章節 4: There's always a first time for every thing...

This is where I will be slaying…anything in my whole life.

I'm seeing two plump highlighted silhouettes across the thick bush I'm hiding behind.

One seems to have a club in hand, the other one is empty handed. Both are walking in the direction I detected Runes.

Sweat is slowly covering me, a drop of it slips down for mu chin. [I have to move quick…I don't know if they have heightened sense of smell.]

I never imagined my addiction to stealth games will ever be useful in real life. It doesn't even take me a second to come up with a doable plan.

Picking up a random decent sized pebble from the ground, I look for a tree branch capable of holding my weight nearby.

Blinking on it, I now have a better view of the surroundings.

Looking further ahead I notice another similar branch while I wait for my 'mana back'.

Finalizing the algorithm with my mana pool being at 100%, I aim the pebble I picked up earlier at the head of the armed goblin, and threw it.

The pebble hit its intended mark, alerting the goblin towards my location. While I use Blink to reposition myself on the branch I noticed ahead.

[Just as I thought…they really are dumb…]

My Dark Vision is still active, so I'm getting all the information I need about their line of sights, which looks like cones of light coming out of their eyes.

Both the goblins turns towards the direction that pebble came from. I see their line of sights turning left and right searching for the one who threw that stone.

Scratching its head, the armed goblin did exactly what I thought it would. It leaves its unarmed buddy behind and starts walking towards the direction of my previous location.

I wait patiently as the distance increases. The moment, it gets around 10 meters, I make my move.

My sword ready, I Blink behind the unarmed goblin and make a tilted-vertical slash aiming for the unsuspecting head, cleanly splitting it in half.

Thick liquid splashes on my face. My eyes shuts down instinctively so the liquid won't get in. Nothing gets in my mouth either, courtesy to the 'Kakashi style' mask I'm wearing.

The goblin's body falls limply on the on the grassy floor.

Adrenalin starts pumping in my system. I open my eyes just in time to see the armed goblin dashing towards me with its club raised high, ready to smash my skull. Its shrill screeches fills the air with a dreadful symphony. Chills after chills are running down my spine but, I knew I couldn't panic- Up next was a head-on fight. Fortunately, due to Dark Vision, they were basically beings made out of orange light in my eyes, otherwise I would've jumped in fright and disgust at the sight of a half slice brain beside my feet.

Bringing my left foot back, I ready my blade for a horizontal slash along with Blink. By the time I'm ready that goblin is only 6 meters away, screeching on top of its lungs.

But, something unexpected happens.

The goblin jumps for an overheard bash the moment I initiate blink. It happened too fast for me to react to.

Since it had jumped the moment I Blinked out, its head was on the same level as mine. My horizontal slash which was supposed to cut off its head or neck, connected with the waist instead, brutally splitting it in two

Because of the inertia and me being in front of it, the gory mess falls on me. Dark Vision too ends at that accursed moment revealing blood, intestines and all sorts of unidentifiable gore falling all over me. Not expecting any of that to happen, I panic and lose my footing before falling on my back.

My eyes shoot wide open in terror as I lay on the grass now completely covered in blood and disgusting innards along with the still twitching half split goblin on top of me. What panicked me more, were the hate and blood filled eyes of the goblin glaring straight in my eyes. I've never felt so much malice directed at me. I froze.

Few unbearable seconds later my body registers the event. My hand lets go of the sword, and I use every ounce of my strength to push the goblin off me while trying to get up in a frenzy. But, the blood and gore covered grassy floor was too slippery. Succeeding in getting up on my 5th try, I get away from the corpse as fast as I can.

Hurriedly pulling down my mask which too was drenched in blood, I start puking whatever I had in my stomach. My eyes are red, body shaking in panic and fear. I can't remember the last time I felt so disgusted.

My clothes release some sort of force field which pushes away all the filth when I unsteadily channeled mana into them.

My back is turned to the mess on the ground, as I stand taking deep breaths to calm down.

[The sword…]

I'm too scared and spooked to go back and retrieve my sword. The hate filled eyes of the goblins are plaguing my mind.

As much as I'd hate to admit it, those thoughts vanishes like there were never there when a soothing 'voice' resounds in my mind.

/ It's okay Argus… It's okay. You did it… You have won your first battle! How amazing is that? /

"Jugh—just shut up…I don't need your congratulations."

I feel so angry at myself. After all that has happened, why does 'her' voice sooths me so?

As if in defiance to the fact. I sharply turn towards the gory sight. Everything is red and sticky, the heavy metallic scent filling the air is so nauseating. With shaky steps, I slowly and cautiously walk towards the torso of the goblin. My squinted eyes runs across the mess, searching for my sword.

Looking at the blood and gore in middle of which my sword laid, I was having thoughts about leaving it there and finding myself a new weapon when I reach the city.

Touching the sword's hilt with my index finger I return it to my inventory, and starts walking away as fast as I can in the direction of those 2 Runes.

After walking for a while, I check the status of my mana pool. It was 80% full, because I initiated the final Blink before 5 seconds.

I'm slowly making my way through the thick forest towards the Runes, alert for anything. Until, the soft whispers I was hearing all this time gets dramatically louder- The Runes were close.

"Umm… gotta be around somewhere nearby." I murmur, as I initiate Dark Vision.

Runes were just 70 meters away, so I figured I should find a vantage point for a recon. It doesn't take long to find a perfect tree to climb on.

Crouching on top of its highest branch, I looked ahead to see 3 messy looking structures in the shape of an upside-down "U" which I assumed are huts built by monsters.

[I guess after hundreds of years, some species of monsters have gained intelligence enough to gather materials and build.]

On my right I see the massive city of Orario. I was close enough to see the gates so, I marked their general location in my mind.

In the space between the three huts were two rotting dead bodies tied to a vertical pole.

My eyes squints at the cringing sight but nothing else. I've made peace with fact that- I will be seeing death, fifteen minutes ago.

My heart is palpitating rapidly in my chest, I almost died at the hands of the club wielding goblin, I'm not sure I'll be able to take on their numbers. I was nervous but not to point I wasn't thinking straight.

I sat on the branch, and Reactivated Dark Vision to see the exact location of the Runes and the monsters. I also search of any unfortunate survivors, courtesy to {Goblin Slayer}.

The Runes were in the hut that was in middle of the settlement. Along with a Goblin that looked slightly bigger and muscular than the 4 who were in the other two huts. Fortunately, there were no survivors.

[Gonna have to neutralize them?]

/Play it smart and you won't have to…/

"Hmm…you're right…Wait! … How many times do I have to tell you to shut up?!?"

Taking a deep breath to calm down, I begin my planning. My invested mana was back so, I was still at 80%.

[Okay so, if this works then, I'll get those Runes along with whatever the bigger one has as compensation for my 'mental distresses'.]

Done planning, I slowly climb down, and start looking for two fist sized stones. It doesn't take long to find them. What have in mind is similar to the previous one.

I'm now standing approximately 20 meters away from the settlement. Once again initiating Dark Vision, I wait for the invested mana to charge back while I stretch my right arm a little.

Using all the power I could muster, I throw that stone at the huts with no accuracy in mind. All I wanted was their attention.

The rock somehow managed to hit the hut on my left. 3 seconds later I see 5 goblins emerging from the huts.

The biggest of the lot had a war hammer in its hands while a normal one had a sword, the rest were carrying crude looking clubs. The hammer and the sword are probably the weapons they have looted from those poor souls.

The orange silhouettes before me were growling, their line of sights darting around looking for the cause of the disturbance and they soon found it. I wasn't making any attempts to hide anyway. First objective was achieved.

I throw the second stone hoping to hit one of them but, it misses. [Doesn't matter either way…]

"Alright…you got this…just act natural." Cheering myself a little, I light my right hand and wave at them, with a nauseatingly fake smile plastered on my face.

"A lovely afternoon, gentlemen…Would happen to have a few minutes to talk about our Lord and Savior?" They dashed at me, weapons drawn.

P.S. - I'm an atheist…was.

Not expecting a 'Yes' anyway, I wait till they're around 5 meters close to me with Blink activated and aimed at the tree branch slightly to my left or say, my 11 o'clock.

Seeing the 'peaceful preacher' literally disappearing right before their eyes, their steps comes to a confused halt, their eyes searching for me.

[Goblins really are dumb creatures…]

None of them bothered to look behind. If they had, they would've seen me sneaking into the hut in the middle.

Popping out on that tree branch, I waited for 2 seconds before Blinking in front of that hut which was 8 meters away from my position.

Since I had used magic before 5 seconds, my mana reserves are now 60%.

Sneaking into the small hut, I found what I came here for at first glance.

[These are Runes…?]

The Runes in the game are basically slabs of disk shaped whale bones with the Outsider's Mark carved on their surface.

What I am seeing, are white glittering silhouettes of the Runes from the game. They're floating in the air with while glitters coming off them falling off on the two dirty pouches right below them.

[What am I supposed to do with these?]

/ Try touching them…/

[For God's sake!]

But, I do as 'she' says, not because she suggested so, but because I had the same idea. It was no brainer.

I'm also running out of time. I'm nervous enough to make mistakes while doing even the simplest of tasks, and a single mistake here is more than enough to put my life in jeopardy.

The glittering Runes bursts into sparkles, the moment my left hand makes contact with them. Those sparkles rushes to my Outsider's Mark, before disappearing in them. I pick the two pouches too – Compensation for my 'mental distresses'.

Throwing them into my 'inventory', I peak outside. The Goblins are still searching for me, they've just spread into groups now. Fortunately, there are no goblins on my left, Orario is in that direction.

I see no branches thick enough so, I take the risk and Blinks behind a bush before crawling my way away as silently as I can. The sun is almost down.