Chương 15: Pain

It takes effort, but I force my mouth closed. Chime"Kevin, stop feeling pain," I whimper out. The pain dulls down to a wasp constantly stinging my shin. I jerk my head to the cell door behind me, only fifty feet.

"Shit, shit, shit," I mutter. I crouch down and push the blade with both of my gauntlets, popping it out like a hatchet stuck in a log. A fresh wave of pain flows through my leg. My heart hammers in my chest, and weakness spreads through my leg alongside numbness. Blood streams down my ankle in a river. My mind is scrambled and directionless. Instead of trying to rein it in, I take the easy way out.

"Kevin, focus." Loose thoughts drain away as my mind focuses. Trying to retreat won't work, the door is too far, and I'll have to limp there. Taking cover in the first room is also suicide, if they follow or even catch a glimpse of me, I'll be trapped. My head flicks left and right frantically, then I decide. My leg slows me down as I limp towards the unopened cell door. Blood leaks and leaves a trail as I move, but time is of the essence, and I have no other choice.

I make it twenty feet away before it begins to open. Fifteen feet away, before the shield, the goblin walks through. The first thing I notice is the confusion on the goblin's face upon seeing something bleeding out and limping towards it as fast as possible. Relief washes over me as the goblin fills the doorway and blocks the archer's line of sight. I have to do whatever it takes to prevent the archer from getting a clear line of sight.

My reaction time is insane, but I don't think I'm up to par to dodge arrows yet. The hobgoblin takes a single step to meet me. As a reaction, I hold my arms up and roar.

"RAAAGHH!" I know I look like an idiot to any outside viewer, but I'll do whatever it takes to keep the archer behind its friend. It works as the hobgoblin steps back nervously, but mostly with extreme confusion at whatever the hell I'm doing. I have a command not to feel pain, but I continue to limp because I don't know how much damage the trap did to my bone, and I don't want to snap it.

"Kevin, avoid or block strikes and go for weak points." I keep my command simple, finishing just as I arrive within six feet of the shieldman. I glance behind him and see the archer with its bow already drawn, waiting for an opportunity. The shieldman wastes no time and brings its mace down, but my gauntlet deflects it, sending it to the side. The reverberation shakes the bones inside my arm, but I only get a feeling of wrongness instead of pain.

In one smooth motion, I pull my left gauntlet up and pull down its shield. Its stance is even further interrupted as it stumbles towards me slightly. Directly into my thrusting right hook. With the added momentum of the goblin falling into me, my blow caves its face in and sends it stumbling onto its back. I don't even realize the opening I made. My body jerks as my mind catches up. It's not fast enough. The arrow buries itself in the center of my chest. I can feel it dig in and stop after hitting my sternum.

The archer immediately moves to reload, and I do the same. Crouching down, I drop the gauntlet out of my left hand. I scramble forward and pull up the shield on the hobgoblin's arm just as another arrow thunks into it. My fingers undo the clasp holding it to the green arm, attaching it to mine and pulling it up. I stand up and peek over the shield, jerking my head back down as an arrow flies over where I just was. Damn, this thing's aim is incredible.

Bending over and placing the shield in front of me, I rush at the archer while protecting everything except for my legs. Chime The journey is slow as I limp towards it. It must have given up on a vital shot because it shoots me in the thigh. The pain is negligible, and I continue to move. I almost want to peek over and see what kind of expression the archer has after his arrows do absolutely nothing to hinder me, but I refrain from being stupid.

Another arrow strikes me in the shin, right above the deep cut I received from the trap. I wince in pain with that one, but my rush continues. My fist pulls back as I lower my shield. The hobgoblin panics and loads another arrow. Just as it begins to pull the string back, my gauntlet crashes into its face, both left and right spikes on the weapon penetrating into each of its eyes. The archer falls back, garbling in its own primitive language.

This time, I don't let it suffer and just follow up by bringing the side of my gauntlet down and crushing its head, getting a chime shortly after. I limp over to the other one who's on death's doorstep and do the same. Chime I sigh and sit down against the wall. Chime This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Damn! Give me a minute!" Closing my eyes, I rest my head against the wall and catch my breath. My hammering heart slows down, and my lungs pull in more air. After a few minutes, I finally speak.

"Let's hear it, system." [You have slain Hobgoblin(lv. 7) - (lv. 8) x2] [Partial experience granted x4] [You have discovered a reward] [Accept(9) / Bank / Consolidate] [Enhanced Skeleton(lv. 1) > (lv. 2)] [You have slain Hobgoblin(lv. 8) - (lv. 9) x2] [Partial experience granted x4] [Bleed Resistance(lv. 3) > (lv. 4)] No level up this time. I'm not surprised, as it's easy to detect the feeling of leveling up, and it didn't happen. Remembering, I look down at my leg. Blood still flows out at a steady rate.

My sock and shoe are already stained blood red. I pull out two of the sashes I took off of different enemies and wrap them around the massive cut on my leg. It almost makes me nauseous seeing a clean inch cut through the front of my shin. I just barely catch a hint of white. This would probably be extremely traumatising if I didn't have two different commands against pain and trauma right now. I pull the makeshift bandages tight and give my other injuries another look.

I blocked a direct blow from a mace with my gauntleted hand, but with my enhanced skeleton, I don't give the feeling of wrongness much thought. Turning my gaze, I look at the three different arrows sticking out of me right now. I sigh, thinking about how much blood is going to get on my clothes after taking them out. Deciding to postpone it until later, I comb the room and pick up the two new bread sashes, along with the shoulder guard of the shieldman and the plate protecting the heart of the archer.

I find the small wooden box, opening it and dropping it after I hear the chime. After a few more minutes of resting, I pick up my gauntlets with one hand and the shield with the other. I smile softly as I remember carrying a dozen bags of groceries into the house as a kid. The thought turns sour as I think of my parents. To my surprise, I took to fighting like a fish to water. But I have no clue how my parents will do. After all, this is an extremely rough environment.

Without the food I happened to have when I got here, I would have been forced to eat goblins and drink their blood to survive. If not that, I would have been forced to blitz through the dungeon, bringing an extreme risk of death. I notice my trail of blood outside the cell door leading to a limply hanging blade jutting out of a thin crevice in the wall. So there I limp, moving down the hallway at a slow pace, hands and pockets filled with the possessions of others, with several arrows sticking out of my body.

I didn't see many of the classes when this all started, but I assume my mother would have gone for a healer or mage, simply for the fact that she doesn't like fighting very much. Actually, I didn't see the class list much at all, but there may have been things like professions on there as well. I could see her becoming a tailor or something. As for my dad, I really don't have a clue. I can't see him becoming a mage, as it's probably something really complicated that takes time to learn and get good at.

I guess I could see him becoming some type of warrior. Actually, I think he'd take to being an archer quite well. Then again, I've never sat down and asked them what kind of fantasy classes they would choose if given the chance. I keep an eye out for more traps as I trudge back to base. After a longer walk than usual, I finally slip through the door and close it behind me. I toss my weapons on the ground and sit against the wall. All in all, I feel pretty accomplished. I look down at my injuries.

Three arrow wounds, a massive cut to the leg, and some inconsequential feeling in my hand after blocking that mace blow. Even with all of these wounds, I can tell I'm nowhere near death. System, health and stamina. [Health: 230(135)] [Stamina: 220(156)]"Heh," I chuckle. All of that, everything that went wrong, and those hobgoblins still couldn't even get me below half.

I have a feeling I shouldn't be so casual about this, but the slight deliriousness from losing blood, combined with both of my commands, is doing some heavy lifting. Still, this is the worst injury I've taken by far. I couldn't tell for sure, but I think I was only a little bit away from having the front bone in my leg cut in half. Judging by the color of the bandage, blood is coming out heavily. I sense movement and look over to see another message appear on the screen I have up. [Bleed Resistance(lv. 4) > (lv. 5)] Wow, speak of the devil. System, rewards. [You have discovered a reward] [Accept(10) / Bank / Consolidate] Since I was thinking about it, I might as well get it out of the way. The double-digit number brings a smile to the greed deep down inside me. I look down and sigh, thinking about the problem at hand. These arrows need to come out at some point. Pulling my sashes out, I prepare the removal. Carefully, I pull one sash around my thigh and get ready to tie it.

With a forceful pull, I rip the arrow out in a small spray of blood and immediately pull the cloth strip as tight as I can without ripping it. The blood inevitably begins to seep out. I prepare another strip and do the same with the arrow above my cut leg. Finally, I do the same with the arrow in my chest. This time, the strip isn't long enough, so I simply push down and bunch the cloth up on the wound. I reposition the metal heart protection plate to keep that one in place.

Normally, doing something like this would have mortified me. But when agonizing pain is turned into what feels like the sting of a bee, it really numbs my reaction. Hopefully, with my bleed resistance skill, I shouldn't lose too much blood from any of these wounds. I sigh in disappointment as I flop over onto the ground. These wounds are going to put me out of commission for quite a while.

Funny enough, the only time I was truly in danger during the fight was when I popped my head over the shield to look at the archer. I spend a few minutes staring at the ceiling before pulling out a moldy piece of bread and biting it. I look at the bread in astonishment as I have to use every point of strength in my jaw to break it open. Hot damn! Did they mix the flour up with cement? After I finish the fist-sized stone of bread, my jaw is sore, and I lie quietly on the floor.

Alright, now I really wish I had my phone. I ignore the fact that it would certainly be out of battery at this point.

"System, health and time." [Health: 230(127)] [7. 89 cycles until next phase] I groan and rub my eyes. It only took me five days to become a battle maniac who starves for fighting. Then again, there's not really anything else to do. After a few minutes of contemplating my boredom, I shuffle to the center of the room and lie on my back. I slow my breathing and close my eyes, returning to my great journey of finding and awakening my mana.

If only I had that single healing skill, I could reduce my downtime from hours into minutes. Well, I'm assuming it would work fast. I don't have any idea how magical healing would work. There's a faint hope in my mind that I'll get another skill selection that includes previous choices as well. With the ability to heal, I could make quick work of rooms and the dungeon. With my command to keep me from getting mortal wounds for the most part, the healing would remove scratches and other minor injuries in a flash.

I shake my head and speak after getting a bright idea.

"Kevin, focus on awakening your mana and meditate." The constant buzz of my mind is erased as I'm pushed into the ocean of my own mind. It's shocking how fast I lose almost all of my body's sensation, like my spirit was ejected from my body. I try to form thoughts, but the command is like a barrier made of steel. All that's left is a weightless feeling. I can't even feel my arms or legs anymore. I float and float in the empty void. Still, my mind uncontrollably searches for even a wisp of the ethereal energy.

Attempting to struggle against the command is like trying to lift a boulder above my head as an infant. Before long, I forget what I was doing. The concept of struggle doesn't even exist in my mind anymore. The concept of anything doesn't exist anymore. The only stimulus I feel is weightlessness. Like I'm floating in space, no stars or planets or anything in sight. Just me and the void.