Aaron opened his eyes in a bedroom, looking up at the ceiling. At first, he couldn't remember what had happened, and suddenly:
"Aaah, my head! This feels like a nightmare, my head hurts so much," he exclaimed angrily.
"Aaron, come downstairs, it's breakfast time!" Aaron was taken aback. He should be living alone in his own house, so why was he hearing a woman's voice from downstairs?
"Who is this? And more importantly, where am I right now?" Aaron was shocked. He thought he had just had a bad dream and couldn't grasp the reality of the situation. Unfortunately, he didn't realize that the voice from downstairs belonged to his mother, and he wasn't shocked enough. After all, his mother had passed away many years ago, and the only memory he had of her was how she looked.
Aaron descended the stairs slowly and entered the kitchen, but something surprised him. The person in front of him was his mother. Aaron felt a sudden headache and momentarily lost his balance. As he fell to the ground, all his conversations with the gods flooded his mind, and he understood everything now.
He quickly got up and ran towards his mother, embracing her with all his might. A simple sentence formed in his mind: "Why should I save everyone? For once, why not think of myself and protect my family... why not, I swear nothing will happen to my family in this life."
He completely disregarded his conversation with the gods, as the love he felt for his family erased all the negativity in his heart and opened up his thoughts about himself.
This was the third time Aaron made a serious promise to himself. The first was when he vowed to avenge his family's loss, the second was when he promised the gods while killing the Supreme Dragon, and now, the third was the promise he made to protect his family. Aaron was determined to change himself, and the first sentence he said to his mother was:
"I missed you, Mom." The woman was quite surprised to hear those words. Normally, the child rarely hugged her, but now he was embracing her with a smile. It was one of the many things a mother could ask for from her child in this life, and Aaron's mother was also smiling.
"Good morning, Light," said a deep voice coming from behind. This voice belonged to his father. Just by looking at his father's face, you could definitely see where he inherited his handsomeness from. This man, who had a strong build, appeared rough compared to Aaron's mother, but he was undeniably handsome. His mother, on the other hand, was not very short and had a delicate figure, making her a beautiful woman.
"Good morning, Dad," he said in a gentle voice, and they all sat down at the breakfast table. Aaron, still in shock from what had happened, ate his meal while keeping an eye on the clock. Because everything had started on January 13th, 2024, at 4 o'clock, and the world had been completely shaken. It was currently 9 in the morning, and he had plenty of time to get ready.
Aaron quickly finished his breakfast and went up to his room. Being already 19 years old, Aaron had decided that school was pointless with his high intelligence, so he had opted to start working at his father's company, which seemed more reasonable to him. Therefore, he had no concern about going to school now or in the future.
After quickly opening his wardrobe, a big smile spread across Aaron's face. Since his childhood, he had been fascinated by the Eastern world, which is why he was thrilled to see the long Eastern-style sword, a small dagger, and a dozen throwing knives neatly stored in their boxes. These were the gifts his father had given him on his 18th birthday.
In his previous life, Aaron had found this set among the ruins of this house and had used the long sword and small dagger extensively until they became too damaged to be used.
Aaron immediately opened the boxes and started silently sharpening the weapons. He finished sharpening them in about 10 minutes and then sheathed them, placing them in a secure spot in his room. After all, these weapons would be put to use starting from today.
Having completed everything he had planned in his mind, Aaron took a deep breath and patiently waited for the clock to approach 4 o'clock. He was currently weak, he wasn't even a hunter, so even a regular goblin or a poisonous rat could kill him. That's why he needed to be more prepared than anyone else.
"Puff... Everything is all well and good, but I don't know how to take my family to one of the towers. What should I do?" Aaron was afraid. The fear he hadn't felt in a long time, the fear he thought he had lost, had once again taken hold of him and clouded his mind.
Time swiftly passed: 10, 11, 12, 1, 2, 3, and finally, it was 15:55. There were exactly 5 minutes left until everything began. Aaron had armed himself with his weapons and descended to the lower floor. His mother, seeing him wearing such things, found it strange and asked him:
"You said you would keep your birthday gift hidden. What happened?"
"I realized that I've never shown myself wearing them to you," Aaron said coldly but lovely at the same time.
"Looks quite nice, you wear it well, like a true Chinese person," Aaron's father said.
"It's not Chinese, Dad. It's a Japanese sword, a katana. How could you not know the name of something you bought yourself?" Aaron replied, teasingly.
Just then, the ground began to shake. Sirens blared throughout the country, and screams echoed from every direction. In the sky, a proclamation appeared:
"Hello, dear citizens of the world. Welcome to the game of the Gods. Your world has been chosen as the playground, and in this battle, the Gods will observe you. They will grant you rewards and even abilities. The first chapter of the game is about to begin. May your path be clear!"
Aaron was astonished. In his previous life, there had been no such notifications, nor had the Gods granted them abilities or observed them in any way.
"This is ridiculous! So, instead of sending dragons after us, you're going to give us powers? Do you want the human atrocities from my previous life to increase?" he thought angrily.
Just then, a notification appeared in front of everyone:
"Scenario 1 - Mission 1 - Survival"
Aaron quickly read the contents of the mission and couldn't believe his eyes:
"These bastards... I used to think my previous life was a game, but now they've truly turned the world into one. Mission rewards? Time restrictions?"
From outside, screams started to echo, and Aaron quickly looked out the window as he began to speak:
"Father, take this short blade. Weren't you a soldier before? You should know how to handle a knife."
"Yes, but why should I use a knife?"
"There's something green outside, probably a goblin."
"Goblin? Have you lost your mind?"
"Father, someone just died! We have to protect Mother." Aaron said. Hearing this, his father, Sean, dispelled any remaining doubts in his mind. For him, his wife Valerie was one of the two most important things in his life. Even risking his own life to protect her could mean risking his own death.
Sean nodded in agreement, and they slowly opened the door. The scenario mission instructed them to go to the towers, indicating that just like in Aaron's previous life, the towers were safe zones where people could seek shelter.
As soon as Aaron opened the door, a goblin spotted him and his family, and it began running towards them. Aaron may have been weak, but in his previous life, he held the titles of Death Slayer and Sword God, which meant that any low-level creature he wanted to kill would not be able to escape his grasp.
Aaron drew his sword and swiftly decapitated the goblin, its blood splattering all over him, making such a bad smell. Valerie was both disgusted and terrified, unable to contain the urge to vomit.
Aaron's father, despite his past as a high-ranking soldier, couldn't help but be affected by the fear that gripped them. He was slightly shaken by the surreal situation they found themselves in.
Aaron's lack of fear and composure was not unusual for him; he had always been this way, rarely showing his emotions and remaining silent.
Aaron quickly lifted his mother and said,
"My dear mother, please hold on. We just need to go four blocks ahead."
"Four blocks? How do you know?" she asked.
"I looked at the map, and can't you see that tower? The mission mentioned it as a safe zone, and we need to go there!"
"I... I understand, I'm sorry," Aaron hadn't realized that his mother's apology would hurt him so deeply.
"I want to protect them, not frighten them. Get it together, you idiot!" Aaron scolded himself internally.
The three of them began to run, focusing on swiftly and safely traversing the blocks. Aaron started killing any goblin that crossed his path, but something was amiss.
Goblins! Cunning little bastards. Despite being weak, some of these creatures possessed intelligence, allowing them to survive and even wipe out their prey by hunting in groups. However, the largest goblin gang Aaron and his family had encountered so far consisted of only three members, a number he could easily handle on his own. Nevertheless, he needed to be cautious because, just as he could kill them, in his current state, the goblins could also easily kill him.
Aaron was taken aback as a scream pierced through the air, and a woman ran past him and his family. She turned back and shouted:
"RUN!!!"
When Aaron looked behind, he was astonished to see around a hundred goblins charging towards them. He stopped and looked at his family, then yelled:
"Run! Right now!"
His family hesitated; they didn't want to leave him behind. How could they abandon their only son, the one thing they had left besides each other?
Aaron's anger flared up at his father's refusal. He shouted at his father, something he had never done before:
"DAD, NOW!"
His father took the shout seriously and scooped up Valerie, starting to run. Aaron was certain that if there were this many monsters here, there shouldn't be as many in Durham. He wouldn't allow anyone to pass through here.
"Come on, you little bastards! I'll take you on face to face!" he declared, and a fierce battle ensued.
-----
Aaron had been fighting the horde of around 100 goblins in front of him for about 5 minutes. He was exhausted, worn out. Even the fact that Aaron, now just a normal human, had managed to hold on for this long was remarkable. Before succumbing to fatigue, he had already slashed through around 30 goblins, considering the additional 10 goblins he had killed on the way. So, it could be said that he had killed around 40 goblins in total. For a regular person, killing just 5 goblins would be considered an impressive feat, but Aaron's past experiences gave him this advantage.
However, as much as he cut them down, the goblins seemed endless.
"Scatter, you little bastards!" Aaron shouted, but it was in vain. Human words held no power over goblins. Only two types of monsters could give orders to the goblins: the Goblin King and the High Orc.
Aaron tried to find an escape route, and as his killing spree reached around 50, a memory from his past life came to his mind. When his family had been killed, he had discovered safe zones while trying to escape. He had been so focused on the mission's objective that he had completely forgotten about the safe zones.
Immediately, he stopped fighting and mustered the last of his strength to run through the midst of the goblins. His destination was a nearby market, just one block away.
Even though he ran with all his might, he wasn't faster than the goblins in his exhausted state. Arrows and spears rained down upon him. Despite managing to dodge some of them, a few struck his arm and leg. Aaron was losing a significant amount of blood, and he knew that unless he administered first aid to himself as soon as possible, he would die.
Aaron, despite having three arrows in his legs and two in his arms, managed to increase his speed with a renewed sense of survival. Clenching his teeth, he continued to run.
After approximately three minutes of relentless sprinting, Aaron finally caught sight of the market. Summoning his last ounce of strength, he pushed himself to run even faster. The goblins were still chasing him. While some had given up, there were still around 20 goblins relentlessly pursuing him, their eyes filled with hunger for his body and blood.
Aaron reached the door of the market, opened it, and flung himself inside. But before he could fully enter, he was struck by one more sword blow. The blade grazed just above his abdomen, causing a small but intensely painful cut.
Aaron's wounds were in a terrible state. They were so severe that if the memories of pain from his previous life hadn't been imprinted in his brain, he would have surely lost consciousness.
Goblins seemed perplexed. Despite their intelligence, they couldn't understand why they couldn't enter the market and eventually gave up after a futile attempt. Aaron throw a middle finger to them, signaling his defiance, and dragged himself towards the first aid section of the market.
After 15 seconds, Aaron stood in front of the bandage aisle. Though he wanted to be swift, he moved slowly as he grabbed a bandage and began wrapping his own abdomen. He then proceeded to wrap his arms and legs. Exhausted from the intense exertion and pain, Aaron slowly lay down on the floor and drifted into a deep sleep.