Chapter 14 - Chapter 14

Holding the metal knob, well it wasn't really a knob but more like a circular metal handle that you can use to push or pull the door open.

Anyway, I was holding the metal handle towards the large room while Reika was beside me with a firm sword stance, ready to strike as soon as I opened the door.

Anna-chan and Ayano-san huddled close to each other, not wanting to be left behind.

Making eye contact with the two of them before looking at Reika, we were all ready.

"Huu...."

I took a deep breath and proceeded to slowly open the wood with a metal framing door.

Cluck.

Creak...

The door made a squeeky noise as we began to see the interior of the room.

The first thing we noticed was that the room was incredibly dark, with our source of light coming from the hallway we came from.

The large room seems to be about two basketball courts big with long wooden tables and chairs filling the entire room.

There were small windows but they were high above the ceiling, plus they were small entrances, probably used for wind to go through.

This place seemed to be more or less, a cafeteria of sorts.

After constant scanning from the entrance and seeing nothing unusual, I finally stepped inside.

And then another, soon we were already exploring inside the spacious room.

Everything was silent as we controlled our steps to not make noises even as we passed through several obstacles such as tilted tables and broken chairs.

Cluck!

"!!!"

My heart almost stopped beating as I hurriedly turned behind to see whoever made that noise.

"S-sorry..." Ayano-san whispered apologetically.

I just sighed in relief but Reika scoffed and rolled her eyes before continuing forward.

Soon, we arrived before... I don't know. It was too dark now.

I can't see crap.

The light from the entrance couldn't reach here.

Just as I was going to go to Anna-chan and ask her to light up the surroundings by using her fireball, suddenly-

Bang!

The entire surroundings turned dark after the door to the hallways was suddenly closed.

I anxiously whispered, "Huddle together!"

Of course, I was going to fulfill my position as the vanguard despite the circumstances, otherwise, we will all die.

Which is why I grabbed the both of them and put them behind me while I positioned to face the direction to the entrance.

I could feel one small hand holding onto my blazer and another holding on my shoulder.

"Anna-chan... your fireball please."

Once I whispered that, a fireball lit up.

...

...But why is it in front of me?

No... if Anna-chan is in front of me then...

I gulped after seeing Anna-chan's face plae in fright after looking behind me.

...That small hand was still holding on my blazer.

Huuu....

Without wasting another second, I instantly grabbed the hand that was holding on the hem of my blazer.

"Krrrieeeeee!!!"

A screech with a higher pitch resounded as I suddenly yanked the bastard from my blazer and threw it on the opposite direction of Anna-chan.

"Krrrieee-"

Thud.

"Kriiieee!"

"Everyone! Gather to Anna-chan!"

After saying that, I stood next to Anna-chan while preparing to intercept any of those little bastards.

"krieee..."

"Krieee!!"

From the darkness, the light from the fireball reflected from those disgusting yellow eyes of the goblins.

Holding nothing in my hands, I just realized that I STILL forgot to pick up a weapon. Still though, I didn't let the realization of my stupidity delay me for too long and hurriedly picked up nearby wooden chair.

"Growl..."

Pretty soon, the goblins stopped screeching and began growling and circling us like wolves.

I counted one.. two.. three.. four.. five... six and seven... eigh-

I felt my back hitting someone. Judging from the thin but firm build, I could tell it was Reika.

Meanwhile, Ayano-san and Anna-chan were in my left and right respectively.

We're gonna get surrounded at this rate...

"Jin?" Reika called with a slightly worried tone.

How do we make it out of here without sacrificing someone?

My mind began working fast while running several simulation in my head.

...Fuck, I've never used my brain this hard before.

My thoughts keep up bas my desperate mind kept simulating for the correct answer.

Thr goblins wer beginning to close in on us and Im quite surprised that they didn't jump on us immediately.

"Jin!"

That said- "Anna-chan, throw your fireball. NOW!"

She seemed like she was going to ask where but she already saw my finger pointing towards the direction in front of her.

And she threw the fireball as ordered.

Boom!

"Krieeee!!"

"Krriiieee!!!"

Three to four goblins were blasted away and a pathway was made within the circlement. The other goblins were surprised by the sudden explosion.

Before the fireball exploded, I already grabbed Anna-chan's torso like a child while dragging Ayano-san's back collar.

Three steps later, I pushed them out of the circlement. I glanced behind me and good thing Reika stuck to us.

"Run forward!"

With my words as motivation, they kept running.

Ten seconds later, we met a dead end. No, to be precise it was the corner of the room.

...This is better.

As soon as we reached the corner, my mouth moved in sync with my thoughts. "Ayano stick close to the corner, Anna in her front. Ayano, take Anna's dagger and cut your palms. I need those heals."

I glanced at Ayano-san and thankfully, she seemed to have followed my orders and immediately cut her palms while gritting through the pain.

Good girl.

"Anna, you know what to do."

"Krieeee!"

Anna-chan nodded while I finally looked back into the darkness. Multiple screeches came and numerous pairs of yellow eyes gleamed in the darkness.

Using only Anna-chan's firballs as a source of light, I immediately intercepted the first goblin that crossed the light.

"Heupp!"

Smack!

I smacked the little bastard with the wooden chair, causing it to stagger backwards. This resulted in breaking my weapon but fortunately, the legs were still in my arms.

"Reika!"

I called as another goblin opened its maw and came at me. I jammed the wooden leg piece on my right hand in its mouth.

This surprised the goblin as it found itself unable to close its mouth.

Reika took that opportunity to stab through the goblin's head.

Chuck!

"Krri-..."

𝘋𝘪𝘯𝘨! 𝘋𝘪𝘯𝘨!

I didn't look at it for too lang and immediately turned went to intercept another goblin.

This one came from the corner of my eye and it was too close for me to properly defend myself from.

Out of fear, I just kicked its head away and was very surprised that my attack connected.

Smack!

I used this short time to scan the surroundings. No goblins at Anna-chan and Ayano-san.

Reika was handling two goblins no- three goblins.

Glancing back in my direction, two other goblins were approaching me.

"Huuu..."

No pain, no gain!

I made up my mind and jumped on the goblins Reika was fighting.

Using my body, I managed to catch two of the surprised while the other one was still fighting with Reika.

"Reika!!"

I screamed and soon, pain invaded my arm as one of the goblins bit my entire shoulder.

Groaning in pain, I kept the bastard close to myself as Reika killed them.

𝘋𝘪𝘯𝘨! 𝘋𝘪𝘯𝘨!

I immediately shook off the goblin that bit me with its mouth full of my fresh blood.

No. I don't have time to express my pain.

Each second was important.

I ran and tried to swing at the goblin that Reika was fighting earlier.

It leaned back while screeching at me.

"Skriee!!!"

I glanced at Reika and she was fighting with the two goblins that I saw coming to my direction earlier.

This isn't working... there's just too many of them.

...I need to kill a goblin by myself.

Thinking like that, I let myself be pinned on the ground by the goblin.

On my left hand was a piece of a wooden chair and on my right hand... I managed to grab a solid structure with skin.

Traving my arm further, I felt the three sharp claws which were very familiar.

'The arm of a goblin.'

"Kriaaaaaa...."

The goblin on top of me opened its large mouth and this was the chance I was waiting for.

I pulled on the arm of the dead goblin while intending to use the claws to stab this bastard on top of me.

But it seems to have noticed my movement and-

Slice!

It swiftly cut the arm I was pulling from the dead goblin's body.

Thank you!

I directly held the arm on its wrist, aiming the three claws towards the goblin on top of me.

It seemed to have realize what I was trying to do and kept its mouth shut.

'Smart but-'

Stab!

With the severed goblin arm on my right hand, I held the wrists of the arm and stabbed the goblin on its chest.

"Krriee!!!"

I screamed and I immediately retracted the claws and stabbed it on its open mouth.

Stab!

Its jagged teeths sinked on my arm but that was because I stabbed the claws deep in its throat.

It didn't manage to close its mouth as it was stunned by the pain.

I kicked it off and immediately stood p from the ground.

𝘋𝘪𝘯𝘨! 𝘋𝘪𝘯𝘨!

Looking back at the group, Reika was now having trouble fighting four goblins at once while two goblins were approaching Anna-chan and Ayano-san.

I shouted, "Anna throw your fireball at Reika, Reika dodge!"

Our source of disappeared at it exploded towards Reika's direction. At the same time, I ran towards Ayano-san and Anna-chan.

Using the goblin's voices to guide me, I arrived next to them with ease.

The moment another fireball appeared to light up our surroundings, I saw that the goblin was directly in front of me.

I used the sharp claws to stab it on its neck.

After poking a hole into what I assumed to be the place where an important vein would be located, I withdrew and moved on the next goblin which were already attacking Ayano-san.

Ayano-san trembled in front of the goblin but desperately held her ground and tried to parry the goblin's scratch attacks.

Ayano-san held the dagger but-

Thwack!

Ting!

The dragger was smacked away by the goblin.

"Kriee! kriee!!"

It laughed but it still hadn't notice me from behind.

"Krrieee!"

It was getting overly excited which is why...

Stab!

"Krriee?!"

Again... I stabbed it at the exact same spot where I stabbed the previous goblin earlier.

It held its neck in surprise before glaring hatefully towarss me.

It wanted to screech but blood flowed in its throat.

"Are you guyd alright?"

Reika arrived and pushed the goblin aside. I took this time to look at everyone's state.

Ayano-san is rattled with a few cuts on her arms but other than that, she's fine. Anna-chan is alright with no wounds.

That's good.

As for Reika-...

Her body was shaking wher her arms constantly twicthing while holding her iron sword. Her arms, torso, and legs were riddled with scars, some were very deep.

She drew sharp breaths as sweat fell from her pale pretty face.

"Ayano-san."

At my pleading, Ayano-san wordlessly rubbed her bloody palm unto Reika's wounds which covered her entire body.

I looked behind us and saw multiple goblins approaching.

"Huu... this is going to be hard."

Voicing my sentiments, I turned my back on them while thinking of how I'll intercept six to seven goblins at once.

I can't be too reckless but if I do this right, I'll be able to buy enough time for Reika to recover.

As much as I want to just escape from this place, I don't see a single viable way for us to make it safe without leaving anyone behind.

At worse, we'll be surrounded again and forced to watch everyone's back.

Being stuck in a corner like this at least limits the direction where we're to expect the monster will come from.

Putting my mind back in the game, I took off my blazer which revealed my wounded arms and torso.

I heard someone gasp but I didn't mind it as I continue using my blazer to wrap may hands that gripped on the hands of the goblin.

Naturally, I intended to use the claws as a weapon and at this point I'm much more comfortable with it rather than some random weapon.

While I was doing this, I spoke. "Reika, I'll give you thirty seconds to recover. Any longer than that and... I'm sure I'm going to die.

Having said that, I'll leave my back to you and Anna-chan, don't use your remaining fireballs."

Fwwip!

Tightening the tie on my hand, I look back toward Anna-chan.

"No matter what. Do not use them, do you understand me?"

Anna-chan could only nod her head in response to my cold and commanding voice.

I'm sorry but I have no time to act pleasant or anything. We're in deeo shit and they realize the gravity of the situation which is why they can only follow my orders.

"Huuu... alright."

This short exchange took me about 20 seconds, including the time I the goblin arm to my arm.

"I'm going..." Leaving this two words, I ran to the wave of goblins.

"Jin!"

I glanced behind after hearing Reika call out to me.

Seeing her worried face, she shouted, "Don't die!"

...You know, You're cuter when you're honest.

I just smiled and nodded.

Huu... alright Jin, Let's not die..

"KRIEEEE!!!"

"KRIIIEIEEEE!"

"KRRIIEEEE!"

Lookings at the multipke goblins, I gulped my nervousness and strengthened my nerves.

Let's go... just do it the way I planned.

...Please!