We were ready. The hours spent awakening our powers had transformed us. The initial shock of our arrival had been burned away, replaced by a cold, sharp-edged resolve. We were a unit, armed with abilities that defied the laws of our old world and, more importantly, with the knowledge of this new one's brutal rules.
We knew our grim reality: only six would survive. We knew the fastest path to power was through violence, by absorbing the life force of the slain. And we knew this forest, Zone E, was the designated starting ground—the nursery, filled with the weakest monsters. It was here we would take our first life.
We moved through the oppressive twilight like a single organism. Jin and Eric formed the vanguard, their eyes scanning the deep shadows. Talia moved like a ghost on our flank, her steps silent on the damp earth. Masha and Erica, our elemental powerhouses, walked in the center, their hands glowing faintly with latent energy. Rina, our healer and most precious asset, was shielded within the heart of our formation. The rest of us—Edgar, Juno, Neil, and myself—formed the rear guard, the nerve center of the operation.
"Hold," I whispered, raising a single hand. The team froze.
Fifty yards ahead, a hunched figure was crouched by a stream. Its skin was a sickly, mottled green, its ears long and pointed. It gnawed on a root with sharp, yellowed teeth, its black, beady eyes darting nervously into the darkness. In its hand, it clutched a crude club of splintered wood and sharpened stone. A goblin.
This was our test.
"Edgar, Appraisal," I commanded in a low voice.
Edgar's eyes went unfocused for a moment. "Goblin Scout. Rank E," he reported. "Minimal health and stamina. It has one skill, 'Vicious Strike'. No special defenses. It's cannon fodder."
"Juno?"
Juno was already sketching in his notepad with practiced speed. "It's hungry and paranoid," he murmured. "Its left leg is injured; it's putting less weight on it. That's the weak point."
"Alright," I said, the plan forming instantly. "A clean takedown. Jin, you're on point. Target the weak leg to disable it. Masha, the moment he moves, freeze the ground around it. Erica, hold your fire unless it tries to run. Talia, be ready to intercept. Let's go."
Jin gave a sharp nod. He exploded from the cover of the trees, his sword a silver streak in the gloom. The goblin shrieked, a grating, high-pitched sound, and tried to scramble away, its paranoia serving it well. But it wasn't fast enough.
"Masha, now!"
Masha thrust her palm forward. A sheet of slick, mirror-like frost instantly spread across the ground. The goblin's feet shot out from under it, its panicked flight turning into an undignified slide. That single moment of lost traction was all Jin needed. He closed the distance, his blade striking with precision, not at the creature's heart, but at its injured leg.
The goblin howled in a symphony of pain and rage, swinging its club wildly. The crude weapon glowed with a faint, dirty energy—'Vicious Strike'—but Jin easily parried the clumsy attack. The impact of wood on steel rang out in the quiet woods.
Realizing it was outmatched, the goblin tried to drag itself away.
"Erica," I said calmly.
A small, controlled fireball erupted from Erica's hands. It didn't hit the goblin but slammed into the ground directly in its path, showering it with hot embers and dirt. The creature recoiled in terror, stumbling backward—directly into Jin's waiting blade. With a clean, efficient thrust, the sword pierced the goblin's chest.
It gave one last, gurgling sigh and collapsed. A faint, nearly invisible wisp of energy rose from the corpse. "Jin, absorb it," I ordered.
He focused, and the wisp of mana flowed into him. His eyes widened in surprise. "I feel it," he breathed. "It's not much, but I feel stronger."
A collective sigh of relief passed through the team. We had done it. Our first kill. It was perfectly executed. A flawless victory.
But our celebration was cut short.
The goblin's death shriek did not go unanswered. From the deep shadows around the grove, a chorus of identical, high-pitched cries erupted. The rustling of leaves and the snapping of twigs grew into a cacophony. Dozens of pairs of black, beady eyes ignited in the darkness, like malevolent embers. We had killed the scout. Now we had to face the nest.
They poured from the trees—ten, then twenty, a chittering, screeching horde of green skin and crude weapons. Our perfect plan evaporated. This was no longer a hunt. It was a desperate battle for survival.
"Formation! Rina, stay in the center! Eric, shield her!" I roared over the growing din. "Masha, ice wall, now!"
A shimmering barrier of thick ice erupted from the ground in front of us, blocking the charge of the first wave. They slammed into it with pathetic thuds, clawing and pounding at the frozen wall. But more were already swarming around our flanks, their numbers seeming endless.
"Talia, left flank! Edgar, right! Jin, hold the front!"
The world descended into a blur of violence. Erica became our artillery, launching fireball after fireball into the thickest parts of the horde. Each blast sent goblins flying, their bodies blackened and smoking, but for every one she incinerated, three more scrambled over the corpses to take its place. Jin was a whirlwind of steel at the crumbling ice wall, his blade a silver arc of death, but he was being forced back by the sheer, overwhelming pressure.
"There are too many!" Talia yelled. Her movements were a duelist's deadly dance. She dodged a club that would have shattered her skull and answered with a precise thrust to the goblin's throat. But as soon as one fell, two more lunged to fill the space, their clubs swinging.
Eric was a mountain of flesh and resolve, his body a living shield for Rina. A club connected with his shoulder with a sickening crunch, and he grunted in pain but didn't give an inch. Behind him, Rina's hands glowed with a soft green light, knitting the torn flesh back together, her face pale with the strain of constant healing.
My mind raced, trying to command the chaos. A goblin, its eyes wild with bloodlust, broke through the line and charged me. Before I could even react, a spike of razor-sharp ice shot up from the ground, impaling the creature from below. Masha didn't even glance at me. "Focus on commanding, Dante!" she shouted, her face a grim mask as she launched a volley of ice shards into the oncoming wave. "We'll keep you safe!"
But we were tiring. Our mana was a finite resource. A glancing blow from a club scraped Erica's arm, making her flinch. Her next fireball went wide, exploding harmlessly against a tree. Jin took a shallow cut to his leg from a goblin's crude knife, and his footwork faltered for a critical second. We were taking damage. We were being worn down. The horde was a relentless, grinding tide of claws and teeth, and we were an island slowly being eroded by the surf. We were completely surrounded, and the goblins just kept coming.