Chapter 40
Chapter 40
Sigrid lunged forward with all the strength his body could muster, driving the iron sword straight toward the goblin’s chest.
In his head, the movement felt natural he had played with carved wooden toy swords as a child, swinging them wildly at imaginary monsters. But a toy carved from light pine was nothing like a real, heavy iron arming sword. The cold steel dragged his weak arms down, throwing off his balance. His boots slipped awkwardly across the polished glass floor of the white void.
SWOOSH!
The blade sliced through empty air, missing the monster by several inches.
"Kgah!" Sigrid gasped, losing his footing completely and tumbling hard onto his knees.
The lesser goblin didn't even flinch. It easily stepped to the side, its bloodshot yellow eyes wide with sadistic amusement. It looked down at the sprawling human boy and let out a high-pitched, rasping cackle.
"Kihihihihi!"
Sigrid gritted his teeth, pushing his palms against the smooth floor to force himself back up. (I missed?! No... I have to stand up! I have to )
Before the thought could even finish forming in his mind, a shadow fell over him.
CRACK!
An explosive, blinding wave of absolute agony burst through the left side of Sigrid’s skull. The goblin’s stone-studded wooden club slammed directly into his head with brutal, bone-splintering force!
RINGGGGGGGG!
A deafening, high-pitched screech echoed inside Sigrid's ears, completely drowning out all other sounds. His vision tilted violently sideways as his body crashed flat onto the glass floor. A thick, warm, viscous liquid rapidly gushed over his left eyelid, blinding his left eye in a sea of dark red.
"Eh...?" Sigrid gasped, his breathing instantly turning shallow and ragged. "W-What...?"
Pain. A mind-numbing, suffocating, unbearable tide of sheer physical agony throbbed through his entire head. It felt as though a red-hot iron rod had been driven straight into his brain.
Sigrid lifted a trembling left hand, his fingers pressing against the side of his scalp. When he pulled his hand back into his remaining field of vision, his palm was completely coated in thick, crimson blood.
(Why...?) Sigrid’s mind screamed in sheer, unadulterated panic. (Why does it hurt like this?! The blue box...it said it was ‘training’ If it's just a magic illusion, why does it hurt so much?! Why didn't the monster stop when I fell?!)
Sigrid looked up through his one clear eye.
The lesser goblin was standing directly over him, its ugly green face twisted into an ecstatic, murderous grin. Drips of Sigrid’s blood coated the sharp stones embedded in its heavy wooden club. Slowly, maliciously, the creature raised the club high above its head with both hands.
Sigrid’s heart plummeted into a dark, bottomless abyss. A cold, suffocating wave of pure terror paralyzed his entire body.
In that fleeting microsecond, as the heavy shadow of the club hung above him, Sigrid’s entire life flashed before his eyes like a dying candle. He saw his childhood home filled with the gentle scent of his mother’s wild roses; he heard the soft, steady hum of his father’s sewing machine under the oil lamp; he remembered the crushing despair of watching his parents die in the rain; and finally... he saw Aurelia. He saw his sweet little sister, standing frozen in that filthy, dust-choked alley, waiting patiently for her older brother to return with food.
(Aurelia... I'm sorry...)
THWACK!
The club came down with horrific, unrelenting force.
THWACK! THWACK! CRUNCH!
The goblin struck his skull again and again, completely relentless, smashing his head into a mangled pile of flesh and bone until Sigrid's brain matter spilled across the white floor and dark, absolute oblivion swallowed his consciousness whole.
GASSSSSSP!
Sigrid’s eyes snapped open!
He sat up violently, his chest heaving as he gulped in huge, desperate lungfuls of air like a drowning man breaking the surface of the water. His heart was hammering against his ribs so hard it felt ready to burst.
"HAH... HAH... HAH...!"
Sigrid frantically raised both hands, clutching his head. He touched his left temple, his forehead, his cheeks, his ears there was no blood. There was no crack in his bone. There was no lingering physical pain. His head was completely whole and untouched.
He looked around, his pupils trembling. He was back in the boundless, infinite white void. The floor beneath him was spotless, free of any bloodstains.
Beside him, he heard a familiar, sickening sound a high-pitched, rasping cackle, followed by the slow drag of wooden club against glass.
"Kihihihi..."
Sigrid turned his head slowly, his face pale as a corpse. Standing five meters away was the exact same lesser goblin, holding its crude wooden club, glaring at him with bloodthirsty yellow eyes.
"Eh...?" Sigrid whispered, his voice trembling violently. "W-What...? Was... was that just a nightmare? Was it a dream...?"
DING!
Before he could process the thought, a translucent blue holographic box materialized out of thin air directly in front of his face:
[Notice: Death is not permitted in this realm.]
[User soul and physical form have been reconstructed.]
[Trial Objective: Slay 1x Lesser Goblin to obtain your first Level.]
Sigrid’s mind completely stalled as he read the glowing white text hovering in the air.
"D-Death is... not permitted...?" Sigrid stammered, horror washing over his features as the true, terrifying meaning of the words began to sink in. "What do you mean 'not permitted'?! Why does this blue box want me to kill that mons-"
CRACK!
Before Sigrid could even finish reading the sentence, a shadow blurred behind him. The goblin had charged forward while he was distracted by the screen!
The heavy stone-studded club swung in a brutal horizontal arc, slamming violently into the back of Sigrid’s neck with bone-crushing force!
CRACK!
Sigrid’s neck snapped instantly. His vision went completely black before his body even hit the ground.
GASSSSSP!
Sigrid bolted upright once more!
"GAH! HAH... HAH...!"
He collapsed onto his hands and knees, shivering uncontrollably, cold sweat drenching his clothes as his lungs gasped for air.
DING!
[Notice: Death is not permitted in this realm.]
[User soul and physical form have been reconstructed.]
[Trial Objective: Slay 1x Lesser Goblin to obtain your first Level.]
Sigrid stared at the floating blue box. The same message. The exact same words.
Slowly, Sigrid raised his hand to his face, resting his forehead against his palm. A strange, broken sound escaped his throat a strained, hysterical, unhinged laugh born of pure psychological collapse.
"Kuh... kuh... KUHAHAHAHAHA!"
Sigrid pushed himself up, staring around the empty white void with wide, bloodshot eyes, his smile twisted into a manic, terrified grimace.
"This isn't a dream!!" Sigrid screamed, his voice echoing endlessly across the infinite dimension. "THIS ISN'T A DREAM! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS PLACEEEEE?!"
His breathing turned ragged and wild. Across the glass floor, the goblin let out its guttural, ear-splitting screech once again, raising its club as it began taking slow, deliberate steps toward him.
"GRAAAAH!"
Pure, primal terror overpowered Sigrid's senses. The fear of experiencing that unfathomable, skull-crushing agony for a third time completely shattered his resolve.
"No! NO! NO! NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!" Sigrid shrieked, scrambling backward on his hands and knees as fast as he could. "GET AWAY!"
He kicked his legs violently against the floor, sliding backward in sheer desperation, weeping open tears of horror as he tried to flee from the approaching monster. The goblin moved slowly, savoring the boy's pitiful terror, enjoying every second of the hunt as it dragged its heavy club behind it.
THUD!
Sigrid’s back slammed hard into something solid!
He recoiled, turning his head in panic. There was nothing behind him except empty white space, yet his hands pressed against an invisible, impassable wall.
RIPPLE!
A translucent blue grid pattern rippled through the air behind his back, locking him in place. A system notification flickered violently above his head:
[Warning: You cannot leave the combat area.]
[Boundary limit reached]
[Trial Objective: Slay 1x Lesser Goblin to obtain your first Level.]
Sigrid snapped. He spun around on his knees, rearing his fists back and desperately punching the floating blue text with all his strength!
"GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Sigrid screamed at the screen, tears pouring down his face. "LET ME OUT! GET ME OUT OF HERE!"
SWOOSH!
His knuckles passed straight through the holographic box, hitting nothing but empty air. The system screen remained entirely unaffected, serenely floating above him like an indifferent, cold deity observing an ant.
Behind him, the goblin let out a triumphant, gleeful screech.
"KIIIIIH!"
Seeing that the boy was cornered against the invisible barrier with nowhere left to run, the monster’s cruelty reached its peak. It lowered its body, coiled its powerful green legs, and lunged forward like an arrow released from a bow!
It leaped three feet into the air, its ugly, contorted face hovering directly over Sigrid, both hands swinging the stone-studded club down with all its gravitational force straight toward the boy's forehead!
"KIIIIIIHHH!"
Sigrid’s eyes dilated to the size of pinpricks. In a desperate, reflexive instinct of self-preservation, he thrown both arms up over his head to block the blow
CRUNCH!
The heavy wooden club smashed straight through his forearm bones, shattering them like dry twigs before caving in the front of his skull!
Sigrid’s jaw detached, his vision instantly flooding with crimson and dark purple hue before his consciousness was violently torn away once more into the cold darkness of death.
GASSSSSP!
Sigrid opened his eyes.
The vast, infinite white space stretched out endlessly before him once more.
The nightmare had not ended. trapping the frail, terrified street urchin in an infinite loop of death where victory was his only ticket back to the world of the living.