The fierce battle began the moment the goblin started swinging its sword horizontally toward Celis. Its eyes glowed red, as if thirsty for the blood that had to be spilled from behind that body.
Every time Celis parried attack after attack, his hands felt the heavy impact of every sword slash. Many times Celis wanted to retaliate with all his strength, but what power did he have—the paper-thin weak body was starting to lose its balance.
Keugh!
His body was flung several meters back after receiving a blow far heavier than the ones before. Celis supported himself on the spear haft that he had thrust into the floor of the ruins—his right hand wiped the sweat from his face. With ragged breaths, Celis slowly began to lose his mind and consciousness due to overwhelming exhaustion.
The damp air started giving off the typical foul smell of a stuffy underground room. He immediately got up and ran with all his might to launch an attack.
"Take this, you bastard!" he shouted loudly until it echoed throughout the entire ruin. With all his strength he gripped the spear with both hands while charging very fast toward that ugly monster.
Celis had already accepted his fate to the point that he forgot he was a living creature who could just die like that.
He thrust the spear forward even though his hands had gone numb. The small creature immediately realized its prey was starting to fight back. The little monster grew even more frenzied; its stinking tongue began sticking out of its mouth along with drool.
Its wrinkled hand raised the sword, ready to parry Celis's attack. Yet Celis realized his attack would be in vain if he didn't make a quick plan.
Celis caught a glimpse of a pile of dust on the damp floor surface. He immediately halted his steps to set a plan, waiting for the goblin to walk into his trap.
The brainless creature began to notice its prey had stopped running toward it. But with its wild instincts, it paid no heed that its prey had already prepared a trap.
Right in the middle of the goblin charging at Celis—he suddenly kicked the pile of dust with his right leg as hard as he could. The moment the goblin's vision became blinded, Celis drove his spear toward the small creature that was now panicking from losing its sight.
Jlebb!
The spear pierced through the goblin's skin wall until it went all the way through the skin on its back. The sword still held by the goblin swung wildly like its final struggle before dying.
Celis pushed with all his might toward the wall, but for a moment he forgot that the monster in front of him was still holding a blade.
Crassh!
"Keugh, awhh!"
Before Celis realized it, a sword had already buried itself in his left shoulder; a burning sensation accompanied by stinging pain was triggered by the body's nerves sending signals to the brain.
Before Celis realized it, a sword had already buried itself in his left shoulder; a burning sensation accompanied by stinging pain began to be triggered by the body's nerves sending signals to the brain.
Celis felt for the first time a pain that was far too intense right now; before this he had only lived behind the walls of a building, accompanied by a single ray of light from a small crack in the ceiling.
His body slowly collapsed, his knees touching the cold surface of the ruin floor. His stomach churned at the sight of blood flowing along the spear shaft he was still clutching. His grip on the spear loosened, and the already-dead goblin's body fell lifeless with the piercing wound.
"Why… why do I have to go through all this," he uttered, his spirit already broken just like that.
Carefully he crawled toward the brick wall covered in the remnants of long-stuck spider webs.
He caught a brief glimpse of his left shoulder impaled by the sword; carefully he held the hilt for quite a while to convince himself.
With a little bracing, he pulled it out as fast as he could—and instantly blood sprayed from the gap of the wound.
His head tilted back, staring far into the darkness above him. He clutched his left arm for a long time, hoping the tormenting sensation would quickly disappear.
"Finally, I managed to finish it," a few moments later Celis's body fell flat on its back onto the floor surface. He closed his eyes while his face was filled with exhaustion and sweat from the result of his fight.
A few moments later the pain in his left shoulder finally subsided. One of his hands lifted to see something that might possibly happen to him.
"This world is basically magic… But why is foreign knowledge entering my head? About magic requiring mana." he thought to find out more, he rubbed his chin while conducting some experiment.
"Where does that mana come from? Wait!" he got enlightenment from the knowledge that unintentionally entered his head, he finally became more convinced about where magic and mana came from. "Basically mana is like fuel in creating magic, of course mana comes from within the body. However in every air there must be mana inside it… " he uttered a few words repeatedly until finally a mature conclusion had been made.
"I understand! I should try to feel the energy called mana."
Celis closed his eyes, only darkness was what he saw for the first time. He tried to focus, but the shadows of the dark past began to disturb him. Cold sweat started dripping from his temples because he was tensing all his muscles hard.
His effort to feel mana in the air had failed for the first time this time.
"Eugh!" Celis dropped his back against the wall surface with gasping breaths. He wiped the remaining sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand. Celis just stayed silent as if the fate he had to go through felt very heavy.
"I failed again… Is what they said about me true?" whispered Celis with a slightly hoarse voice. His knowledge now felt stuck. Even though previously there was so much knowledge seeping into his head until it made him confused.
About twenty minutes or so had passed, now Celis was firmly seriously scratching magic symbols on the floor surface while continuing to think hard. The written symbols were already similar to what he had thought.
"Huhh… how about it? Maybe there will be a way out later," he said with a slightly disappointed tone. Celis then stood up and both his hands patted the parts of his clothes that were stained with dirt.
Celis turned his head to the right with curiosity. But the endless-looking corridor was too dark to explore because its walls had no magic stones illuminating along the path.
On his left path it looked more feasible to be passed by him. Though the magic stones stuck on the walls glowed dimly, it was enough for Celis's sight when looking down his path.
Celis walked to the path on his left side with a firm feeling. But he remembered a spear that should become his main weapon was not in his hand's grip.
"Annoying. Where is that thing?" he said full of question marks. His gaze analyzed the place where he had rested with the spear lying beside him.
Celis turned back toward the place where he last kept his spear. He was astonished how the weapon could disappear just like that from his reach.
In every visible crevice, he poked every part to find the weapon. He thought about his brain. How could I lose it? Didn't I put it here?
Fatigue began to show on his face along with his breathing that started getting heavy. His body stopped for a moment, his gaze looked deeper, as if there was something he had just gone through in these few seconds. Even his mind was blank just like that. But in the palm of his hand emanated a bluish light, warm, calm like a knife that had been sharpened many times.
Celis's blue eyes that had been staring in a blank state finally began to regain consciousness. Both his hands lifted carefully along with his heart beating fast. After realizing the situation happening right now, the man was shocked with wide-open eyes.
"What is this!" he exclaimed. "Is this magic?" he didn't expect that something he had been thinking about so hard earlier had manifested in front of him.
"Several possibilities I can try," he thought while rubbing his chin while focusing seriously on staring at that warm light. An idea flashed in his mind, magic could be formed if using imagination or the right spell with the basis that one's body is able to manipulate that energy.