NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9 - Predatory Instinct
‘The lamp!’ I hissed, but it was too late. The goblins noticed us and started to run in our direction. Aki grabbed it and we began our flight. Soon, we reached the point where the walls became covered by stone blocks again.
Goblins weren't quite catching up to us yet, we had the advantage of distance and longer legs, but sooner or later we would get tired. That or maybe we would reach a dead end. I could already hear them shouting something in their language. Maybe those were curses directed at us, maybe they were inviting us to pizza. I wasn’t quite willing to find out.
I was slowly running out of breath when we finally caught our break. There was a hole in the wall. I pointed it out to Aki and we diverted towards it. On the other side, there was maybe a two-metre drop to a partially flooded room. There was a familiar-looking large stone block in the middle.
It can’t be. Another one?
So… not sure if we will be able to get anywhere through there, and it will be difficult for us to go back. Still, we don’t have a choice. And I have a sneaky suspicion the goblins won’t follow us down there since the drop might be a tad too long for them. It might be so for Aki too, but what can you do?
I took a deep breath and jumped down. I landed in the water with a loud splash. It was only knee-high. Pain spread through my right leg when it hit the bottom.
I did my best to ignore it and shouted to Aki:
‘Jump down! I’ll catch you.’
There was some hesitation on her face, but the ever-closing shouts of goblins convinced her to go through with it. She quickly put out the lamp, reattached it to her satchel and leapt toward me.
I must say I envisioned it differently when I told Aki I would catch her. I had this grand vision of her falling into my arms and me gently putting her on the floor. I don’t know what went wrong: me standing in the wrong place, Aki jumping in complete darkness or some other factor. The end result was that the girl crashed into me and we both ended up underwater. Still, I achieved what I set out to do - I broke her fall, so I count this one as a complete success.
We disentangled ourselves and emerged from the water looking like drowned rats, coughing out water.
‘Are… you… okay?’ Aki asked. ‘I’m… so... s-sorry. I didn't mean…’
‘Don’t… worry.’ I coughed back. ‘I’m… durable.’
The pink on my paper doll said something different, but it wasn't anything a healing potion couldn't take care of. I still had two after all.
I looked around. The room was identical to the one I was summoned in. Well, almost… I couldn't see the wall inscription anywhere. The door was on the other side of the altar.
I rose to my feet and helped Aki get up. I saw I would need to help her get out of here. I glanced at where her oil lamp should have been. It was gone.
‘Hang on.’ I whispered to her and knelt in front of her. I checked her side and leg for glass shards but luckily I couldn't see any.
‘All good.’ I said and got up.
‘What’s going on?’ she asked.
‘The lamp is gone. I was checking whether it didn't hurt you.’
‘Oh…’ she said weakly. ‘How will I see now?’
I took her hand.
‘I’ll lead you until we find another light source. Something must be around’.
She nodded.
So we started wading through the water. After we passed the altar I heard a noise I didn’t expect to hear. A loud crack I immediately recognized. Someone was shooting at us. I felt a bullet graze my cheek.
I pushed Aki to the ground and dragged her towards the large stone block.
‘Stay down.’
She nodded, her face pale. So she knew what guns were. Good.
I peered from behind the wall and looked towards the hole in the wall. Five goblins were standing there. Four of them were lightly armoured, wearing boiled leather jerkins. Three of the creatures were armed with short swords and bucklers while the last one was holding a fairly ornate-looking flintlock pistol. Behind them stood a hobgoblin wearing a metal breastplate, a helmet covering its face, greaves and gauntlets. It was armed with a nasty-looking longsword. He must have been the party's leader. Maybe even the chief of the entire clan, tribe or whatever the green fucks considered themselves.
The ‘sniper’ was currently scanning the altar room trying to find us. He must have noticed me, as he began zeroing in on my position. He didn’t have a chance to fire though. I fired off a volley of Rock Spikes. While one missed, the other two hit, piercing his throat and one of his eyes. The goblin fell backward and didn’t get up.
Level 2 Goblin “Sharpshooter” has been slain
You have earned 200 experience points (350/1500 total experience points progress to level 3)
Boom! Headshot, motherfucker.
The hobgoblin chief was less thrilled about the result of the sniper duel because it began to angrily gesticulate and shout at the other three. They looked unhappy about whatever the orders were but obeyed them as they jumped down into the chamber. In response, I climbed on the altar and drew my sword. It was time to dance.
I leapt towards them and landed in the middle of the group with a splash. The goblins started circling around me. I raised my sword. The runes on it were slightly glowing from all the moisture. I could see this made the goblins unsure. No. Not see. I could feel it. The little fuckers were afraid. For reasons unknown, this made me happy. Then again, why shouldn’t it? I was in my element and well… they weren’t. Sure, they could see in the dark, but for them, it was just a crutch. They needed light to function. I didn’t, which made me the predator here, while the goblins? They were the prey here. My prey. The corner of my face lifted in a faint smile. I lunged towards one of the goblins. This was going to be fun.
The creature tried to defend itself but it was too slow. My sword opened its jugular. The goblin backed away from me and started trying to stop the bleeding. I was considering finishing it, but for the lack of a better term, I felt a strike coming from behind my back. I effortlessly weaved out of its path. Oddly enough, I stopped feeling any resistance from the water. Did my body adapt to it? I didn’t know, and at that time I didn’t care. One quick slash later the goblin’s sword hand landed in the water. It started to scream from pain and held on to the stump with the other hand. I finished it off with a slash that severed its head. Oddly enough, all the blood made the runes stop glowing. Curious. I would really need to investigate this.
Level 3 Goblin Swordsman has been slain
You have earned 300 experience points (650/1500 total experience points progress to level 3)
My attention turned to the last goblin. It looked absolutely terrified, which only made my hunger for blood grow.
No! Some part of me shouted. This isn’t who I am!
But the dark part of me was fully in control now. There would be time for niceties and remorse later. For now… the last goblin awaited. The creature must have seen the smile on my face because it began to scream.
His friend must have finally bled out because another experience message appeared.
Level 3 Goblin Swordsman has been slain
You have earned 300 experience points (950/1500 total experience points progress to level 3)
The chief must have decided enough was enough because before I could deal with the last morsel, I heard a really big splash behind me. I turned around. Yes. He was the priority target. The morsel could wait. I had another predator to deal with.
Aki was feeling powerless. Once again, Lilyth was risking her life to save her. She wanted to help her new friend. If only she didn’t lose her lamp. When Aki heard the three goblins jump down she thought it was over. But then the monsters began to scream. She stood up and looked towards the fight. She only saw a pair of glowing blue-grey irises she assumed belonged to Lilyth. She had seen how her friend's eyes looked in the dark before, but the light was much fainter. What was going on?
Then the big splash came, and Aki’s heart sank again. Whatever this was, it was big. Very big. Probably as big as the Butcher. She didn’t think Lilyth could handle another hobgoblin on her own. Aki was starting to feel angry at herself. The flame of that anger grew stronger and stronger and soon she couldn’t contain it. It awoke something within her and she felt that if she just reached for it…
The big bastard didn’t say anything. It just leapt towards me with its sword over its head and made a downward cut. Once again, I instinctively could sense the monster’s movements and I understood that blocking the attack would be pointless. The creature was much stronger than me. But it was also slower, especially in the water. So I sidestepped and tried to counterattack, but at that time the last goblin found his courage and ran me through my stomach. Most problematic.
Aki’s mother always told her to try to suppress the flame that burned within her. She said that reaching for it would only bring her grief. But she realised the time for that was over. So she brought that flame out and a burning orb manifested over her head washing the room with red light. A message appeared before Aki’s eyes.
You have learned a new ability: Abyssal Spark
Type: Racial - Infernal
Level: 1 (0% total progress to level 2)
Radius: 5 metres
Duration: 2 minutes
Description: Creates an orb of hellish light above the user. Consumes mana.
Yes! Aki thought, though her happiness quickly faded when she saw what was happening. Lilyth was currently impaled through her stomach by a goblin and an armoured hobgoblin stood in front of her. The monsters were currently busy shielding their eyes from the bright light. And her friend… looked different. Lilyth’s face had a blueish hue to it and black lines were spreading around it. She was squinting her eyes to protect them from the light. So that’s what slimelings were. Aki wasn’t afraid though. Lilyth couldn’t help what she was, and so couldn’t Aki. All they could do was to make the best of it. Noticing that Lilyth’s face returned to normal, Aki made her decision, drew her swords and leapt over the altar like her friend before her. It was time to help.
The room suddenly became lit by bright red light. It hurt my eyes hard. I tried closing them but it didn’t help. Where did it come from? Luckily, my assailants appeared to have been equally affected by it which gave me some window of opportunity to act. I felt my new instincts slowly fade away, but before they did so completely I used them once last time to deal with the sword in the stomach issue. I jumped back, which caught the goblin by surprise. It let go of the weapon so I spun around and beheaded it with my bastard sword using the momentum of my movement to aid the attack.
Level 3 Goblin Swordsman has been slain
You have earned 300 experience points (1250/1500 total experience points progress to level 3)
This made the sword move inside of me, which caused me intense pain, but I couldn’t worry about that right now. There was the big bastard to deal with first.
Aki winced when she saw Lilyth move around with the sword inside her stomach. That couldn’t have been comfortable. She hoped her friend would be okay. Aki focused her attention back on the hobgoblin. It had recovered and was preparing to make a lunge at Lilyth who was still turned away from it so wouldn’t be able to dodge in time. Aki had to do something. She quickly examined the monster and saw that its back was unarmoured. She lunged towards the hobgoblin, the water taking away some bite from the attack, and slashed its unprotected skin with both of her swords. The creature growled from pain but didn’t stop. But the brief distraction did give Lilyth time to turn around.
I saw Aki standing behind the monster with her blades dripping with its blood. The hobgoblin apparently wasn’t impressed with whatever the girl did to it because it tried to do another overhead slash. I did the only thing I could think of and tried to move to the side. But… unfortunately, the water resistance was back so I didn’t manage to do so in time. The blade bit into my shoulder. I howled in pain. But Aki, god bless the girl, used this as an opportunity to continue her attack and stabbed the hobgoblin in the back. This stopped it from bisecting me. So, I let go of my sword and used my healthy arm to fire Rock Spikes into its unprotected thigh. They couldn’t miss from this distance and they shredded the monster’s leg, almost cutting it off. The hobgoblin collapsed to the side, letting go of his sword in the process. I grabbed it by guard before it could do any more damage and carefully took it out of the wound. The hobgoblin somehow still was trying to rise and continue to fight, so I fired more Rock Spikes toward its head. Only one of them managed to pierce its helmet but it was enough. The monster stopped struggling and slumped underwater, never to rise again
Level 10 Goblin Chief has been slain
You have earned 500 experience points (1800/1500 total experience points progress to level 3)
You are now Level 3 (300/2000 total experience points progress to level 3)
Your total health has increased
Your total stamina has increased
Your total mana has increased
You have received 2 perk points (Current Number of Perk Points: 2)
Aki rushed over to me with a healing potion in hand.
‘Thank you,’ I muttered and began to cry remembering the murderous instinct that took over me.
What have I become?