I

With a flash of light she got a look at her new opponent. Immediately she had to amend that to opponents. Across from her were two unarmed and unarmored goblins. Eva felt the fear and panic return. She already felt exhausted from the first five fights—despite the hour break—and she was mentally not ready to deal with the monsters in front of her. At the same time, she knew she had no choice in the matter.

Eva readied her shield and sword as the two monsters approached. One of them smiled at her and stepped quickly towards her before stepping back. She flinched backwards and nearly tripped over a rock. The other goblin laughed at her before looking at its partner. With a nod, they both leapt at her. She caught one with her shield and the other with her face.

Stunned, Eva was repeatedly beaten by the monsters. She got a couple of cuts in against them, but the initial blow had been enough to decide the fight in favor of the goblins.

Prepare to defend yourself

[0:0:0:3] remaining

This time, Eva decided that she was not going to let fear take over when she was forced to fight. She could cry and bargain with whatever gods might exist when she was in a safe area, but out in the forest where the goblins were? That was the time to concentrate and stay alive.

She held her shield in front of her and readied her short sword for when the monsters came. Eva realized that the goblins being shorter than her gave her a slight advantage that was offset by there being two of them. She cautiously advanced and they charged her.

Eva braced her shield against her shoulder to block the goblin on her left. The one on her right received a slash across its chest as soon as it was in range. Swinging the sword pulled her off balance enough that the goblin on her left hit her body several times with its wildly swinging fists. The right goblin didn't look so good. The slash across its body bled profusely, and it was slow to act. While she had expected it to be in pain, it did not show any such reaction. Whether that was how goblins were or some artifact of the Training, she had no idea.

With some space afforded by the slash, she set her focus on the second one. She used her shield to bash it to the ground before slashing its throat. In shifting her focus, the other goblin was able to grab her head and claw at her face. In a panic, Eva threw her head back into the goblin’s face. The monster bounced off of her and lost its grip on her head. She whipped around and put it to the sword.

2 Goblins killed

1 Stat Point gained

Basic Skill Shields▲ now Level 4

Level 6 complete

Prepare to defend yourself

[0:0:0:27] remaining

She wiped the blood running down her face with her sleeve. The scratches stung a bit, but not enough to be distracting. If Eva knew anything about this place by now, it was that she would have to keep trying over and over until she succeeded or ran out of time. She wondered whether her health potion would respawn with her if she died, but wasn’t willing to take that chance so early into the five level section.

When the light appeared, she was confused when she saw the same two unarmed goblins as before. She got into her ready and proceeded cautiously. The difference between these two and the previous became obvious immediately when they worked together to flank her.

Eva backed away from the goblins while trying to think of what to do. While she was thinking, they kept separating. Soon it was apparent that she would be exposed to one while fighting the other. She realized that she did not have the time to be cautious against the goblins. In fact, them being separated could be an advantage for her! If she could move quickly enough, she could take care of one before having to face the other.

Her mind set, she acted. With a burst of speed that surprised even herself, she launched towards one of the goblins. She smashed her shield against its head, knocking it to the ground. She kept up her momentum and went several steps past the stunned goblin before turning around.

The second goblin reached the first as soon as she turned. She slashed the monster fatally before the first was on its feet. Although she got a punch to the gut from the first goblin in the process, she punctured its chest in retaliation.

2 Goblins killed

1 Stat Point gained

Basic Skill Learned: Charge▲

Level 7 complete

Prepare to defend yourself

[0:0:0:23] remaining

“Charge▲? That's a new one.”

Eva quickly looked up what it did before the next set of enemies appeared.

Basic Charge▲ Lv 1

Agility and Strength increased by 1% for up to 10m

Costs 5 Stamina to activate

“That's not much,” Eva wondered, “but maybe when it’s a higher level it wouldn't be too bad? I don't really know how any of this works, or even if it works. Stupid Alexandra. Stupid gobli—”

Something metallic flashed in front of her while she was talking to herself. She raised her left arm with the attached shield as if by instinct. She heard the smack of whatever was attacking her against the shield as well as another smack against the top of her shield that deflected towards her face. With no time to move, she watched in slow motion as the thing—a spear—pierced her face just below the rim of her helmet.

Prepare to defend yourself

[0:0:0:3] remaining

“Shit!”

II

After having faced her enemies, Eva was better prepared for what was coming. The first two stages were cleared easily enough. It was the 8th level where the difficulty ramped up. She took a deep breath and faced the light.

The two spear wielding goblins—uncoordinated though they were—presented a difficult challenge. Her first instinct was to try the same tactic that she had on the two unarmed goblins, but decided against it. She figured that getting up close and personal as quickly as possible would reduce the chances of either monster getting a solid hit on her before she could take them down.

Eva Charged▲ the monsters and rammed into the first one with her shield, knocking it down. The other goblin’s spear scratched her through her armor, but there was not enough force to fully puncture the metal rings. She turned her attention to the monster that had struck her and slashed at it wildly, managing only minor damage.

The goblin that had been knocked down got up. Its spear scraped against her back, leaving a painful scratch. Like its fellow goblin, the armor was able to keep the spear from going deeper. Eva was surrounded. She could feel her heart rate rising quickly, but she forced the panic down. She could have a breakdown later when she was not in danger of getting stabbed to death!

She breathed out and attacked with a large sweeping attack. The goblin in front of her took a step back to avoid it. She answered in kind, and by the third step, she was close enough that it couldn’t dodge the next hit. Eva received another scratch along her back while killing the monster, but that was worth it. With only one left, she repeated the same strategy with the same results.

2 Goblins killed

1 Stat Point gained

Level 8 complete

Prepare to defend yourself

[0:0:0:23] remaining

When the light disappeared for the 9th level, she was greeted with two more spear goblins. She hoped they wouldn't be a team, but her hopes were immediately dashed when they leveled their spears at her and approached as a unit. She knew she was going to need a lot of luck to get past them.

Her first strategy was to do what she’d done on the 8th level. That failed when she took a spear to the back of her neck when she stood up after killing the first goblin. The second time she tried a different tactic, but died when she was overwhelmed by both monsters at the same time. The third attempt, she was already heavily injured by a lucky hit from the 7th level, and couldn’t even put up a solid defense. The fourth attempt—well, it went on like that through twenty more tries. Still, Eva learned from each attempt.

It was attempt number 25 where she finally managed to eke out a win by Charging▲one down and swiftly parrying the other's strikes long enough to get in close and overpower it. She sustained some damage from their attacks, not enough to put her out of action, but enough that it would hamper her fighting strength for whatever was coming in level 10.

2 Goblins killed

1 Stat Point gained

Basic Skill Charge▲ now Level 3

Level 9 complete

Prepare to defend yourself

[0:0:0:25] remaining

Eva considered her chances against whatever she might have to face before drinking the rest of her health potion and part of her stamina potion. She decided it was worth the risk that she wouldn’t get the potion back if she died. She was just one level away from another break room, and she absolutely wanted to be done with the torture she was going through as soon as she could.

When the light disappeared to reveal her enemy, it was not like anything she'd faced before. Instead of continuing the pattern of two goblins at once followed by an improved version of the same pair, this monster was just a single enemy. It was a head taller than her with a similar skin tone to the goblins she'd been fighting. It looked stronger, with muscles visible all over its body. It wore no armor and held a cleaver the size of her leg in its right hand. It was also definitely a 'him', made obvious by the weapon that hung between his legs. He gave her a sickly smile when he caught her glance down there.

He raised his cleaver at her and roared. Eva froze at the roar. She wanted to run! To flee! But there was nowhere to go. Her back was literally and figuratively to the wall. She roared back in the hopes that her fear would leave with her breath.

Still shaking, she raised her shield for the monster's charge. Eva met his cleaver with her shield and stabbed towards his body. The cleaver bit into her shield and sliced a chunk of wood from it. Her stab missed its mark by only cutting a small slice into the skin on the side of his torso.

The monster jumped back and ran at her again. Eva met the charge with one from her own Skill. The cleaver dug deeply enough into her shield to come out the other side and just barely nick her arm. With the added speed, a slash from her blade caught more of the monster, slicing open his chest. Blood flowed freely down his body almost immediately.

After attempting to pull the blade from her shield, and failing, he used his other hand to punch her in the face. Eva's sword was too slow to block the blow, and she fell back, stunned. She took a chance and let go of her shield. The embedded cleaver tore more skin on her arm on the way off, but she had regained her mobility. She swiped at the monster with her blade, and he jumped back a little too slowly. The wound she’d won with her gamble in dropping her shield was only a shallow slice across his stomach.

He roared in pain and charged her once again. A swipe of his fist made Eva duck right into his foot. Her helmet got knocked clean off, and she found herself staring up at the sky with stars popping in and out of her vision. Then he was on top of her. His fists rained down on her body. Eventually, the monster started slamming her head into the ground repeatedly until she saw the dreaded box.

Prepare to defend yourself

[0:0:0:3] remaining

Eva screamed. She’d been that close! She was absolutely done with the bullshit ‘Training’, and was going to do whatever it took to get to the break room before the torture broke her spirit. Eva shook her head and promptly took out her frustrations on the two unarmed goblidiots.

III

Her hope of the potion remaining partially filled was dashed as soon as she was sent back to level 6. That mistake would make completing the 10th level all the more difficult. Not only would she have to complete the first four levels flawlessly to have a chance against the big monster, but she would then have to somehow find a way to survive its wrath.

Over the next hour, Eva was only able to get to the big monster twice. Both times she lost, but she learned from each failure. The second set of spear goblins made her life difficult. She lost against them nearly nine in ten times. Finally, half an hour after dying to the big monster the third time, she was able to kill the two spear goblins with only minor damage.

Ready for his antics, she Charged▲ him as soon as he appeared. Eva used her shield to bash his cleaver out of the way and stab her blade into him. She quickly tore the blade free, avoiding an offhand punch from the monster. The wound she'd inflicted was dribbling a steady stream of red blood. The monster roared. She shook off the fear with a roar of her own.

The monster ran at her with his cleaver. She got the shield ready to block, and a wicked smile crossed her face. Eva lowered her sword. As soon as he was in reach, she swung her sword up. Due to the height difference, her blade struck the crotch of the monster and sliced his bits off completely. He stared at her wicked smile in apparent rage and disbelief before collapsing to the ground. One slash to the neck of the monster ended his life for good.

Hobgoblin killed

1 Stat Point gained

Level 10 complete

Prepare to rest

[0:0:0:28] remaining