Goblin Butcher (1)
My mana ran dry in no time.
“Ugh… bleh…!”
The moment I cast Itch for the sixth time, a sharp ping~ rang through my skull like a string snapping, and a wave of dizziness crashed over me.
It was exactly the kind of spinning haze you get after twirling twenty times with an elephant trunk pressed to your face.
Yeah, this is no way to make a living either.
My gloves and leather armor were already caked in goblin blood; the stuff had dried into scabs that flaked and crumbled with every movement. The stench of blood clung to me like a second skin. One of the bastards even pissed itself as it died, spraying urine all over me.
Still, I leaned back against a tree to rest and pulled out the magic stones I had looted today.
A little pile about the size of my thumb.
That was the amount three beginner adventurers would earn thrashing goblins all day long. Every bit of the suffering so far washed away in an instant.
Ten silver, easy.
“Alright. Time to head back.”
I stretched hard and started to rise—
—Bang! Whoosh!
A hideous pain exploded through my raised right arm. It felt like the limb was about to be ripped clean off. A feral scream tore out of me.
“Gyaaah! Aaaugh!”
The arm I barely managed to grab was broken and dangling uselessly.
Magic Resonance Detected. Inputting into Magic Circuit…. 25% Spell Unidentified (*****)
A person? Was it a person? Or something else? What the hell was that?
My thoughts scrambled into chaos.
“Kerrrk. Kerrk. Kekkek.”
A goblin?
I twisted around.
There stood a goblin draped in rags, clutching a crude wooden staff.
“Fuuuuck!”
That had to be a special individual. How the hell was it on the first floor? Drawn by the blood reeking off me? Reasons later.
I clutched my dangling, broken right arm and forced myself upright against the tree. Use the trunk as cover and wait for an opening?
The thing stayed at a distance, watching me—apparently it had no way to punch through the wood either. Both my legs shook under the raw terror of death staring me down.
When an unbeatable opponent stands right in front of you?
You run. No debate.
Was this some sports match? A duel of honor? Neither. Just a hunt—kill or be killed. Right now I was the prey.
I exploded into a full sprint toward the next tree that could serve as cover.
—Whoosh! Bang!
A fire arrow skimmed past my leg by a hair’s breadth.
“Hah… hah….”
I slammed into the next tree and gasped for air. Less than ten meters, yet tension had stolen every scrap of breath.
“Kerrk!”
The goblin looked thoroughly pissed. It finished casting, a flame-wreathed arrow balanced on the tip of its staff, and began closing in on me with deliberate steps.
No—it wasn’t angry. The corners of its mouth were twitching.
It’s enjoying this.
“Shit.”
The curse slipped out on its own. The next tree was a long way off—twenty meters? Thirty? Staying here meant dying either way. I had to break for the entrance if I wanted to live.
“Uwaaaaah!!”
Every last drop of strength I had ever suckled as a baby, I poured into that sprint.
“Kelkelkel!”
—Shuuuuk! Bang!
“Gyaaah!”
This time it was my left thigh.
Magic Resonance Detected. Inputting into Magic Circuit…. 50% Spell Unidentified (*****)
—Thud!
I pitched forward and slammed face-first into the dirt. Dust puffed up with every ragged breath as I writhed in agony.
No more running. Fuck. Fuck. I don’t want to die!
Please. Please. Please just come closer.
With my one good left hand I secretly palmed the short dagger I used for butchering goblins.
“Kelkelkel!”
A metallic, rattling laugh drifted from nearby. The wooden staff flipped my sprawled body over. What filled my vision wasn’t the sky—it was the ugly fucking face of a goblin.
“Kelkel!”
A sneer stretched that already over-wide mouth. A foul stench rolled out with it, and malice even fouler than the stench slammed into my remaining good right leg.
“Gyaaaaah!”
“Kehehehehel! Kekkek!”
The thing threw its head back and howled with delight.
Magic Resonance Detected. Inputting into Magic Circuit…. 75% Spell Unidentified (*****)
It leaned in close, as if savoring the pain contorting my face. That wart-riddled mug filled my vision.
“Kelkelkel.”
“You fucking bastard.”
I drove the hidden gathering dagger toward its throat—!
—Thwack.
“Gyaaah!”
The tip of the staff it had planted in the ground smashed down on the wrist holding the dagger.
You fucking piece of shit…! You already noticed. Fuck…!
“Khelhelhel!”
My final thrash ended in nothing, and the goblin only grew happier.
“Kelkel!”
—Boom!
“Khuhk!”
Magic Resonance Detected. Inputting into Magic Circuit…. 100% Spell Unidentified (*****)
Magic Resonance Complete. Inputting into Magic Circuit.
Firebolt (D)
Flame flashed above the staff pressed to my belly. Fired from this close… I didn’t need to look. A fist-sized hole must have punched clean through my lower gut by now.
“Haha…. You fucking piece of shit…. Just finish it….”
Laughter bubbled up through pain too sharp to bear.
“Kekkekkek!”
But the thing had no intention of finishing me quickly.
—Prod, prod.
“Gyaaaaah!”
The staff stirred the wound. Agony clawed through my skull. Blood surged up and spilled from my mouth.
“Khuhk…. Khuhk….”
Breathing was hard. The goblin pressed its filthy face even closer, eager to study every flicker of pain on mine.
“Keeeh….”
Its eyes glittered with pure rapture.
—Tap.
“Gyaaaaah!”
I wrung out every last shred of strength. My broken right arm, as if making one final protest, flopped weakly onto the creature’s shoulder.
It flinched, caught off guard—then threw its head back and laughed so hard it gurgled.
“Kelkelkel!!”
It pointed a grimy finger at my eyes and howled with mockery.
Yeah, keep laughing.
“Firebolt. You fucking bastard.”
—Boom!
Even a broken arm could still cast. No mana needed to launch it—just enough to trigger the spell in my palm. The last pitiful dregs of my mana drained away, and the goblin’s head left its shoulders the same way.
Its body toppled onto me in slow motion. Hot blood poured down. The belly that had taken the direct hit burned… and yet I was so cold.
It hurts…
My eyelids grew heavy…
A cold darkness came for me.
They say that from a distance every human life looks roughly the same. Everything is just a string of coincidences—lucky people and unlucky people, nothing more.
The nickname that had dogged me since middle school—“Geumtaeyang,” the blonde bastard—never really fit. The name and the looks were similar, but I was just an ordinary guy named Kim Taeyoung. Girls ignored me; guys my age envied me. The only girls who latched on were the weird ones, and none of them wanted anything I could actually give. An ordinary man like me could never supply what they were after.
When I opened my eyes in this world, I felt a deep, honest relief. No one here saw me as Geumtaeyang. Here I was simply the human Kim Taeyoung. Maybe that was why I opened my heart so easily to Ria and Mina.
Ah… I miss everyone. Hope they’re doing okay.
If I had known sooner how warm another person’s body heat could be, I wouldn’t have taken such a long detour to get here.
Thinking of those two, a pair of soft, warm masses pressed against me. Yes… that was exactly the feeling. Soft and warm. Maybe that was what a human heart was supposed to feel like.
Just a little longer… I wanted to stay like this just a little longer.
Consciousness slipped away again.
……………
“Nnnh?”
My eyelids felt glued shut by dried tears. When I finally forced them open, warm sunlight poured in—and with it came the memory of the fight with that special goblin.
I’m alive… I actually lived.
“Hahahaha…. Kekkek!”
A hollow laugh of pure relief scraped out of my raw throat.
“Oh my. You’re awake?”
She slipped lightly off the edge of the bed, gave a polite bow, and looked at me.
“Are you fully conscious?”
“Hah. Yeh. Yeah. Kek.”
From mouth to throat everything was desert-dry; my voice barely worked. She quickly lifted a long-spouted pitcher from the side table and carefully poured water into my mouth.
—Gulp, gulp.
“Haaah…!”
Water neither cold nor hot, just right, slid all the way down into my lungs.
“Heh. It’s been a while since I saw a real man.”
Warm noon light spilled through the pure-white room’s window. Where the hell was I? A hospital? No… a temple? Who had dragged me here?
“Ghh…!”
I tried to push my body upright. It refused to move.
“You mustn’t! You’re not ready to get up yet!”
She pressed my shoulders down at once.
“Wh-where am I?”
“Please rest easy, Adventurer. This is the Sylvia Temple.”
“What?”
“Unfortunately you were found collapsed with grave wounds by our priests on patrol.”
She smiled gently and smoothed my bangs with soft fingers.
“It must have been a hard fight.”
With her eyes closed, her face held genuine pity.
“Rest more for now. If you need anything at all, simply ring this bell.”
She bowed again and quietly closed the door behind her.
A full week passed that way. I finally recovered enough to sit up and lean against the headboard. The boredom was murderous, but the real ordeal was mealtime.
“Ahh~ open wide.”
“Priestess Ophelia, I can feed myself now.”
“Ahh~”
“Please… just let me…”
“Ahh~”
“Ahh~”
She carefully spooned every bite into my mouth, then dabbed my lips with a napkin afterward. I wasn’t a damn baby. The whole ritual was exhausting.
And of course the bathroom was its own nightmare.
“Heh heh heh…. Who do you think took care of things for you while you were bedridden?”
“…Priestess, please. Could you just step outside?”
“Heh. What if something terrible happens?”
“If something terrible is going to happen while I’m looking at something terrible, that’s fine by me.”
“Taeyoung. Take your hand off the door.”
“Th-that’s not happening.”
“Take. Your. Hand. Off.”
My hand trembled. Ophelia’s forehead vein bulged as she refused to let go of the bathroom door.
How is a priestess this strong?
“The door’s going to break!”
“I. Said. Take. Your. Hand. Off.”
In the end she simply walked into the stall with me and conducted a thorough… visual inspection.
For the sake of my remaining dignity, I clenched hard and vowed to heal as fast as humanly possible.
Ugh… fuck.