Chapter 21: Goblin Warrior

Chapter 21: Chapter 21: Goblin Warrior

Lying on the floor, gripping her weapon tightly in her small, trembling hand, she stared into his eyes with a ferocity Victor had never seen in anyone before.

She was small and green. Her little fangs showed as she clenched her teeth, and the blood from her wound glistened with a faint crimson hue. The light from the flashlight in her other hand trembled, giving Victor some visibility in the darkness.

In silence, with the door closing behind Victor, they both aimed their respective weapons at each other, but neither fired.

Victor had been certain he would encounter another player, perhaps a human or a monster from the multiverse whom he could easily look in the eyes while shooting them in the face. But upon seeing the green creature, helpless and lying among the wooden crates, his breath caught in his throat.

"You..."

"Human..." she muttered, on the verge of pulling the trigger.

But something else interrupted them. Strange clicking sounds echoed outside, and the scents coming from the buildings began to distort one after another.

In Victor’s mind, it was as if some kind of mass were moving forward, displacing the other scents around it. This put him on high alert and forced him to remain silent.

At the same time, she nervously began lowering her weapon. This surprised Victor, who was starting to debate whether he should kill her or flee. However, he froze when she dropped the flashlight, closed her eyes, and pointed her pistol at her own head.

A thunderous boom rang out, and suddenly, a flash of lightning illuminated the entire place in pure white for a fraction of a second, reminding Victor of something he had almost done a long time ago.

Disturbed by what he had just witnessed, he acted on pure instinct. He dropped his weapon and lunged at the small creature. She fought with the last of her strength to pull the trigger, but Victor wrestled with her to stop her.

"Damned human! What the hell are you doing?!" she protested, but she lost her strength when she saw the grim expression on the human’s face beneath the flashlight’s glow.

Victor seized his chance. He yanked the pistol away from her and moved back, dragging himself across the wooden floor. Then, breathing heavily, he removed the magazine from the weapon before tossing it aside.

The silence that followed was deafening. The creature continued to breathe heavily as what little blood she had left seeped from her wound. She stared at Victor with genuine confusion, but also profound disappointment.

Victor had sat down against the wall near the door. He stared silently at the floor, paying no attention to the movements of something outside that his sense of smell could detect. He simply remained there for several long seconds until, finally, he spoke.

"Suicide is the Path of cowards."

He raised his gaze, his eyes fixed on hers.

"If you ever find yourself facing death, look it in the eyes and tell it to go fuck itself."

That was exactly what he had done when he faced the orc. Instead of accepting that he was going to die, he had challenged death without fear. And yet, now he felt like a massive hypocrite. Hadn’t he been thinking about killing her just a few seconds ago?

He didn’t believe he had the right to lecture anyone about life. Besides, he didn’t even know this creature, yet he still couldn’t help himself from doing something.

Once again, a flash of lightning illuminated the darkness of the Kingdom of the Black Veil. Outside, soft thuds echoed against the houses. The wind blew fiercely, making the scents Victor had been able to detect until then grow faint and indistinct.

Meanwhile, she placed a hand over her abdomen and said, "I’m going to die anyway. We’re going to die..."

There was frustration in her words, something Victor understood all too well. But since the situation was so strange and sudden, he cleared his throat.

"That’s not going to happen. I’m not going to die. I could kill you to keep moving forward, but I already saved you from doing the job yourself. I’d feel like an idiot if I killed you just like that now."

"I don’t care what you say, human. Whether you want to believe it or not, we’re both already dead."

"And you’re still going on about that... What makes you think that?"

She let out a pained laugh.

"Looks like you haven’t experienced it for yourself yet. The monsters here are immune to physical damage. They can hurt you, but you can’t hurt them. I’ve been trying to damage them to earn points, but nothing works."

’So that’s why I can’t detect the scent of those things. Are they like ghosts?’

She sighed wearily.

"And then there’s that bastard who’s been chasing me since the first scenario. There’s no escape for us. We’re going to die."

She kept going on about how they were going to die and all that. It annoyed Victor a little. He had escaped death, and of course, he was taking a risk by staying there. Since it didn’t look like he was going to gain anything from this, he looked up at the ceiling and made a decision.

’I hate having to agree with that bastard Ayax.’

He took the Deluxe First-Aid Kit out of his bag, since the one he had wasn’t suitable for deep wounds. It wasn’t as if he knew much about medicine, either, but he could at least do something about the creature’s injuries.

She grew defensive as Victor approached with the box in his hands.

"I’m going to be honest with you. I came here thinking I could get something from your corpse, but I don’t see you carrying anything worthwhile. So instead, I want to make a deal with you."

She frowned.

This wasn’t about trust or deception. It was a deal, and that was what would keep them both alive. Victor continued.

"In exchange for treating your wounds and getting you out of here, I want you to lend me your strength so we can escape this scenario. After all, you’re the one making the ground shake with those explosions, aren’t you?"

It seemed like a fair deal to him. It was like getting himself a living weapon. Besides, since he had been honest from the start, he was sure she would understand that this was all about survival.

Somewhat reluctantly, she nodded. Victor sighed in relief.

"Good. I’m Victor, by the way. And if you try to kill or betray me, you can count on me showing you no mercy."

"As if that wasn’t obvious," she said. Finally, she introduced herself. "And... I’m Brika, a goblin warrior."