stain the blade since I have no idea if it had some special properties to it like some sort of corrosion effect.
Alyssia and I slowly made our way toward the tent after we looted the Hobgoblin's body.
Its sword was massive, way bigger than Alyssia and I combined. I probably didn't have the strength to try picking it up, so I left it with the corpse. The body itself barely had anything on it. It just had the cloth it wore to cover itself.
Some time after the fight, the red aura surrounding my sword faded away. It only lasted around five minutes after killing the monster.
I found my sword's scabbard, though. It was underneath the bed in the large tent for some reason. It had a belt on it so I quickly put it on and sheathed it.
The elves walked out to see the end result of the battle, and everyone looked so confused when I started making a fire from the wooden gate I was thrown into and with a torch I grabbed.
They were disgusted with me when I cut up the Hobgoblin and started to cook it after the blood was drained. I was still really hungry, and I knew that they were too. I wasn't complaining and it was the only thing around that wasn't already rotting away. When they saw me eating it, some joined in to take a few pieces of the meat I carved. Alyssia sat next to me with a piece of Hobgoblin meat on a stick. While I was eating, she slid the bow I gave her toward me.
"H-Here. I wasn't able to do much with it during the fight, so it managed to come out unscathed." She said.
I looked at her, and shook my head. After the fight, I already made up my mind.
"Nah. You can keep it." I said while my mouth was full.
"What? But, I. . ." She paused as she saw me slide the bow back over to her."
"I said keep it. Do we always have to argue about these kinds of things?"