Prologue

1574 Words
Surrounded by darkness, a soldier stood alone, gripping her sword tightly with both hands. Blood was slowly dripping from her full-body armor and sword, creating a tiny pool beneath her feets. But none of the red liquid was her own. Instead, they all originated from the monsters she was slaying. She could hear them. The monsters, standing just outside the small area lightened by her armor, taunting her with their growls. The soldier licked her cracked lips and swallowed her saliva to ease the burning sensation in her throat. The soldier’s eyes kept darting around, making sure none of the monsters stepped into her light. It was at this point that the soldier realized she had made a huge mistake. Her mission was to clear the cave of any monsters residing in it. When the soldier saw that the cave was actually small, she thought there would be only a few of them and immediately entered without much preparation. She didn’t get too far in when she encountered and got surrounded by a horde of monsters.  Of course, she slaughtered the first couple of waves with ease. She received the nickname ‘Exterminator’ for a reason; killing small monsters like them was like breakfast to her. But before she could move to explore deeper into the cave, more monsters appeared. She slaughtered them only to be replaced by even more monsters. Again, and again. Then all of the sudden, they just stopped, creating her current standoff with them. But despite all that, the soldier was still confident that she could finish the mission without much trouble. There can’t be an infinite number of monsters in the cave. She didn’t know what they were planning, but she would be ready for whatever they throw her way. Her line of thinking was suddenly interrupted when a couple of goblins appeared from the darkness, charging at her from different directions. A common tactic for goblins, overwhelming their enemy with their speed and number. People unused to fighting them would get overwhelmed. But not her. A smirk crept up the soldier’s face. She was going to play around with them for a little longer, but she had to end her job at some point. The soldier started channeling her energy into her armor. As she pumped more mana into the armor, the light radiated from the armor grew brighter and farther, allowing her to see the monsters previously lurking just beyond her light. Goblins, Slimes, Bats, there were a lot of them. Though it wouldn’t matter for long. Her armor finally reached its maximum capacity just as the goblins were about to jump onto her. Unfortunately for them, it was time for her to shine. “Burn!” she shouted as flames burst out from the surface of her armor, spreading to her surroundings. The goblins were first to be scorched and pushed back, followed by the rest of the monsters surrounding her. Their scream of pain and the sound of their body burning to a crisp was music to her ears. Everything went silent after her wave of flame died out. The soldier remained in her place, focusing all her attention to her hearing. Nothing. It was all quiet. She let out a sigh of relief before walking around to make sure there were no stragglers. Just as a precaution. Unexpectedly, she suddenly heard the sound of something scratching on the cave floor not far from her. Rushing to the source of the sound, the soldier found one of the goblins was still alive, desperately trying to crawl its way away from her. Her flame burnt both of its hands and legs almost beyond recognition, but the monster was very much still alive. “Trying to escape, huh?” the soldier said with a mocking voice as she kneeled beside the goblin. The goblin glanced at her in fear and yelped. He tried to crawl away faster, but it was clear that it was not going anywhere with its speed. And unfortunately for the green monster, she wasn’t planning to let any of the monsters go. Not now, not tomorrow. She pulled the goblin head upward then slowly slashed its neck with her sword. Blood gushed out from the green monster, splashing onto her armor and the cave floor. “That’s for all the villagers you killed, monster.” The goblin struggled around, desperately trying to stop the bleeding with its stumps. But the monster’s fate was already sealed.  Mere seconds later, its hands fall limply to the side. “Well, I guess that’s job done,” she said as she let the dead goblin fall to the ground. The soldier stood back up and stretched her aching body. Her mind was already focused on showering and what to eat when she got back to the tavern. But the mental image of hot bath and cold beer disappeared when the sound of heavy footsteps suddenly echoed throughout the cave. The soldier’s head immediately snapped toward the direction the sound was coming from. Holding her sword in front of her with both hands, the soldier prepared herself for whatever that will step into her light. The footsteps slowly got closer and closer. Louder and louder. And then it suddenly stopped. Whatever it was, it stopped right outside of her light. The soldier didn’t even need to deduce that from the footsteps. She could sense its bloodlust directed at her. Then, she heard it breathing and letting out a low growl, sending shivers down her spine, but she still stood her ground. “Show yourself!” the soldier shouted. Like it was answering her challenge, the monster stepped out from the darkness and into the range of her armor’s light. The monster turned out to be a Goblin King, and was surprisingly smaller than she thought, standing only about twice her height even if its body was pretty big. A crown of bone rested on top of its head. Its big veiny hands were holding a steel spear and shield that felt familiar. Looking at the weapons closer, the soldier realized why she felt like she had seen them before. They were standard weapons for soldiers. The Goblin King must have looted them from the last group of soldiers sent to clear the cave. “A goblin using actual weapons? HA! Don’t make me laugh. You guys can’t even make out the difference between your head and a*s!” She shouted in a mocking tone. Even though she put up a confident look, she was actually worried. She had never fought a Goblin King before. And the Goblin King she learned used a club, not spear and shield. The Goblin King growled after hearing her taunt and immediately charged at her, thrusting its spear toward her. Then another one. And another one. Despite its size, the Goblin King moved at an insane speed, giving her no time to retaliate any of its attacks. And as she predicted, its movement was completely different than she thought. They were calculated, directed, almost like the soldier was fighting against another warrior. A thought slowly crept up to the back of her mind. The thought of losing to the Goblin King. If she’s lucky, it would kill her. If not, she would be helping it repopulate the cave. The soldier shook her head, pushing the thought as deep as possible. She was not going to let fear control her. She will win. No, she must win. “Gr… Now you piss me off!” she shouted, parrying the Goblin King’s spear thrust with her sword. She jumped away from the monster and channeled mana into her armor once more. She didn’t want to do it at first since surging her armor with energy too often would cause some damage, but the Goblin King gave her no choice. Like before, flames burst out from her armor. But this time, she directed all of the fire toward it. The soldier watched as the flame engulfed the hulking green monster. When the firestorm died down, her armor’s light dimmed significantly to only as far as the reach of her own hand. The soldier also fell to her knee and started panting heavily. She used way more energy than she thought, but at least she finished the job.  As her armor light slowly returned to normal, she realized something was off. She didn’t hear the sound of the Goblin King's dead body fall or even its scream. Before she could think it further, she saw a green foot almost right in front of her. The soldier drew her sword, but a spear appeared from the darkness and went straight through her armor and abdomen. The soldier dropped her sword as she screamed in pain. The Goblin King laughed, lifting the soldier as she struggled on its spear. Then, it stepped into the light, revealing that her flame had only melted its shield and lightly burned its legs. “Y-You bastard!” she screamed out, blood gushing out from her mouth. Her hands desperately wrapped around the spear’s handle. The Goblin King then shouted something she didn’t expect. “WAKE UP!”
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