.
▶ Survive ◀
[Details: Survive for 13 minutes.]
[Difficulty: B+]
[Reward: Shop Ticket, 50 Points.]
.
As much as Soren wanted to revel in the happiness he felt seeing a quest screen appear, his current situation wouldn't allow that.
'A survival quest…'
In TKS, survival quests weren't at all common, but whenever they appeared, they had an extremely high difficulty due to the fact that the objective wasn't to win, but simply to hold out.
"...B+."
He felt like crying at the difficulty rating.
'It's so unfair.'
His first quest was not only a survival quest but also rated B+.
But, unfortunately, he didn't even have the time to whine about it at the moment.
During the time Soren was distracted by the quest window, his surroundings had already been filled with enemies.
'There's at least 15 of them… but something is off.'
He was well aware that 15 goblins were a lot, especially after the fight he had earlier, but for a difficulty rating of B+, it seemed almost laughable.
'That can't be right.'
Right on cue, as if proving Soren's thoughts correct, the sound of slow yet heavy footsteps filled his ears.
STOMP.. STOMP.. STOMP
Then it appeared.
Gulp
Soren swallowed at the sight before his eyes.
A giant green humanoid creature, at least five times the size of the other goblins, its body covered in torn rags and gripped in its hand was a large, rusted greatsword.
Shudder
The moment Soren made eye contact with the demon, he felt an instinctive warning sound off in his brain, as if telling him he would die if he made even a single mistake.
It was so bad that he could feel his legs threatening to give out from under him.
'A hobgoblin.'
It was now clear to him why this quest was B+ difficulty.
To most people, a hobgoblin doesn't sound like a big deal, just a slightly stronger goblin, but right now, to Soren, it may as well have been the Demon Lord.
Hobgoblins, whilst still only considered low-ranking demons, were still dangerous for beginners.
And for someone like Soren, who still has to struggle to kill a goblin, it was a death sentence.
He didn't know what to do.
He could try running, but his stamina had already reached its limits long ago.
In a desperate attempt to think of something, anything, he pulled up the quest window again.
.
▶ Survive ◀
[0:19/13:00]
.
'13 minutes.'
An agonisingly long time for someone as weak as Soren, but he had to make it work.
It was then that the hobgoblin suddenly stopped.
'It stopped?'
'But why?'
Then the hobgoblins' expression became visible.
A mocking grin was plastered across its face.
As if that wasn't enough, it even started laughing.
[Kekeke.]
It was looking at Soren as if it had just found a new toy to play with.
He knew he should be thankful that it wasn't attacking, but…
'...I'm pissed.'
His blood boiled at the thought of being looked down on by a single demon, a hobgoblin no less, but he also knew there was nothing he could do about it.
'I want to kill it… But that's impossible.'
It wasn't a matter of effort; it was just a fact.
Soren, in his current state, would struggle to land a blow on the creature in front of him, never mind kill the thing.
He bit his lip until it burst, leaving blood to trickle down his chin.
'But I can at least injure it, can't I?'
It was a pathetic thought, petty even, but Soren couldn't help himself.
He had always been an emotional person; it didn't suit him to be so meticulous.
The bitter metallic taste in his mouth helped him regain his composure, and he started forming a magic circle.
Wooooonngggg—!
For some inexplicable reason, though, not a single one of the goblins had moved since appearing, as if they were afraid of something.
Even as the magic circle was completed, not so much as a single movement was made.
Until.
[Kekeke. Keraak!]
The hobgoblin spoke.
Soren couldn't understand what it was saying.
Then a goblin walked forward.
A single goblin.
It instantly became clear to him what the hobgoblin was doing.
'It's playing with me.'
Soren took a deep breath to calm himself down.
He then glanced at the window in the corner of his eye.
.
[0:56/13:00]
.
'I just need to stall.'
"「Gaia!」"
He cast [Gaia] onto the ground under his feet and trapped the goblins' legs within the thick mud that was created.
The moment it was restrained, Soren charged at the goblin.
The magic circle was shattered, but that didn't mean the ground would return to normal.
THUD!
[KEURK?!]
The goblin fell to the ground when Soren collided with it.
Grab
Once on the floor, Soren grabbed the arm that was holding a weapon and put as much strength into his arm as possible.
[KERAAAK!!]
Because of the pain felt in its arm, the goblin let go of its dagger, giving Soren the opportunity he needed.
He drew the dagger from his waist and tried to stab the goblin's head.
Thud.
But the dagger was unable to break through.
[KEKEKE]
'It's too hard.'
He readjusted his grip on the dagger and raised it once more.
The goblin flailed underneath him, desperately trying to escape, scratching Soren's arms and chest, leaving his uniform in tatters when finally…
Stab
The dagger pierced through the goblin's eye.
[KEEEEAAAAAAAAAK—!!!!!]
The goblin screamed out in pain.
Unfortunately, the goblin didn't die immediately, increasing its struggle, which in turn left more and more wounds on Soren's body.
Soren placed his other hand on the hand holding the dagger handle and pushed down with as much strength as his weak body could muster.
Splatter.
The dagger pierced through the eye socket, going all the way into the brain.
Thud
The goblin's body stopped, like a puppet whose string had been cut.
It was dead.
[+1P]
"Hahh."
Soren let out a breath and looked down at the corpse.
It was only a single goblin, and Soren's entire body was screaming at him to stop.
He wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve and stood up, facing the hobgoblin once more.
Still, not a single goblin had moved.
"Haha.." Soren let out a hollow laugh at the sight.
'Fuck. It's just looking at me as entertainment.'
As Soren finished that thought, he noticed something else.
The goblins were acting strangely.
One of their own had just died, and yet not a single one of them was making even so much as a sound.
'I knew hobgoblins were treated like kings amongst goblins, but isn't this a bit too much?'
Then the hobgoblin stroked its chin before speaking once more.
[Keeuraak! Kekeke.]
Taking that as a signal, two goblins walked out towards Soren.
[Keraak!]
[Keuuuak—!!]
"Huh?"
Seeing that Soren couldn't help but be confused.
'Is this guy stupid?'
It was common for waves to appear in-game, but in real life, Soren couldn't help but think it was stupid.
The hobgoblin was completely throwing away its numerical advantage and even helping Soren stall for longer.
'Well, what did I expect from demons, though?'
Wooong—
'If they're doing waves, I may as well take advantage of it.'
He tightened his grip on the dagger and cast the spell that had just finished forming.
"Huff… 「Gaia」"
Utilising the same strategy as before, Soren transformed the ground into a quagmire full of thick mud, severely limited the goblin's movement, then charged one to the ground.
If Soren had to win against a goblin in a proper fight, it was likely that he would lose almost immediately, not only because of his depleted stamina, but also because he had never fought using a dagger before; the body he was in was that of a mage after all.
[+1P]
The only advantage Soren had at the moment was his weight.
Goblins, being the size of human children, were easily overpowered even by Soren's small and thin body.
Once on the floor, all Soren had to do was restrain the arm holding a weapon and then it was essentially over, a decent strike to a vital organ, and they were finished.
Of course, though it all sounded easy, to Soren, even something as simple as that was a challenge.
His strength stat was still F-rank at a grand total of 0.6, which was pathetically low even for someone of Soren's age.
[+1]
This meant even the task of stabbing through the neck or eye was tedious, thanks to how much effort it took to cut through the goblin's body.
Then, even after that was over, he would have to pull the dagger out of the goblin's neck, hoping it would slide out easily.
Splatter
[+1]
[+1]
Stab
[+1]
But for the moment, this was all he could do.
[+1]
[+1]
[Keeeraaaaak!]
[+1]
Every time Soren would clear a wave, the hobgoblin would send out an increasing number of goblins.
[+1P]
[KEKEKEK!!!!!]
The demon was laughing, tears in his eyes at the sight of the human before him struggling so hard.
He spoke once again, for the final time, and the last five goblins walked towards the human who appeared to be on his last legs.
'It's the final wave.'
————「❤︎」————