Chapter 3: System
The goblin leapt.
A hoarse cry escaped his throat as he swung his rusty blade at Isaac. Time seemed to slow down. Every detail appeared with brutal clarity: the cruel gleam in the creature's eyes, the dried blood sticking to its green skin, the way its gnarled arms thrust the blade straight at him.
Isaac didn't think. He took a hasty step backwards, stumbled slightly and, purely by chance, narrowly avoided the blade, which passed just a few centimetres from his chest.
His breath caught in his throat.
- I'm going to die.
Terror paralysed him for a split second. Despite his mutilated body, the goblin propelled himself forward with inhuman rage, dragging his stumps across the ground with a sickening noise. A cornered beast. Ready to bite until its last breath.
Isaac couldn't flee. He was alone. The other Awakened were already too far away, moving on without a care in the world.
- I'm going to die if I don't do something.
A voice echoed in his mind, an echo from the past, a scene from a film he'd watched dozens of times. A samurai, fighting battle after battle, his lips whispering the same words over and over to give himself courage.
- Advance or die.
The goblin's blade came at him again. Isaac barely dodged, a warm breath passing over his cheek.