Prepare to defend yourself

[0:0:0:3] remaining

Eva was getting sick of it! The goblins just kept coming. Even if she killed them, there was another to take their place; and when she died, she was sent back to the beginning as if none of it mattered! At least she knew what to expect from the first goblin. She grabbed a few rocks and readied herself.

When the goblin popped out of the light, Eva Threw▲ the first rock with all of her might. In going for maximum effort, she hadn’t given enough consideration to accuracy and ended up throwing it straight into the ground. The second Throw▲ was on target enough to stun the goblin. She yanked the spear from its grasp and stabbed it over and over until a box showed up in her vision. Then she stabbed it one more time.

Level 1 complete

Prepare to defend yourself

[0:0:0:30] remaining

There was only one box this time. There was no Stat Point and there were no Skills gained. Eva wasn't sure what those were, to be frank. She had some ideas that just seemed fantastical—well, as fantastical as boxes with words hovering in her field of view and goblins trying to kill her.

There was little time for contemplation. She tried to get her heaving chest to relax before the next bastard appeared. As with the previous time, it was the sword goblin.

Eva readied her spear and let the goblin approach her. Though her first instinct was still to run—and her heart leapt at the thought—she would just die and start over again. She was sick of that. When the monster was close, she stabbed forward with what strength she had only for it to be knocked away by the goblin’s shield. It fought back with an overhand slash that she took on the haft of the spear, carving out a long splinter of wood.

When Eva went to attack again, she moved to the side and struck forward. The monster sliced into her spear with its blade, cutting it in two. She turned and tried to bash it with the remaining halves, but the goblin was quicker. A couple slashes across her body and a stab to her chest sent her back to the first fight.

Basic Skill Polearms▲ now level 2

Prepare to defend yourself

[0:0:0:1] remaining

Eva saw that her Skill increased—whatever that meant—and just barely saw the second notification before it disappeared. The goblin charged her immediately. She was unprepared and tried to fight for the spear with her bare hands to no avail. She was quickly dispatched with a few well placed stabs.

III

Over the next couple of attempts, she was able to get to the second level more often than not. The second level didn't go very well, however. As a result of her battles with the first goblin, she was able to gain some levels in her Skills. Two went to Polearms▲ and another went to Throwing▲. She was also able to pick up a new Skill called Unarmed▲ and level it once.

Eva got to the second goblin after taking care of the first goblin. She'd disarmed it without using the rock trick and then stabbed it to death. She took a deep breath. She was ready for the sword goblin this time around.

She waited for it to strike and blocked the attack with the haft of the spear. She held the spear either side of the sword and pushed forward before using her weight and strength advantage over the monster to pry the shield using the goblin’s sword as a fulcrum. Once the shield was far enough to the side, Eva kicked the goblin in the 'nads. With the goblin bent over in pain, she was able to wrestle control of the sword away from it. Using the spear in her left and the shortsword in her right, she took out her anger and frustration on its body and then its corpse.

Goblin killed

1 unassigned Stat Point added

Basic Skill learned: Swords▲

Basic Skill Polearms▲ now level 5

Level 2 complete

Prepare to defend yourself

[0:0:0:26] remaining

Eva dropped the spear and picked up the shield from the disappearing goblin. The defensive nature of it made her feel more secure. The sword also felt better in her hand than the spear had.

The spear stayed on the battlefield when the goblin disappeared, but she wasn’t going to take any chances. Not after she’d come so far through this torture! When the timer finished counting down, the next opponent appeared in front of her.

This goblin held a large two edged axe with both hands, looking positively menacing. Eva shuddered. She knew she had no choice but to fight. Dying was awful and scary and not something she wanted to go through anymore. She took the initiative against the goblin and charged. The goblin happily charged her in turn.

The axe came down as they came together, which she blocked with her shield. That had been a mistake. The axe bit deeply into the shield, cutting into her left hand. Eva cried in pain and dropped the shield. Her shortsword slashed the goblin across its chest. As much as she was hurting from the exchange, her opponent was faring much worse.

She went back for another slash—just barely avoiding the axe—before following that up by stabbing it in the chest. The goblin fell to the ground, though it was not quite dead yet. Eva looked at her arm. It was fairly mangled, not enough to kill her outright, but messed up enough that it would make the next fight more difficult.

Goblin killed

1 unassigned Stat Point added

Basic Skill learned: Shields▲

Basic Skill Swords▲ now level 2

Level 3 complete

Prepare to defend yourself

[0:0:0:25] remaining

She may as well have been Nostradamus. The next goblin—one using a two handed sword similar in design to the one she was using and wearing thicker, metal armor—sent her back to the first level.

IV

It took her another eight attempts—and fifteen minutes—before she was lucky enough to beat the axe goblin while still having an intact shield. While this made the heavily armed goblin possible to face, it did not mean she was going to be able to do much to it without some luck.

As much as Eva hated to admit it, she was starting to become numb to the death and the pain around her. She was definitely not ok with what was going on, but she could compartmentalize the suffering and torture until she could safely work through it. Fighting goblins was not such a time.

Eva stared down the monster in front of her. She took a deep breath and steadied herself. The goblin bounded towards her, and she caught its strike against her shield. The edge of the longsword bit into her shield, ripping it from her grasp. Though she was able to land two attacks with her own sword, the damage done was ineffective. She was unable to parry the goblin’s slashes well, and the damage added up until the monster pierced her heart with its sword.

V

Eva took her time getting back to facing the longsword goblin. It wasn’t that she couldn't get to the stage at all, but rather that she'd either be injured or with a destroyed shield—or both. Those runs inevitably ended in pain and blood.

Normally, five minutes of intense exercise and she'd feel like dying. She only started feeling tired around the 4th fight, or sometimes the 3rd if it went poorly enough. She was not in shape by any stretch of the imagination. Much the opposite. She couldn't help but notice that she wasn't getting tired despite being at this for nearly an hour. It was as if she was going back in time when she died!

The exhaustion of fighting instead fell squarely on her mind. Eva made mistakes not just from being untrained in combat, but also from mental fatigue. She would have to push through if she wanted to keep her sanity.

When she got to the longsword goblin with an intact shield while being uninjured, she knew she had a chance. She’d slowly figured out how to use the sword and the shield through multiple attempts. While she was by no means proficient, she was at least able to use both well enough to take on a monster with questionable skill.

Eva stepped towards the goblin as soon as it appeared. It had a longer reach from the sword, but she had longer arms. The overall result meant a similar engagement range for both, which was something she only realized after several bouts with the monster.

She baited the goblin to take a swing at her, which she stepped into. She took the blow on her shield—severely damaging it in the process—to give herself the opportunity she needed. A swift slash across the monster’s neck sent it to the ground. She contemplated taking the longsword from it, but decided that the shorter sword was easier for her to deal with.

Goblin killed

1 unassigned Stat Point added

Basic Skill Swords▲ now level 5

Basic Skill Shields▲ now level 3

Level 4 complete

Prepare to defend yourself

[0:0:0:26] remaining

Eva did her best to catch her breath before the next monster appeared in the short thirty seconds she had. It wasn’t nearly enough. She wiped the sweat from her face and breathed heavily while getting herself ready for whatever might be coming.

When the light descended—and the next enemy appeared—she was unhappy to discover that it was an archer goblin. She charged it, but even with the relatively short distance, the archer was able to get off a shot that impaled her stomach. She gasped. It hurt a lot, but there was as much rage as blood released. Two hours of constant combat with so many deaths made Eva want to pound the shit out of something. The archer—with its lack of armor—was just begging for a knuckle sandwich.

The monster didn't stand a chance. Up close, it pulled out a long knife, but she was upon it too quickly with her shortsword. She minced it to death while only taking a few shallow cuts from her enemy. The goblins blood sprayed her face, filling her nostrils with a coppery scent.

Goblin killed

1 unassigned Stat Point added

Level 5 complete

Prepare to rest

[0:0:0:29] remaining